American Tribal Style Belly Dance

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Tribal-style belly dancers

Tribal Style Belly Dance or American Tribal Style Belly Dance (commonly known as ATS) is a modern style of dance created by FatChanceBellyDance director, Carolena Nericcio. In 1974 Carolena began belly dancing with Masha Archer and the San Francisco Dance Troupe. Masha’s style was an eclectic blend of classic Egyptian Cabaret, Folkloric and any other influence that she found enticing. Being a trained painter and sculptor, Masha taught her dancers to create art through dance. In 1987, after the SF Classic Dance Troupe had disbanded, Carolena began teaching in a small studio in the Noe Valley Ministry.

In defining Tribal Style Belly Dance and/or American Tribal Style Belly Dance, it is extremely important to note that Tribal Style is a larger category under which American Tribal Style (ATS) appears. ATS is a specific form of Tribal Style Belly Dance that is clearly defined and documented with the primary characteristic being that of group improvistation. "Tribal Style" can describe many other styles that are not necessarily ATS.

The general category Tribal Style is accredited to Jamila Salimpour who fostered a fusion of folkloric dances styles from the Middle East and North Africa and began teaching what she knew and performing all over California and the West Coast. Utilizing traditional folkloric dance elements and costumes inspired by traditional and ethnographic traditions, she presented on stage through Bal Anat a colorful dance company which included musicians, singers and dancers to create a "souk" or almost circus feel. Taking what she herself had learned from native dancers from Morocco, Algeria, Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon who were dancing in the United States, she began to catalogue "belly dance movement" and began creating a basic repertoire terminology which is still the basis for Tribal Style and American Tribal Style repertoire.

Tribal Style today represents everything from Folkloric inspired dances to a fusion of ancient dance techniques from North India, the Middle East and Africa. As a general category, Tribal Style covers many flavors of American Belly Dance both the folkloric inspired like Dalia Carella and fusion and cross over styles which explore modern, jazz, dance theatre, and hip hop with belly dance, as well as fusion with traditional classical ethnic dance forms like Bhangra, Bharata Natyam, Flamenco and now even Polynesian and West African Dance.

Tribal Style dancers (like Raqs Sharqi dancers) often use finger cymbals, but the focus is on the group as opposed to emphasizing solo performance. Tribal Style does feature solos within the group as well as call-and-answer performance with another dancer (duets), or as a whole group. Often there is a chorus which provides a "drone" in the background while the featured pod is the focal point. Both the pod and the chorus are improvised in the moment. Staging for the pod and the chorus is also formalized within the ATS form to maximize dancer visibility on behalf of the audience and likewise maximizing group visibility of the leader.

There are several American Tribal Style Belly Dance troupes in the United States. FatChanceBellyDance is one of the largest ATS dance troupe companies, providing lessons, videos, music, costumes and more. The company was formed in 1987 by Carolena Nericcio. Their website provides another perspective on the history of American Tribal Style:

“	Bellydance has many different names and many different styles from various regions. Here in the United States, the most popular style performed is the traditional Egyptian cabaret style known as Raks al Sharki or Oriental Dance. However, a new style has emerged, especially on the west coast, American Tribal Style Bellydance. It is an ethnic fusion style, influenced by Middle Eastern dance but inspired by American artistic sensibilities. It has nothing to do with representing a particular tribe, but it combines movement vocabularies and regional costuming to form one cohesive presentation. The "American" part of the label acknowledges that the dancers are continents away from the culture that created the dance form and are taking artistic license with it.	”
	— Rina Orellana Rall, http://www.fcbd.com/html/history_rr.html

Other influential Formats of ATS include: The Kajira Djoumahna - BlackSheep BellyDance ATS format and the Paulette Rees-Denis - Gypsy Caravan format.

[edit] Costuming

The style is also characterized by costumes derived from many "folkloric" sources and is often composed of large tiered skirts or 10 meter/yard skirts, a short choli often with a plunging neckline, a visible bra decorated with coins and textiles, turbaned head, hip scarf with yarn tassles or fringe, and a heavy layering of oxidized silver jewelry. The jewelry commonly originates from Central Asia, from any number of nomadic tribes or empires (e.g. Kuchi, Turkoman, Rajasthan) and is often large and set with semi-precious stones or, when mass-produced, with glass. Dancers frequently "tattoo" their faces with kohl or kajal. Make-up is usually eye focused with heavy use of kajal.

[edit] References

Kajira Djoumahna (2003). The Tribal Bible, Exploring The Phenomenon That Is American Tribal Style Bellydance. Santa Rosa, CA: BlackSheep BellyDance. ISBN 0972848606.