For my students, keep in mind that our choreography is specific to Turkish Romany. Some of the information below is about the Romany people in general, but there is a LOT of regional variation. For instance, Romany dancers in Spain would be performing Flamenco rather than Karsilama!
Quick Overview
Myth: 'Gypsies' dance with tambourines and swish their skirts around a lot. In some Romany cultures, it is taboo to touch the skirt and dancers would never do it. In Spain, Flamenco dancers might lift the skirt slightly to show footwork, usually gathering it to one hip from what I've seen.
In Turkey, there are skirt-washing gestures. Artemis Mourat mentions them in her video, and Tayyar Adkeniz taught us a choreography that included some of them. BUT we were NOT to lift the skirt! A Turkish woman told me that the Romany women would never show their legs. So far I haven't' seen any skirt-swirling footage of genuine Romany women.
Myth: 'Gypsies' are happy-go-lucky travelers who wander freely from place to place.
Wherever they go, the Romany face discrimination. Millions died during the Holocaust. They live mostly in conditions of extreme poverty and face discrimination everywhere they go. A dancer wrote to MED-Dance list recently about her trip to Cairo, where she was thrilled to engage Khayriya Maazin, one of the last of the Ghawazee (gypsy) dancers in Cairo, for a private lesson. But Khayriya wasn't allowed to enter the dancer's hotel to teach her.
In Istanbul, Turkey, the Romani have been settled for generations in the Sulukule neighborhood, but the entire neighborhood is being torn down and replaced with housing the Romani will not be able to afford.
Our costumes for this dance?
An authentic blouse would look like the picture at right, but perhaps some other kind of belted blouse or tunic with sleeves would work? OR if we want to be less authentic and more 'stagey,' see some of the video clips below for costume thoughts.
The skirt could be a solid colored (NOT black!) satin circle skirt -- that's a compromise between authenticity and versatility, since such a skirt could be worn for other dances.
Video Clips (mostly on YouTube)
Turkish belly dancers perform Romany-style
'Authentic' Romany song & dance
Turkish Romany (not dance)
Turkish karsilama (not Romany)
For more video clips, you can visit my Romany/Karsilama playlist here.
Pictures
Reading
Recommended books
Karsilama rhythm
Expert teachers
photo credits:
Myth: 'Gypsies' wear off-shoulder crop tops and very sexy clothing, like Esmerelda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Truth: Romany women generally dress very conservatively, even for performance. Costumes vary according to location. Many of the pictures I found showed long, full skirts with a deep ruffled edge, blouses with sleeves, and a head scarf . in Turkey, Romany women would dress like their more conservative countrywomen, probably in a Yemini headscarf and perhaps a large, flowered, crochet-edged Yazma scarf over her head and shoulders. Colorful fabrics and mixing prints seems to appeal to the Romany woman's eye.
Truth: Several very reliable sources keep telling me the same thing, so I must believe it's true: these are fantasy elements, probably burned into our consciousness by Hollywood portrayals, and have nothing to do with real Romany dances. There is no evidence of any Romany dancer playing a tambourine while dancing.
Truth: Romany people have wandered for thousands of years. It is now believed that their roots were in India and they migrated along two major routes, one through the Holy Lands and into Egypt, the other through Eastern Europe and into Western Europe.
So I'm thinking we need:
Turkish women would wear a Yazma, a large flowered head scarf with Oya (crocheted lace) edging. But any kind of flowered head scarf might work. They wouldn't have to be tied under the chin, could be behind the head like the Romany women in the classroom photo below.
More Depth
Keep in mind, these are cabaret belly dancers in cabaret costumes, though they may be Romany-inspired. Didem has Romany roots, but she is a cabaret belly dancer and is dressed & performing as such in these clips!
Reyhan. One of my favorite clips.
Didem (for some insane reason, someone has marked this as 'adult content' so you'll be asked to verify your age. Phlhlhphlt.
More Didem
Another Turkish belly dancer does Romany style I don't know much about this dancer, but I love her music!
Couple competes on a Turkish TV show
Ahmet Ogren, a serious 'artiste' of Gypsy dances (male) has video clips on his site.
Group performs a karshilama
This dancer apparently specialized in all types of Turkish dance, but the clip & info on this page are about Romany dance. Watch the clip, it's FABULOUS!!
Romanian gypsies at a festival
Hungarian gypsies (anyone else see the Clampetts here?)
Modern Bulgarian gypsy music & dance
A turkish dancer with a Romany-style clip
This clip offers a poignant mini-documentary in pictures. Very beautiful, very very sad.
Young men/boys in Turkish folk costumes perform a karsilama
Beautiful photo-blog by an Englishman who has been photographing the Romany people for years.
A whole gallery of Turkish Romany people. Note the colors, the prints, and the modesty of the women's clothing. And the proud face of the dancer!
Fabulous collection of photographs, many galleries full. Here's an example, love the joy visible in this dancer!
Powerful, very modern journalistic-style photo Here's another, one girl wears the Turkish yazma scarf!
This photo says specifically it is Turkish gypsy women. Note the modesty of their dress.
Online Articles
This page was already linked under 'video clips' because of the wonderful little clip, but it's a great article as well, from a Turkish source.
Scroll down to the 'Notes on Turkish Roma' bit. It's short, to the point, and excellent information for belly dancers who want to dance in this style.
'Gypsy' Dance in America from Gilded Serpent (online belly dance magazine)
Article about the evidence that Gypsies originated in India with a great photo of a dancer!
Nomads of the Spirit, another article from Gilded Serpent.
Another article from the belly dance community
A wonderful interview with Tayyar Akdeniz
I haven't read any of these, but they've been highly recommended by people whose opinions I respect.
Bury Me Standing
Gypsies: The Hidden Americans
Gypsies by Jan Yoors
Rhythm & finger cymbal specifics from Shira.net
Tayyar Akdeniz Those of us who were at his workshop in St. Louis can't speak highly enough of him as a teacher.
Elizabeth 'Artemis' Mourat is Tayyar's partner in many ventures and a highly respected authority on Turkish and Turkish Romany dance. I recommend her video as an introduction to the style.
Morocco You've probably heard of Aunt Rocky, but did you know she's of Romany descent?
Eva Cernik is another well-known & highly respected Turkish-style dancer.
Romany women in London by Steve Hollingshead, available for purchase here
Romany dancer: Reuters/Petr Jose, see related article here
Little boy in Romany neighborhood in Belgrade: BBC