Tumay Tunur was born in 26th of January 1984 in Turkey. Even though she wanted to learn how to dance when she was a little kid, they did not have any dance studios or instructors in the town she grew up. When she left for high school, she started taking modern dance classes and she continued her modern dance education as a hobby in university with Contemporary Dance Society when she was getting her bachelor degree in biology. They organized the International Contemporary Dance Festival every year with dancers from all around the world. She then auditioned for the Turkey’s best dance team METU Coupled Dances Club and started learning ballroom and salsa. After 3 month of salsa education she competed in an amateur competition with Ender Hacipoglu and ended third in the nation (2005).

She was trained by Ipek Yavuzer and Andrey Rhopokin for two years in international latin dances. Competed in many dance sport competitions for 5-dances (rumba, cha cha, jive, paso doble, samba) She took workshops from world re-known Ballroom/ Latin instructors Alexander Litvinenko, Elena Pashkovski, Evgeny Smagin & Rachel Heron.
However, her accomplishments in international latin could not change her mind and her love about salsa, so she kept competing in salsa competitions as well with Berkan Kaymaz. They took classes from various instructors including Aytunc Benturk- Mayan World Salsa Champion in Internationals 2005. They attended to many workshops and worked with Paul Young, Nuno & Vanda, Manuel Mascarell, Juan Matos… Berkan and Tumay competed in many nationwide professional salsa competitions and ended at the first place in most of them.

Their teaching career started and they trained many students for competitions as well. She was qualified as a judge Salsa Competitions. At the time Tumay was also choreographing for a musical company and she made pieces for Chicago, Cats, Cabaret and many others and also for the METU Coupled dances club. She made her longest piece, a 20 min salsa-modern latin show “CarMan” with her partner Altug Guler.
After graduating from university, Tumay moved to New Orleans, USA for her Ph.D. at Cell and Molecular Biology at Tulane University (2007). She met Troy and Jorjet, who introduced her to the salsa scene in the States.

She went to New York, and she took classes from dancers such as; Eddie Torres, Frankie Martinez, Adolfo and Yamulee Dance Company which got her started dancing On2. She coached to Tulane Salsa Team for a year, performed and attended many congresses with different partners or dance teams.

In 2007, she formed the salsa company La Luna Negra. Tumay and her former partner attended many congresses and organized events with Darlin and Uriel Garcia. They were trained with Hache y Machete, Masacote, Melissa Rosado and many other instructors, known for their great knowledge in salsa music and dancing, who helped her develop her style and technique she has today.

After the partnership ended because of the differences in the personal views and goals, Tumay brought the established dancers of New Orleans salsa scene together to form Mambo Orleans dance team. With Jonte Thibodeaux, Oscar Ramirez, Jana Blakes and Raymond Armant, Mambo Orleans performed and taught at many congresses including Dallas, Texas, Philly Salsa Fest, Cancun Allstar Salsa Fest, Aventura Dance Cruise to Bahamas.. They were known for their “flavor” and energy they bring to everywhere they go. Mambo Orleans also collaborated with Nickkiijammz and Noel Rodriguez to organize New Orleans Jam and New Orleans Jam Reloaded to bring many amazing talents to New Orleans to help re-build the salsa scene after Katrina.

Finishing her Ph.D. program in New Orleans, Tumay moved to Champaign, IL to pursue her academic career as a postdoctoral researcher at University of Illinois. She is currently teaching salsa classes with iSalsa2 and organizing events. She is also continues to take dance classes such as the contact improvisation class offered by world re-known Kirstie Simson from the dance department at UoI.

Tumay remembers all of her instructors with a lot of respect and she thinks of everyone who taught her one single thing as her instructor. She believes, there is always something to learn from everyone, and the best way to improve is not to deny the information you need.