Ozel Turkbas - How To Belly Dance For Your Sultan (1973)

One of the most famous Turkish Middle Eastern dancers of our time, Ozel was born the 1st of September 1938 in Manisa, Turkey before moving to Ankara. She grew up in a family of artists, her mother was a dancer and oud player and was taught singing, ballet, and acting as a member of the State Children's Theatre in Ankara. She and her sister, Tancan Ferguson, known as Ozel Kardesler, began their singing careers in Istanbul. Ozel starred in 14 Turkish films and was modeling for PeReJa and graced many covers for Hayat magazine through the years. While still in Turkey she met, fell in love and married her husband of 55 years famous producer Ayhan Turkbas. Ozel was also honored to represent Turkey in International film Festivals such as Cannes and Venice as well.

Ozel was already a star before she came to the United States in 1959 invited by famous Italian director Franco Zeffirelli. He specifically wanted Ozel in the staring role of "La Orientale" in his production of the Texas Dallas Civic Opera production of "Thais". Before that engagement began Ozel's first experience in the US was dancing in Baltimore, MD. The crowds were enchanted and fell in love with this foreign talented beauty hinting at the upcoming successes she would encounter on her journey here in America.

Ozel's dancing and performances were beautiful and her costumes works of art commissioned to local artists back home. A multi-talented entertainer, Ozel not only performed her regular belly dance shows, but also sang and danced in three languages, Turkish, Greek and Arabic and in some shows layered her costumes to represent each song from those three countries she was singing. Ozel was an example of the "cream of the crop" in foreign dancers that came to work in NYC's Greektown, Baltimore,MD, Washington, D.C., Cleveland and other cities throughout the United States.

Ozel worked with amazing musicians in both Turkey and the US including, Ahmet Yatman (kanun), Cevdet Cagla, Cevdet Cagla (violin), Tarik Bulut, Tarik Bulut (piano), Gerhard Rudolph (bass guitar), Leszlo Kubinyi (drum), Mustafa Kandirali (clarinet),Akagunduz Kutbay (ney), Ilkin Dinletir, Ramazan Senyaylar (bongos), Ergun Sener (darabukka), Metin Sanliel (dumbek), Erdogan Sabunuc (spoons), Kemal Gurses, Kemal Gürses (tambourine), Paul Bogosian (trumpet), and more. She graced the covers of several records including "How to Make Your Husband A Sultan" that not only sold over 150,000 copies in the US but over 1 million overseas and she sang and played finger cymbals on all of them! She even wrote "How To Belly Dance" booklets that accompanied each record to help educate all the woman buying them on this beautiful art form. Marketing savvy was truly at work in her career and assisted by Ayhan who also acted as her manager.

An accomplished author, Ozel wrote several books including The Belly Dancer In You and a delightful cookbook on Turkish cuisine! Food was near and dear to her and she and her husband owned restaurants in both Cleveland, OH and New York for a short time. In the 1970's Ozel appeared on television shows numerous times celebrating the dance and cooking with performances on the Mike Douglas Show, Merv Griffin Show, Dinah Shore and the Joe Franklin show.

Ozel was a private, soft-spoken woman and dedicated to her family and children. She was also a pioneer in the field of Middle Eastern dance bringing the exotic rhythms and movements from her home country to her new home she embraced in the United States, namely making New York her "hometown". It seems every belly dancer, performer, instructor had her records on hand as "staples" in their studios for teaching and learning. The music has been remastered today onto cds and the dancers of today, decades after Ozel came to the USA enjoy the dynamics and authenticity of those records and will for years to come. Few if any other foreign dancers could match her legacy and Ozel will always be remember for her contributions to the dance community