Belly Dance Musings

I got a job offer in Alanya. Should I take it? And just when this nomadic belly dancer was starting to put down roots. . .

In Istanbul, Tuesday through Friday, I spend two or three hours on two nights a week teaching dance classes, and three hours on two evenings week tutoring kids. I rehearse with my drummer and his violinist friend about once a week. On weekends, and less frequently, during the week, I have other gigs--last night was Monday, and I performed with nine or ten ...

After long post-New Year’s hiatus during January and most of February, my performance schedule started to pick up toward the third week of February, starting with my show in Van, then the listening party for a pop singer called Arman, where I performed with incredible percussionist Bünyamin Olguncan, and some other great musicians at Ghetto Music Lounge. (Don’t ask me why it’s called that, but it’s a cool place.)

This Friday and Saturday past, I performed with Besidos, the Balkan-gypsy-pop ...

It was perfect that I signed my gig contract two months before New Year’s Eve, because the two weeks prior to the 31st, when everyone is clamoring to book talent for the biggest night out of the year, I was to be in the US on holiday with my family, with my Turkish telephone turned off. My performance was to be in Adana, in southern Turkey, at Inci Hotel.

After what seemed like a never-ending intercontinental journey comprised of less than restful neck-lolling, open-mouthed plane ...

My first New Year's Eve performing in Istanbul consisted of four shows. The first was on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. It was in a mansion so lovely that the tile floor in the garage was nicer than what most people have in their kitchens.

I hired a driver to take me there (it sounds glamorous, but it's basically a taxi), wait for me, then take me to a seaport where I was picked up by a yacht just before midnight. There was enough time before my show for a quick dinner in the ...

I signed on to work for 11 days at a music hall in Karaman, a smaller city outside of Konya,
Turkey. I took the job upon the recommendation of a friend, a female singer who was headed there for a two week appointment herself. The music hall is in a very religious region of Turkey–the city of Konya boasts several major sacred attractions. When she was hired by the establishment, my friend encouraged me to join her–they were interested in contracting a dancer as well. My friend thought she ...