Kostana is an Oriental Dancer based in the Washington, DC area, who specializes in Turkish Oriental and Romani (Gypsy) dance as well as Egyptian Raqs al Sharqi (“bellydance”).
She strives to make all her performances artistic, creative, & authentic by bringing a sense of cultural awareness to her dance both on stage and in the classroom. She has studied with renowned Romani and Cabaret dancers in Turkey as well as throughout the United States. Kostana is especially grateful for the opportunity to study with Reyhan Tuzsuz of Turkey.
She also trains and performs with the Kardelen Turkish Folkdancers in Washington, DC.
In addition, Kostana has studied Egyptian & Lebanese folkloric and cabaret dances with Faten Salama (former member of the National Egyptian Folkloric Dance Troupe), Piper Hunt, Lotus Niraja, Nourhan Sharif, Samara, Cassandra, Raqia Hassan, and Mohamed Shahin among others.
Kostana performs regularly in the DC metro area and has graced the stages of the Ode to Peace Festival, the World Culture Open, & the Kennedy Center Milennium Stage & the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC. She is honored to have performed with the following distinguished musicians: Husnu Aydogdu, Souhail Kaspar and John Bilezikjian, the SK Near East Ensemble, Rachid Halihal, Selim Sesler, Grup Nazar, the Casablanca band, the Folktours Ensemble, The Balkan Brothers, Ishtar and Issam Houshan of the Bellydance Superstars.
Kostana currently teaches Oriental dance at Saffron Dance. She has also taught workshops in Rhythm & Movement and authentic Turkish Romani dance at Bellypalooza, Drum & Splash and Buffalo on the Danube.
Kostana has been published in WAMEDA newsletter, & Zaghareet
& Habibi magazines.
Photo by Roger Wood
Sidqi (Brad Sidwell) has over 30 years experience playing darabuka. He is experienced in Balkan, Turkish, Rromany & Middle Eastern drumming technique.
He started out as a Balkan folk dancer at the University of Chicago and was soon internalizing Balkan rhythms. He had his first darabuka lesson with an Iraqi percussionist, Abdul Alwan, in Wisconsin in the late 70’s. Some of Sidqi’s most significant influences have been Zev Feldman, Leszlo Kubinyi, Seido Salifoski, Souhail Kaspar, Hearn Gadbois, and Senol Sebebci, a Rromany drummer in Turkey.
After he moved to the Washington DC area, Sidqi played with BAMCO, a Balkan music band, for 18 years. In the early eighties he was honored to play professionally for eight years with an all-Greek band in restaurants, church festivals and weddings. He has done extensive audio and video field recording across the United States and in Europe.
In 1996, Sidqi’s love for Romani music led him to connect with Artemis Mourat of Washington, DC, and he began accompanying her bellydance classes, workshops and performances. Sidqi has been a featured teacher at Rakkasah East and at M.E.D. Folktours Music and Dance camp in Pennsylvania. He has also taught at Baltimore Bellypalooza, and has accompanied Artemis at the Joy of Motion Dance Center in DC. He is current director of the drum program at Sahara Dance School in DC.
Sidqi has played darabuka for numerous dance workshops for Artemis, Rhea of Greece, Eva Cernik, Anahid Sofian, Tayyar Akdeniz, and Sani Rafati. He has performed at Casablanca restaurant in Virginia, the University of Chicago Spring Festival, EEFC Balkan camps, Golden Festival in NY and M.E.D. Folktours Music and Dance camps with such well-known musicians as Faruk Tekbilek, Seido Salifoski, and Yuri Yunikov. Sidqi has also been a guest artist on several folk CD’s including Kiva’s "Call to Beauty". As a potter in the late 70's and early 80's, Sidqi developed an innovative darabuka design that accommodates both Arabic and Turkish stylings.
