HOME BIO PERFORMANCES CLASSES CONTACT PHOTO GALLERY VIDEOS LINKS ABOUT TURKEY
Arabic/Turkish (Oriental and Gypsy) Style Dancer/Instructor
DILEK, means “wish” in Turkish
2008 Belly Dance Of the Universe
Competition
CHAMPION, Taxim Category
FIRST RUNNER UP, Universal Category
THIRD RUNNER UP, Veil Category
CBS TV News Footage
http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=5989@kcbs.dayport.com
FOR PICTURES:
http://www.bellydanceroftheuniverse.com/bduc2008/bduc2008-winners.htm
2007 Arabesque Belly Dance Competition,
SECOND PLACE, Soloist Cabaret
2007 NATCMED Belly Dance Competition,
2007 International Belly Dance Convention,
SECOND RUNNER UP, Folkloric Category
2006
FAVORITE DANCER
SECOND RUNNER UP, 2007 Zaghareet Best Kept
Secret Award
http://www.zaghareet.freeservers.com/poll.html
LEVEL II CERTIFIED FROM
2007
International Belly Dance Convention,
Dilek has been performing belly dancing regularly at San Diego's
most popular Middle Eastern restaurants, private parties, weddings, engagements,
birthdays, showers, also for high rank military personnel at Camp Pendleton
& Navy Base, stage shows, large corporate events (Coca Cola, Qualcomm 25th
Year Anniversary), school shows (UCSD, USD, SDSU, various high schools), local
and Southern Californian clubs.
She was featured at local TV commercials for Greek Town Buffet
as featured dancer, Zorba’s TV Commercial, Vaudeville Theater Shows.
She is a Turkish origin Middle Eastern Dance Artist; started
learning in
She is a software quality assurance engineer by day and
professional belly dancer by night. She has a respect and love for this dance.
Dilek received her Bachelor’s in BA, Accounting from one of the most
repetitive college in
Her shows are family oriented, and fun for everyone has
interest, love, and respect to Raks Sharqi/Oriyental Dans.
She has been training students in Arabic and Turkish Style of
Dances.
She is known by her strong style and
technique, elegant presentation of the music, extensive cultural background,
Turkish drop, beautiful candle dance, amazing shimmies and layering, lovely
personality, inner and outer beauty.
BACKGROUND
She was born and
raised in
She grew up listening
Middle Eastern Music and watching Belly Dancing. Weddings, parties were her
favorite places to be, so she could practice her talent. It is not common for
an educated young Turkish girl to be a belly dancer, so that was not even a
question.
Even though Dilek has
been dancing for about 4 years now, she had the natural talent that it is very
difficult to find and easy to improve with proper training. “She is a real gem”
to some says. She is very appreciative to her teachers that they have given her
opportunities to become a star.
She has the talent
that “she strongly believes that it comes from her real Turkish blood”, was
embellished, excelled and improved with proper training from the most famous
teachers, long hours of practice, sweat, determination, love and passion. Up to
this moment Dilek consistently takes classes weekly and workshop at least 5-10
times a year.
She is proud to hear
all the time that her audience asks her if she is from
Dilek can interpret the music with feelings come from the melodies
with her unique style, she knows how to connect with the audience, and she
brings Turkish/Middle Eastern authentic flair to your parties, special
occasions. She is knowledged about the music, culture, people, religions,
cuisine, traditions and ethics. If you are interested in hiring a well-rounded
dance artist, Dilek can offer you so much more than what you expect.
TEACHERS/INFLUENCES/WORKSHOPS
Local Teachers (since 2002):
I have
taken probably with almost all the teachers in
Morwenna
Assaf and Vilia are my current instructors where I go and polish my skills and
learn something new each time to improve my technique.
Workshops (since 2003):
Mahmoud
Reda, Aida Nour, Tito of Egypt, Mohammad Kazzafy, Amir Thaleb, Suhalia
Salimpour, Jamila Salimpour, Angelika Nemeth, Sabuha of Germany, Layla Jovana,
Fahtiem, Rachel George, Aziza, Sonia of BDSS, Kamaal, Leila of Cairo, Sahra
Saeeda, Marguerite, Mesmera, Rachel Brice
I was born and raised in
Currently, I am the only Turkish Dancer in the
I have been getting my formal training from famous instructors in belly dance
world. One of them is Famous, Legendary Jamila and Suhaila Salimpour, from
famous Suhaila School of Dance in SF. I have regular trainings with Morwenna
Assaf locally, famous East Coast performer and instructor, who also
trained famous Nourhan Sharif. Morwenna was trained by famous, legendary
Ibrahim Farrah “Bobby Farrah”. Walid Assaf is my drummer teacher, amazing,
energetic Lebanese drummer/teacher; http://www.danceranddrummer.com
I
consistently improve myself by exposing to different styles/techniques by
taking workshops with well-known instructors such as world-wide known,
legendary Mahmoud Reda (for the last 3 years), Fahtiem, , Kamaal, Angelika
Nemeth, Alexandra King, Mesmera, regularly. Some of the local teachers with who
I was also trained, at the beginning of my dance career; Ana, Cyrena, Lucia,
Meleah.
My style of dance is Turkish and Arabic, but I also like to
dance to Gypsy rhythms because of the sound of the tambourine and
clarinet. I do use zills (finger cymbals) with Turkish and Arabic styles
of dance. I am currently working on a research project on Turkish Gypsies, and
will be traveling to
Other props I use in my performance are the veil, tambourine, sword, cane, and
the candle tray. I love to mesmerize the audience with my impressions and
feeling, interpreting the music into my dance. My cute accents, strong
shimmies, Turkish drops and backbends, beautiful and elegant arm moves, strong
isolations, high energy, communication with my audience, and face impressions
make me a unique Turkish dancer.
There are so many dreams I would love to pursue such as
interior design, opening my own Ottoman cuisine specialty restaurant in
downtown
My current goal is completing my 200 hour Yoga Alliance YTT training and start teaching yoga.
I also want to accomplish a training in Ashtanga yoga with famous David
Swenson. Some day I want to go to
I am extremely happy to live in
