About me
I began to learn the traditional belly dance from my grandmother, who is from Izmir, Turkey when I was five. She gave my name, too, which I use now as alias: Inci, meaning pearl, and Deniz, meaning sea.
In my childhood I spent the summers in Turkey, so I had the opportunity to learn about a wonderful culture, including dance culture as well. I learnt Turkish folk dances including war, sword and circle dances, and, of course belly dancing which was a science coming traditionally from mother to daughter. Almost every weekend a company of relatives, friends came together who danced just having their own amusement. It is a great joy for me to remember these parties.
Meanwhile, living in Hungary I learned to dance steadily from childhood. At the age of eight I met the basics of Hungarian folk dance in the Dunaszekcsői Dance Group, later I went to dance in the Szekszárd Bartina group, when I was fourteen. Here I learnt from Mihaly Szabadi, who had a national reputation, as choreographer. He taught not only folklore, but the fundamentals of classical ballet and contemporary dance, even on a very high standard. At the end I became a professional dancer, when I completed courses for dance teachers of Endre Jeszenszky. The main practical objects were: jazz dance and contemporary dance. As the master's assistant I taught my Gypsy and oriental choreographies to other dance groups.
Then I worked for many years in different cities of Turkey, always searching for the dance schools, workshops, where I could learn. For example, I learned in Istanbul from the only dancer and teacher, who was a former ballet dancer and excellent belly dancer and she taught a great mixing of the two genres. It is worthy of note the Nahema belly dance class in Bonn, with its uniquely effective method of teaching. As a belly dancer I can learn Indian dances and contemporary modern dance, and last but not least African tribal dance in Berlin. I was impressed by the 1999 trip to Paris, where together with a French choreographer we reconstructed the dance of Mata Hari. In Paris I learnt Isadora Duncan's contemporary dance styles and from that time I have been dancing mostly in Duncan's style. I can completely identify with the art and philosophy of Duncan.
Later I combined the lessons learned on these trips abroad with the steps from my grandmother, thereby creating a unique belly dance style, which I called Grandma's dance, to indicate the origin and diversity of style and uniqueness. I teach this dance to this day: folklore with modern elements, using valuable, centuries-old motives. I popularize this dance in the program of the University of Pécs also. The other important aspect is that I try to connect the elements of modern dance to the traditional dance, which I brought from my family and I have developed in my dance classes. Today, I developed a sort of „instinct dance”, an impressionistic dance style, in which one can express the passion or pain of the human living in the present.
It is a great gift of life to share as a model in a different kind of valuable artistic field, the field of photography. In October 2004, in the Naive Café, Pécs, there was a highly successful exhibition titled "The Birth of Venus" with images of me (Akos Rajnai was the photographer). The photos of the exhibition were dance, nude photos and portraits. Since June 2005 I work with the members of the National Association of Hungarian Photographers: I can emphasize Adam Szathmar-Kiraly, photographer. Our work was shown in an exhibition in May 2006 in the Aula FEEK, as 'Mother Earth - the harmony of nature and feminine beauty" in the title.
In 2007, I successfully completed my model exams in commercial, photography and fashion categories. In 2008 for my cultural activities I received the „Jewel of Pécs” award from the local government.