So You Wanna Be a Gypsy
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Almond eyes flashing and brown skin shining in the light of the campfire; brilliant colored skirts spinning to the strains of the violin; hearts beating to the beat of the drum – faster and faster; the moon and stars pierce the emptiness of the black night, as the painted caravan finds an evening of rest from the endless road…
Romanticized, shrouded in mystery and misunderstood, the Roman, Drom, Rom or “gypsy” people have eluded scholars, politicians and artists unlike any other people of the relatively contemporary world. They live permanently in the present. Perhaps the atrocities perpetrated upon them in their past has made this a necessary part of their mental and emotional survival. Perhaps this is why these people have an inimitable love and lust for life, often in spite of circumstances and conditions that would crush the hardiest among us. This virtual absence of written and verbal history, even within their communities, has made attempts to trace their origins almost impossible. Only linguistic evidence uncovered in their common Romani Chie language, traced them back to Northern India, specifically the areas of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Punjab.
For those who are not familiar with Indian society, if you are born to a certain tribe, you stay in the tribe, your work is the work of the tribe, as it always has been and always will be. If you are a metal worker, your grandfather, father, son, grandson and even the women are metal workers. It is also an unforgiveable sin to intermarry between tribes. How then did the Roma become known for their unequivocal skills as metal workers, animal trainers and traders, as well as entertainers? According to Roger Morreau, who has written a brilliant and soulful account “Walking in the Path of the Gypsies”, of his most unusual research adventures to unveil the origins of these enigmatic people the ROMA did not actually originate as one, but 3 distinct and very separate tribes: the Banjar tribe who are known for their skills as animal trainers and traders; the Gaduliyar tribe who are the metal workers; and of course the Kanjar tribe – the entertainers, dancers and musicians who have played a pivotal role in the birth and development of the middle eastern arts. He theorizes that members of these three tribes were captured during the overthrow of the Rajput Empire and held as slaves by the Afghan Turks for up to 1,000 years within the ‘natural’ prison of the “Dasht i Nawar” – Dessert of the Gypsies.
The extremely unusual circumstances of this situation resulted in the intermarriage of these tribes and the consequential fusion into one people. When the ruthless dynasty of the Afghan Turks ended with Mahumd the Impure, these slaves were finally without captives and free to go. However, as their intermarriage had transgressed the one unforgiveable sin in India, they could not return to their homeland in the East, so headed West, with a lengthy stop in Tabriz, Persia and finally onto Istanbul, Turkey.
Throughout this journey, they brought with them their legacy of music, dance and entertainment. This legacy along with the incredible skill and talent that it has fostered is still very evident today in the huge Roman community of Istanbul, both within and outside its many Roman neighborhoods. Roman musicians play at countless restaurant and clubs throughout the city. The majority of the Turkish oriental dancers happen to be Roman, although the traditional Roman dance was relatively unseen or unheard of outside of the Roman community until a few years ago. Now Roman music and dance is experiencing and rapid growth in popularity and it is not uncommon for an oriental dancer to finish her show with a heavy pulsing Roman 9/8, as she presents her personal version of this and powerful and visceral dance. Hopefully this new trend will finally bring recognition to the Roman people of Turkey and hopefully keep Roman dance alive and thriving.
Prior to my Turkish adventures, I had travelled to Egypt on several occasions to study dance. While there I had the good fortune to meet and dance with the Mazin sisters in Luxor (the Egyptian gypsies). This was an amazing experience which I will never forget. I have also studied with their younger cousin, Masoub who now trains the new generation of dancers from his family home. To me he is the personification of the Egyptian “gypsy”, with his bawdy humor, love of entertaining and indisputable mastery of his pneumatic hips. I had also lived in Spain for three years, studying flamenco 5 to 6 hours a day with many of the most revered artists and teachers in the world, most of who were from the great gypsy families.
I have also been fortunate enough to have had several Roman teachers in Turkey, as well as to have been in the right place at the right time, during impromptu and/or organized parties and events where I had the chance to see and dance with many Turkish Roman people (understandably more men than women). I love them all and learnt from the all. However, when my friend Delpha, an oriental dancer from Portland who has been living in Istanbul introduced me to Reyhan I knew that I had met a very special teacher! She is also a very special woman. Tiny but strong, sweet but powerful, proud but charming, funny but dignified, sensual but shy, this housewife with two lovely daughters and a musician husband, is generous to a fault, while living in a tiny modest “one night” squatter’s house with no running water or plumbing, that clings precariously to a steep hillside on “Rose St.”, in the gypsy neighborhood of GaziOsman.
As in most traditional teaching situations, Reyhan shares her gifts through movement – she does – we do with her – we follow. Although he does not “teach” verbally, but she does slowly and carefully repeat things again and again, occasionally stopping to clarify some detail or another of her movement, hand position. She also explains the meaning of many of the gestures and hand movements that she shows us. Some of these depict daily life and its many tasks such as making soup, doing laundry, grinding, making and drinking coffee or, perhaps, tea, making bread. Some imitate musicians playing the instruments of the traditional Roman music such as the kanoon, clarinet, kamanji, zurna, and drum. Many display the strength of the Roman people, always reminding us that it is man’s world full of hard work and guns. Alternatively, the perfume and sweetness of flowers, the lights from candles at a wedding celebration, the soul of the eyes, the fickleness of the heart give reign to the domain of woman. Many are reminiscent of the dancer’s roots in Indian dance, such as the showing and tapping of precious bracelets that represented the wealth of the family. The foot patterns are few, but take a great deal of practice to be able to change from one to the other seamlessly and effortlessly, especially while navigating the tricky 9/8 rhythm and all while moving continually in a circular pattern in her tiny studio at the back of her house.
Turkish Roman is essentially defined by an almost primal, or what I call visceral focus on strong abdominal contractions and releases of the pelvis. However, far from being vulgar these pelvic movements combine with the earthy grounded foot patterns of absence thereof, the mysterious gestures that reach into the distant past and tell stories long forgotten in words, with the playful, sensual uninhibited joy and flirtation to create a dance so unique, captivating and REAL that few can resist its’ magic. When I asked her where she gets all of her amazing inspiration. She smiles and simply says from God.
We are hoping to be able to bring Reyhan to America and Canada in the spring of 2008 so that she can share her very special dance with those of you who are unable to make to join us in Turkey to study with her in her home. For more info keep in touch with me at hadia@hadia.com
Reyhan Tuzsuz; Original Roman
Learning Turkish Gyspy dance from an authentic master of Turkish Gypsy dance is almost an unheard of opportunity. Even in turkey, it is a rarity for a roman person to actually teach the cultural dance form that is so integral to their lives.
Reyhan Tuzsuz, through her generous heart and desire to spread the joy of Roman Dance, had made a simple life for herself teaching dance out of her humble home in Istanbul. And now she taken her technique, her culture and her spirit to the Western World to be learned by admirers of Folk and Oriental Dance alike.
Reyhan lives in the same Roman neighborhood she grew up in, GaziOsman Pasa, Istanbul. She learned to dance as all Roman do, by watching others and feeling the music at weddings and special events.
From a young age, Reyhan had a gift for interpreting and stylizing to Roman music. She is totally improvisational, surprising even herself with what the music can inspire from moment to moment. “Roman without the joy of life is not Roman” as she would say. A session is more than a class, it is an opportunity to experience the joy, strength and life of the Roman culture. She is a young and vivacious woman who has not separated her dance from her core identity and her spiritual being.