In reality, this photo is of Turkish dancers at a Cultural event in Ottawa, Canada... However, the picture matches the brochure I was shown at a culture center right here in Hawler! Last week, a coworker (let's call her CH) told me that she had heard that there were belly dance classes being taught somewhere in the city. I was a little shocked and amazed as the closest I had EVER seen to belly dancing here in Kurdistan was at a women-only Valentine's Day party held at J&K Women's Sport Center earlier this year. Women dressed up in clothing far sexier and danced in ways more provocative than I could have imagined given those same women's attire and behavior in public. Hence you can imagine I was intrigued by the thought of Hawleri belly dance classes. Maybe local women were engaged in all sorts of pursuits that I was unaware of, not being able to speak Kurdish.
CH picked me up and we drove to the home of a very pretty girl who was one of the dance students. She directed us to a residential area where the "studio" was located. More intrigue. We were ushered into an office labeled as the "Manager's" in Turkish where a number of young men were sitting. The pretty girl informed us they were also dancers! Male belly dancers? It seems possible they exist, but something didn't feel right. We were then taken to another office where a woman offered us tea and delivered some information about the center - a Turkish Culture Center - and associated dance performances. Students were instructed in various folkloric dances from the Kurdish regions of Turkey. We flipped through photos of dancers (definitely NOT belly dancers as you can see from the photo above) as well as of the founder of Bilkent University, Erbil-born Ihsan Dogramaci. It seems that this center was established as a kind of precursor to the K-5 school to be opened in 2010 (K-12 by 2017). It seems that this school, BICE (Bilkent International College Erbil), will add another English-medium school to a growing number in the region. If you are interested, BICE will be taking applications for English, Turkish and Math teachers until December 15. It is unfortunate I am not really a primary teacher.
Anyway....
After "tea" (in actuality, we asked for water), we were taken up several flights of stairs to a studio on the rooftop complete with a floor to ceiling, wall length mirror. The students were all garbed in athletic attire and were busy fidgeting, obviously in anticipation. The boys stood first to take their place in the center of the floor. The instructor barked a few instructions in Turkish, the music started and the boys danced. WOW! It was unlike the Kurdish dancing I had seen here in that the footwork was entirely in unison, it was extremely athletic and required the boys to line up, link arms, break apart and go through a series of complicated patterns. When they were done, the girls got up. They formed two lines on diagonally opposite positions on the floor. When the music started, they glided across the rooms with elegant arm positions until they came to form a star in the center.... But unfortunately not elegant enough! The teacher stopped them to correct posture and CH and I escaped. As interesting and wonderful as it was (environment like a dance studio anywhere), CH and I (as less youthful non-Kurds) will not be joining.
No comments:
Post a Comment