Leyla Bedir Khan

Leyla Bedir Khan (1903, Constantinople – 1986, Paris) was a ballet dancer and a Kurdish princess of the Bedir Khan family.

Biography

Leyla Bedir Khan's birthdate is disputed, but it was likely 31 July 1903 as she was born in Constantinople. Leyla herself said, she was born in 1908, but her father was in prison in Libya between 1906 and 1910. She was born into a noble household to Abdürrezzak Bedir Khan, a descendent of Bedir Khan Beg and Henriette Ornik, a dentist of Austrian-Jewish origin. Her first years she passed in the Ottoman Empire, but her family soon settled in Egypt, where she grew up with the diplomatic society in Cairo and Alexandria.[1]After her father's death, she and her mother went to live in Vienna,where Leyla took her first dancing lessons.[2] To complete her secondary education, she attended a school in Montreux, Switzerland.[1] She started a dancing career afterwards, and by 1924 she starred at the Vienna Konzerthaus.[3] Leyla left for France to pursue her career. While staying in Paris, she studied dances of the Indian and Persian cultures as well as of the Zoroastrian rites for a year.[4] She performed at opera houses in Europe[5][6] and the United States.[7] In 1932, she was the first Kurdish ballet dancer to appear at the opera house La Scala in Milan.[2] About her choreography of her oriental dances it was reported she said she actually didn't really learn the dances she performed, she improvised, while using mostly her arms and body and not so much her legs.[8] She was able to include dances from the different cultures through which she went through in life, such as Egyptian and Assyrian, in her repertoire. During her career, she was often been announced as a Kurdish princess or a Kurdish star.[2]

Personal life

Leyla Bedir Khan and Henri Touache married in 1930. The couple became parents to a daughter, named Nevin.[2] Leyla passed away in Paris in 1986.[2]

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References
  1. Henning, Barbara (2018-04-03). Narratives of the History of the Ottoman-Kurdish Bedirhani Family in Imperial and Post-Imperial Contexts: Continuities and Changes. Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press. pp. 601–602. ISBN 978-3-86309-551-2.
  2. "Leyla Bedirxan, une icône de la danse". KEDISTAN (in French). 2016-03-26. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  3. "ANNO, Das interessante Blatt, 1924-10-16, Seite 8". anno.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  4. Meiselas, Susan (1997). Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History. Random House. p. 136. ISBN 0679423893.
  5. Alakom, Rohat. "Leyla Bedirhan Stockholm'de". Bianet. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  6. "Rundschau" (PDF). Danse Suisse. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  7. Martin, John (1931-03-04). "KURDISTAN PRINCESS GIVES DANCE PROGRAM; Leila Bederkhan Makes Her Debut Here in Offerings of Oriental Flavor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  8. Bory, Helene (16 December 1932). "La princesse Kurde Leyla Bederkhan nous parle de danses et de femmes d'Orient". Paris Midi. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
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