Scene · Anatolia
Belly dance in Turkey
Home of Turkish Oriental — a faster, floor-working, 9/8-loving branch of the dance with Romani roots and a distinctive stage tradition of its own.
Heritage
Styles born here
People
Dancers
London · Turkey
Süreya
Süreya is an internationally active Turkish belly dancer, instructor and choreographer based in London. Her training includes Turkish Oriental alongside Egyptian, Lebanese, Iraqi and Gulf dance material. She has performed and competed internationally…
Dancer · Turkey
Reyhan Tuzsuz
Reyhan Tuzsuz is best known as a specialist in Turkish Romani dance rather than as a generic belly-dance performer. Her work is rooted in the cultural movement vocabulary of Turkish Roma communities. Since the early 2000s she has become an internationally…
London · Turkey
Özgen Özgeç
Özgen Özgeç is a Turkish Cypriot dancer who established his international career from London. His repertoire centres on Turkish Oriental and Turkish Romani dance while also incorporating theatrical storytelling. He has worked extensively as a performer…
Dancer · Turkey
Azad Kaan
Azad Kaan is a Turkish Oriental dancer, choreographer and teacher with more than two decades of professional experience. His background includes serious dance training in Europe as well as extensive work within the international belly-dance festival circuit…
Dancer · Turkey
Serkan Tutar
Serkan Tutar is a Turkish-born dancer who developed an extensive international career from his European base. He became known as both a male Oriental performer and an instructor of Turkish dance styles. His professional activities include choreography…
Istanbul · Turkey
Tanyeli
Tanyeli was a prominent Turkish Oriental dancer and television personality whose career made her widely recognisable in Turkey. Born in İzmir, she became part of the highly visible generation of dancers associated with television and popular entertainment in…
Istanbul · Turkey
Didem Kınalı
Didem Kınalı became one of the most internationally recognisable Turkish Oriental dancers of the twenty-first century. She gained major public visibility through recurring appearances on İbrahim Tatlıses's television programme. Her style combines strong…
Dancer · Turkey
Asena
Asena became one of the most recognisable Turkish Oryantal personalities of the late 1990s and 2000s. Her career grew through nightclub appearances, television exposure and highly theatrical performances. She belonged to a period in which Turkish dancers…
Istanbul · Turkey
Prenses Banu
Prenses Banu rose to prominence in Turkish Oriental dance during the 1970s. Born in İzmir, she moved toward professional entertainment after initially dreaming of an acting career. She studied with established dancers including Kudret Şandra and developed…
Istanbul · Turkey
Birgül Beray
Birgül Beray is remembered as a notable performer from Istanbul's professional Turkish Oryantal scene. Recordings associated with venues such as Orient House show a strongly Turkish performance vocabulary. Her dancing is particularly useful for observing…
Istanbul · Turkey
Tülay Karaca
Tülay Karaca became one of the best-known Turkish Oryantal dancers of the 1980s and 1990s. She developed a reputation for powerful stage presence and especially sophisticated finger-cymbal technique. Television performances made her familiar to Turkish…
Istanbul · Turkey
Nesrin Topkapı
Nesrin Topkapı became one of the most culturally significant Turkish Oriental dancers of the television era. She began professional work abroad before returning to Turkey and building a major career. Topkapı became famous as the first belly dancer to perform…
Istanbul · Turkey
Sema Yıldız
Sema Yıldız grew up in Istanbul's historic Sulukule Romani community and became one of Turkey's most respected Oryantal performers. Her professional career developed during the late 1960s and 1970s in major Istanbul venues. She later carried Turkish Oryantal…
Legend · Turkey
Seher Şeniz
Seher Şeniz became a prominent figure in Turkish nightlife, dance and popular culture during the 1960s and 1970s. She worked as an Oriental dancer while also appearing as an actress and model. Her public image reflected the glamorous nightclub culture…
Legend · Turkey
Kudret Şandra
Kudret Şandra was one of the notable male figures in twentieth-century Turkish Oriental dance. He began performing professionally as a teenager and developed a career in both dance and acting. His presence is particularly significant because male professional…
Legend · Turkey
Özel Türkbaş
Özel Türkbaş was a Turkish dancer, singer, actress and author who became highly influential in the United States. After an early career in Turkish entertainment and cinema, she moved to America in 1959. Her performances, recordings and instructional…
Legend · Turkey
Özcan Tekgül
Özcan Tekgül was a Turkish dancer and actress who became prominent during the Yeşilçam cinema period. She began performing professionally in the 1950s and developed a reputation for dramatic stage presentations. Her repertoire included Oriental dance as well…
Legend · Turkey
İnci Birol
İnci Birol began dancing professionally at an exceptionally young age and performed in Aleppo while still a child. She later toured cities across the Middle East and North Africa before becoming prominent in Turkey. During the 1950s and 1960s she combined…
Legend · Turkey
Nergis Mogol
Nergis Mogol belongs to an early generation of professional Turkish Oriental dancers whose careers predate the television stars of the 1970s and 1980s. She began appearing on stage extremely young and later became known in Turkey and other Middle Eastern…