Mysteries of Roma dance shared with foreign holiday makers

(25 Jul 2014) LEADIN:
Hundreds of foreigners, many of them Japanese, are flooding to Turkey to learn Oriental and Romany dances.
Some Turkish travel agencies are organising trips that combine dance lessons and sightseeing activities around the country.
STORYLINE:
Megumi Masaki is a Japanese dancer who moved to Istanbul in January to learn belly dancing and the Turkish language and culture.
Masaki, who has taken the dance name of Milia, then jumped at the chance to travel to Edirne to learn Romany dance.
Edirne, a town near the Greek border is 149 miles (240 kilometres) west of Istanbul, has a thriving Roma culture.
Masaki started learning Middle Eastern dance styles five years ago in Japan and immediately got captivated by the culture.
She has since become interested in the Romany traditions.
The Roma arrived in Europe and the Middle East from India around the 14th century.
"I came to Turkey because I really wanted to learn more about Turkish and Romany dance inside the country", says Masaki.
American Lisa Kendrick, whose dance name is "Saroya", learnt about this course through a friend who visited last year.
Kendrick teaches belly dance in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States.
She was determined to join the tour when she found out that Ozgen, a Turkish Oriental and Romany choreographer based in the UK, was one of the teachers.
As the rest of the group, Kendrick is not only fascinated by the dance, but also by the local culture.
"Everything else in the world goes away", she says. "I have no worries, I have no problems, everything is wonderful when I dance. What I specifically love about the dances of the Middle East, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran� I get to learn dance steps, but I also get to learn about a different culture."
Oriental Istanbul is one of the local tour operators that offer traveling combined with culture and belly dance lessons.
The company started operating in 2011, when their founders realised there was an increasing demand abroad for Turkish culture and dances.
Oriental Istanbul offers different cultural trips around the year, including activities like Turkish cuisine, Oriental, Dervish and Romany dance.
During the tour, the customers take lessons, enjoy the local cuisine and spirits and visit the most important monuments in town.
The groups are small, not exceeding 70 people, and many of them are Japanese, according to company staff.
"Usually we have clients from all around the world, including a lot of people from Asia, specially Japan. There is a big demand from Japan for Turkish belly dance", explains Burcu Kisakurek, one of the founding partners at Oriental Istanbul.
The customers usually travel first to Istanbul, where they enjoy some lessons and sightseeing activities, and afterwards to their final destination, in this case Edirne, where the Summer Roma festival is being held.
The tour fees range from 750 to 850 Euros ($1000 approx) for a 6 day tour, according to their staff, including lessons, accommodation and transportation.
Figures by the Turkish Statistical Institute show that in 2013 about 35 million foreigners visited Turkey, including almost 200,000 from East Asian countries, 87 per cent of them Japanese.
When the travellers finally join the Roma crowd in Edirne, the locals are amazed by their dancing skills.
Many Roma people want to take pictures with them and are curious about their knowledge of the Turkish culture.
One of the Oriental Istanbul founding partners is Yoko Gemba, from Japan.
She moved to Istanbul in 2007 where she began learning Oriental dances.
She began learning belly dance in Los Angeles in 2007.

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