About Us

This year we will be organising our 3rd workshop in Istanbul for 04 – 09 May 2011. After succesful workshops we organised in Hidrellez Festival May 2010 & Dec 2010 for one week; we decided to continue our workshops regularly in the same dates every year. Participants & visitors from all over the world will join our workshops and we hope that they will learn the technique of Turkish Style and practice what they learned while meeting different dancers from different nations.
5th of May 2011 will be the evening of the Hidrellez Festival and all together with our student we will enjoy the evening of this special evening with gypsy music in Ahirkapi.
January 2011

Gypsy & Orientale Workshops

Focusing on both technique & interpretation; our workshops aim at teaching you to experience the joy and tune your body in a fun, good humoured and well disciplined environment.
The lessons we will be seeing the characteristics of the different styles and techniques such as; Turkish Roman, Traditional & Arabic dances.

Tel : +90 212 527 68 59 or +90 544 220 10 22

Büyük Harita Istanbul Gypsy Festival

Learning Turkish Belly Dancing Gypsy Style

I decided to come to Istanbul, Turkey in order to improve my Turkish. However, since it was my “break” from law school, I decided to indulge myself. I decided to take belly dancing lessons while I stayed in Turkey. I have always been interested in the type of dance and have seen a few performances in the U.S. I have done other types of dances and belly dancing was a type of dance that was on my list however, since starting law school, massive law books have been the major occupier of my time. So now that I am on my “break” and had time to do things that I actually want to do, I decided to take belly dancing lessons while I was in Istanbul. Before I left the U.S. to come to Istanbul, I “Googled” belly dancing lessons and the best place and affordable prices I found were with Les Arts Turcs which is actually the reason why I contacted Les Arts Turcs in the first place. This was my first interaction with the company. They were able assist me in finding a great instructor and at a very reasonable price. My instructor is Aytül Hasaltun. The studio is in a great location, by the Galata Tower, and it’s a very professional studio. My classes have been for two hours each week. I realize that four weeks of learning Belly Dancing for the first time in one’s life can be viewed as a pointless endeavor, however I have come to realize, quite quickly, that Belly Dancing is not only a way to enjoy a culture but also good for the dancer’s health. It is a great work out! I am very much enjoying my lessons which have been private, by the way. Aytül has been such a great instructor. She is extremely talented and very patient with me. Not that I was thinking belly dancing would be easy to do, but it is much harder than I thought it would be. I’m grateful to her and for this opportunity. I still have two more lessons but I am already feeling bad that I won’t be able to continue. The law books are starting to call and so my stay in Istanbul is coming to an end. So for now, all I can do is enjoy the last to classes and take it all in. Since I’m heading into my final year of law school and therefore my time will be a little less constrained, I have decided that I will continue belly dancing lessons back in Chicago when I return. I think it is great that my first introductory classes have been in a place like Turkey.

Ana M. Villegas
Chicago / USA
09 / 06 / 2008