In Istanbul She Dances

On Sammi Cox’s writing blog the weekend writing prompt is to write a poem or a piece of prose in exactly 67 words, using the word “rhythm” or any variation of that word. I’ve written a prose poem inspired by the Turkish Romani (Gypsy) belly dancer Didem Kinali. As I explained in my previous short story Aneta the Cleaner, the Roma or Romani people come from India. The Turkish style of belly dancing is heavily influenced by Romani female dancing, which in turn is related to the dancing of the women of the Kalbelia people of India, who are musicians, dancers, and snake charmers. Didem Kinali performs a belly dance that is very similar to the snake dance of the Kalbelia women, which is based on the swaying movements of the cobra. I’ve drawn an illustration to go with the poem.

In Istanbul she dances, spinning swiftly to the rhythm of the snake dance, the dance of her ancestors of distant India. In a dark room of pillars she dances, not beneath the desert sun of Rajasthan. But it is the same dance of beauty, of swiftly moving curves, of the Kalbelia women of far away India. The movements of a cobra in the body of a woman.