My love for dance started at a very young age, I remember dancing at hen nights and weddings with more mature girls who could dance well. They would wrap a scarf around my hips and head and put me to middle and I would copy them. I was always good at my practical skills. I started my dance history with practicing belly dance then Turkish, Azerbaijani and Kurdish Folk Dance whole through my primary school, high school and university. I was a member of many Turkish Folk Dance groups. The types of folk dance I performed were Kars (a city in North east Turkey), Adana (a city in Mediterranean part of Turkey), Gaziantep (a city in South East Turkey), Bitlis (East Turkey), Elazig( East Turkey), Tunceli( East Turkey), Ankara (The capital City). I had training in "Kafkas, Kasik oyunlari(spoon dance), Dogu Halay, Cukurova Halay, Atabari, Chiftetelli" styles. These Folk Dance practices gave me a good knowledge of using steps and other types of feet movements, snaky arms, turnings, using veil and spoon in dance, and putting a story into choreography for dance performances.
I loved all the costumes came with it as well as performing of different cultures of dance groups in Turkey. My mother is a tailor and was designing and sewing the costumes for the dancers. I think my costume making skills coming from her.
I studied Turkish Folk Dance Teaching Course for two years and became a qualified Turkish Folk Dance Teacher in 1996 then I moved to UK to study further. I studied City&Guilds Initial teacher Training Stages 1 and 2 in level 4, then CertEd and completed the course with merit. Seeing belly dance’s popularity in UK and having all the encouragement to teach and perform from my Iranian friends, firstly I opened a class then started to teach in Adult Education Center’s around Birmingham in year 2000. After a while I decided to carry out these classes at Walmley Hall, where I still hold regular Tuesday classes from September to August. I also booked to teach at workshops and henna parties.
I joined some charity events in Redditch with a local Belly Dancer Georgia, taught at workshops and participated in Belly Dance Festival in Malvern, taught at workshops in Stourbridge and in primary schools in Birmingham area. In August I turn all my attention to Turkish ladies and tourists in Anamur Turkey, where I go for my holiday.

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Özlem is dancing for MTV music video

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