Biography
Nilay (pronounced Knee-lie) is Turkish born and raised belly dancer who has studied the art of belly dance for several years with many highly accredited dancers in US and Turkey. She moved to US for further studies in 2001 and started to develop her belly dance technique. She danced in New Mexico with a troupe and solo. Her early choreography work is rooted from these dates.
Prior she belly danced in the living room to Turkish cassette tapes of infamous Turkish belly dancer compilations. Today she is based in Bakersfield, but performs all throughout California and competing in the United States and internationally. Upon developing her style, she has been performing, teaching, choreographing, producing workshops and short videos.
Her style is a lively, joyous and energetic mixture of excitement from modern Turkish oriental belly dance. She has extensive prop usage of, but not limited of tambourine, fans, fan veils, veils, isis wings and sword. Her dance has been expressed to contain fierce, feisty, and fiery quality which makes it unique in the sensuous world of belly dance.
Currently Nilay is working on competitive belly dance choreographies, show production and youtube channel recordings to serve belly dance students. She taught Belly Dance Fitness classes at In Shape Health Clubs of Bakersfield for 5 years. Also she combined hot yoga format with belly dancing for Hot Belly Dance format at Warrior 1 Yoga Spa of Bakersfield. These classes have been designed to incorporate internal muscle connection to belly dance isolation technique to target muscle toning especially for hips, abs, legs and shoulder frame. Simple but various choreographies are introduced every month to achieve cardio improvement. Upon layering the correct technique on choreography combinations and creating continuous flow of dance, core impact also becomes a pleasant side effect.
Aside from fitness Nilay has been teaching intermediate belly dance classes at Divine Integration Studio in Bakersfield as well as NEMA (Neighbors Embracing Multi-Cultural Arts) in Oxnard. Her troupe Zultanite performed in variety of shows in Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, Bay Area and San Francisco. Nilay regularly performs almost every weekend in many California locations as well as other states. Please check the Calendar to find a show.
Nilay has won multiple awards in various categories of belly dancing in many states and internationally. She has been crowned as the Belly Dancer USA in 2018 and got inducted into the Hall of Fame of Belly Dancer of the Universe in 2019. Please see the awards list below.
AWARDS WON
2003 Amaya's Shake'n Bake Troupe Competition, Albuquerque, NM: 3rd Place with Troupe Et Alia
2012 Shimmython, Cairo Caravan, Long Beach, CA: 2012 Shimmy Queen
2013 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 2nd Runner Up Specialty Prop
2013 Jewel of the Sierra, Placerville, CA: 1st Runner Up Got Props?
2014 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 2nd Runner Up Taksim
2014 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 2nd Runner Up Fusion
2014 Michigan Middle Eastern Dance Championships, Grand Rapids, MI: 1st Place Oriental
2014 Michigan Middle Eastern Dance Championships, Grand Rapids, MI: 1st Place Drum Solo Improv
2014 Michigan Middle Eastern Dance Championships, Grand Rapids, MI: 1st Place Fusion
2014 Michigan Middle Eastern Dance Championships, Grand Rapids, MI: 1st Place Taksim Improv
2014 Michigan Middle Eastern Dance Championships, Grand Rapids, MI: 2nd Place Props
2014 Michigan Middle Eastern Dance Championships, Grand Rapids, MI: 2nd Place Oriental Improv
2014 Michigan Middle Eastern Dance Championships, Grand Rapids, MI: 2nd Place Routine Roulette
2014 Jewel of the Sierra, Placerville, CA; 2nd Place Fusion
2014 Jewel of the SIerra, Placerville, CA; 2nd Place Professional
2015 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: Taksim Champion
2015 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: Universal Category 1st Runner Up
2015 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: Miss Congeniality
2015 La Danse Oriental, Seattle, WA: 1st Place Alternative-Themed Solo
2015 La Danse Oriental, Seattle, WA: 2nd Place Prop-tacular
2015 Belly Dancer of the Universe Westcoast Regionals, Glendale, CA: Champion
2015 Belly Dancer of the Universe Westcoast Regionals, Glendale, CA: People's Choice
2016 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: Universal Champion
2016 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 3rd Runner Up Drum Solo
2016 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 3rd Place Pro Alternative Music Category
2016 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 1st Place Pro Alternative Music Category, People's Choice
2016 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 3rd Place Professional Live Music Improv
2016 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 2nd Place Jungle Boogie Improv
2016 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 2nd Place Jungle Boogie Improv, People's Choice
2016 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 2nd Place Fusion
2016 Belly Dancer of the World, Duisburg, Germany: 1st Place, Folklore
2016 Belly Dancer of the World, Duisburg, Germany: 2nd Place, Fusion
2017 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 1st Place CD Improvisation Category
2017 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 2nd Place Pro Alternative Music
2017 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 3rd Place Professional Live Music Improv
2017 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 3rd Place Kooky Spooky Improv
2017 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 1st Runner Up Professional Solo - CD
2017 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 1st Runner Up Live Solo
2017 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 3rd Place Alternative Theme Solo
2017 Belly Dancer of the Universe North California Regionals, San Francisco, CA: 2nd Runner Up
2017 Belly Dancer of the World, Duisburg, Germany: 4th Place Folklore
2017 Belly Dancer of the World, Duisburg, Germany: 4th Place, Fusion
2018 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 2nd Runner Up Fusion
2018 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: Body of the Universe Champion
2018 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: Body of the Universe 1st Place People's Choice
2018 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 1st Place Professional Solo
2018 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 2nd Place Disco Improv
2018 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 3rd Place Pro Alternative Theme Music
2018 Hot Raqs, Clovis, CA: 3rd Place Fusion
2018 Yaa Halla Y'all, Dallas, TX: 2nd Place Fusion
2018 Yaa Halla Y'all, Dallas, TX: Photographer's Choice
2018 Belly Dancer of the Universe Las Vegas Regionals, Las Vegas, NV: 1st Runner Up
2018 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 1st Place Prop Category
2018 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 3rd Runner Up Professional Solo - CD
2019 Belly Dancer of the Year, Berkeley, CA: 3rd Place Fusion
2019 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: Universal Champion
2019 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 1st Runner Up Fusion
2019 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 1st Runner Up Specialty Prop
2019 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 1st Runner Up Egyptian
2019 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: Hall of Fame
2019 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 2nd Dance of the 7 Veils
2019 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 3rd Place Pro Live Music Improv
2019 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 2nd Place Pro Alternative Theme Music
2019 Belly Dancer of USA, Canyonville, OR: 3rd Place Hawaii Improv
2019 Belly Dancer of the Universe SoCal Regionals, Glendale, CA: 1st Runner Up
2019 Belly Dancer of the Universe NoCal Regionals, Alameda, CA: 1st Runner Up
2019 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 1st Runner Up Alternative/ATS/Fusion
2019 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 1st Runner Up Professional Live Music Drum Solo
2019 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 2nd Runner Up Professional Live Music
2019 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 2nd Runner Up Prop
2019 La Danse Orientale, Seattle, WA: 2nd Runner Up Professional CD
2020 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: Specialty Prop Champion
2020 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 3rd Runner Up Egyptian
2020 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 1st Runner Up Finger Cymbals
2020 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: Finger Cymbals 1st Place People's Choice
2020 Belly Dancer of the Universe, Long Beach, CA: 3rd Runner Up Champion of the Champions
2020 Hot Raqs, Online Live Competition: 2nd Place Fusion
2020 Hot Raqs, Online Live Competition: 3rd Place Pro Cabaret
2022 Cairo Shimmyquake, Glendale, CA: 1st Place Live Improvisation
2022 Yalla Raqs The Palace, Dallas, TX: 1st Place Drum Solo
2022 Yalla Raqs The Palace, Dallas, TX: 2nd Place Prop Solo
2023 Belly Dancer of the Year, Orinda, CA: 3rd Runner Up Pro Oriental
2023 Hot Raqs, Clovis, CA: 3rd Place Fusion
2023 Yalla Raqs The Palace, Dallas, TX: 3rd Place Raks Sharki Solo
2023 Yalla Raqs The Palace, Dallas, TX: 2nd Place Fusion
2023 Yalla Raqs The Palace, Dallas, TX: 3rd Place Prop Solo
Classes
ONLINE BELLY DANCE & FITNESS CLASSES
via Zoom!
You can register for
- the dance classes by visiting https://www.nilay.rocks/online-dance
- the fitness classes by visiting: https://www.nilay.rocks/online-fitness
Beginner -Intermediate
Group
or
Private
Belly Dance Classes
Divine Integration Studio
323-920-5094
10114 Boone Valley Dr
Bakersfield CA 93312
Please call, email or book from above link
Scheduled according to your availability that matches mine.
Gallery
Calendar
Hire Nilay for Entertainment
Nilay Engin
Tel: 323 - 920 - 5094
Regarding performances you can reach me out calling or emailing me at the number or email above or filling out the contact form below.
WHAT TYPE OF PARTIES ARE APPROPRIATE FOR BELLY DANCING?
Excluding bachelor parties and all male events, I can be your entertainer for the following type of parties: weddings, birthdays, celebrations, retirement parties, quinceañeras, corporate events, senior communities, bachelorette parties, holiday parties, girls' night.
WHAT TYPE OF AN ENTERTAINMENT EXPECTED FROM BELLY DANCING WITH NILAY?
Usually a belly dance performance by Nilay is about 30 minutes. There will be many different elements of belly dancing you will be entertained by such as Middle-eastern melodies, drum solo, Taksim (soft slow section), utilization of many props (these can be but not limited to finger cymbals, veil, Isis wings, fan, fan veil, sword, voi, etc.)
Please inform me about the following to make your event a perfect success and a life-long memorable time for your party:
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Event date and time. Best to book ahead. My calendar gets very full. Please check the availability of my dates from the calendar above.
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Event location (indoors/outdoors) and the terrain to be danced on (cement, grass, carpet, marley, etc.)
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Is this a surprise party?
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If you have any special music requests. I bring my own music, but can dance to any song you wish as long as it is not explicit.
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In what formats you can play the music? CD, audio jack, usb stick, etc.
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If you have special colors for your party.
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Is there a special guest for your party that I can pay special attention in the honor of?
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Will your party like interaction? I can do a group dance and even a mini dancing lesson at the end. But if your party is shy and they rather watch, that's good to know. Best to know crowd demographics (age, ethnicity, etc.)
WHAT IS THE PRICE?
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For in town (Bakersfield) events, I charge only $250.
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You can add a belly dancing class prior or after the entertainment for 30 mins (+$50) or 1 hour (+$100). If the class will take place at a dance studio, there will be a studio renting fee depending on the studio of choice. My home studio Divine Integration can handle up to 7 students and is free of charge.
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For out of town events LA, Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks, Ventura and San Diego stretch will be $275.
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If you'd like to have 2 shows at the event with a costume change, please double the price of the flat rate.