"Who's Coming!?"..."ASENA!"...This was the catch-phrase entrance of ASENA, Turkey's most well known and MODERNISING BELLY DANCER from singer host İBRAHİM TATLISES on his variety program 'The İbo Show'...
Like TURKISH FOLK star, SABAHAT AKKIRAZ, and Egypt's BELLY DANCER, DINA, ASENA lived ABROAD a lot as a child. Both SABAHAT and ASENA were Turks who lived in Germany and brought their own FOREIGN ideas, education and romantic 'oriental art' ideals to Turkey, unlike Turkey-born stars who wished to 'Americanise' everything.
Egypt's Dancer DINA lived extensively in Italy as a child and also brought a similar ideal to Egyptian BELLY DANCE, unlike the 'conservative' women of 1980s Egypt who would not consider Dance as a career or Cultural area for MODERNISATION.
BELLY DANCE is a somewhat difficult topic in The Turkish Republic. The political reforms of The Republic from 1923 were in place to make Turkey: "Turn to the West" in terms of Culture and Politics.
A serious argument in both Turkey and Egypt, particularly in these times of Piousness and Religious Fundamentalism: "Is Belly Dance Egyptian or Turkish?" This is the big question as neither country in the Pious Times seems to want 'responsibility' for the dance.
Turks will often say: "Belly Dance never existed in Turkey until The Ottomans colonised Egypt and it came from there".
Egyptians will often say: "Belly Dance is an 'oriental' style brought from India by The Ottomans and never existed in Egypt before The Ottoman Empire".
There is evidence that BELLY was originally ceremoniously done in all-female gatherings in Egypt during child-birth to distract the mother from the pain and anxiety in Egypt. There is some evidence that BELLY DANCE may have been performed in Turkish Palaces. There is also some speculation that this 'Women's Dance' was made into a dance for men by liberalisation under The British Empire.
One thing is clear, BELLY DANCE in Turkey and Egypt are in different styles with Turkish performers being more athletic with larger whole body moves. However, in Egypt, the dance is more static and un-athletic with more focus on hip shaking and certain stylistic movements that are not seen in Turkish artists.
MIDDLE EASTERN DANCE and MUSIC are something that that Modern Turkey had no real place for and for decades until the time of Cinema. Turkish Films tended to copy Egypt's Films with BELLY DANCERS that were imported from Cairo for a time then stopped as Arabic was a language that was 'forbidden' in The Turkish Republic. Turk Cinema employed BELLY DANCE numbers that were out of context with contemporary Turkish Culture but blindly followed Egypt as other film industries were not so similar in culture to Turkey.
BELLY DANCE became re-established in Turkey through Cinema but with an image of larger heavier ladies imitating Egyptian Cinema. BELLY DANCE became mainly a Tourist Culture done in night clubs or theatres. By 1980s the interest in MIDDLE EASTERN ENTERTAINMENT waned.
