NEW VIDEO: Sword dance at Tarazade Festival, Istanbul

Merhabalar!

Here is my performance from the Tarazade Festival of Oriental Dance in Istanbul. Thank you to Bahri Yilmaz for the videography. Great job!

As a Dancer it can be very scary to put your work up on YouTube. It is the encouragement and support of others which helps me to showcase my love for this beautiful art form.

I hope that you like it :).

Belly Dancing in Istanbul, Turkey

I had the absolute pleasure of visiting Istanbul for my second time last week to perform and train with star teachers and artists at Tarazade Oriental Festival, Istanbul.

Many of my favourite artists such as Sema Yildiz, Aziza, Marta Korzun and Didem were performing and teaching.

I have followed them on YouTube for a while now and to see them perform in person was humbling and a true honour. I was blown away by their live performances.

During the festival I fell in love with all teachers, each and every one became my favourite. Their knowledge, technique and love for the dance have really inspired and injected a new lease of life into my dance. They are a credit to their hard work and I felt very lucky to have all these artists under one roof.

As always, I have fallen further in love with belly dance and can't wait to practice all I have learned about my own dance style as well as others.

I feel it is important to try different styles to find out what you like and what sort of dancer you are. Dance is an expression of yourself and only you can tell your story.

This trip has definitely confirmed to me that I am a Turkish and Theatrical Fusion Artist. I'm afraid that I can't deny it or hide it folks :).

Here are a few pics from the festival.

Marvellous Marta Korzun

my room mate Queenie

The icon that is Sema Yildiz

The gentleman Mayodi

The beautiful Hale Sultan

Delightful Delanna

Professor Hassan Khalil