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Tribal Fusion Belly Dance is a modern Western form of belly dance that was created by fusing American Tribal Style belly dance and American Cabaret belly dance. Artists frequently incorporate elements from Popping, Hip Hop, 'Egyptian' or 'Cabaret' belly dance, as well as movement principles from traditional forms such as Flamenco, Kathak, Odissi, and other folkloric and classical dance styles.
Tribal Fusion Dance is a branch of the American Tribal Style Belly Dance, or "ATS" movement. ATS, now known as Fatchance Bellydance, was popularized in the early 1990s by Carolena Nericcio, the director of Fat Chance Belly Dance. This style fused several different dance styles outside of the Belly Dance genre, and was a codification of her teacher Masha Archer's style.
The first Tribal Fusion dance company (although there was no name for it at the time, they simply called it Belly Dance Theatre) was Jill Parker's Ultra Gypsy. [1] [2] [3] [4] Jill Parker is often referred to as the "mama of Tribal Fusion". [1] Ultra Gypsy expanded on the American Tribal Style repertoire of movement, costuming, and music. "In the late 1990s Jill and her dance company, Ultra Gypsy, began to scale down the tribal costume, expand the movement vocabulary, work with modern DJ mixed music and play with theatrical themes in their performances. This had a significant impact on tribal dancers and opened up the floodgates of Tribal Fusion innovation." [2] An early example of Ultra Gypsy's work was filmed by the cable TV program "The Cutting Edge", produced by Jerry B in Berkeley, California in 2001; directed and edited by D. Sosnoski. [5]
Stephanie Barto, a student of Nericcio, brought ATS to the Midwest with a group called Read My Hips, founded in Chicago with Heather Stants. Later, during the early development of Tribal Fusion, Heather Stants worked to introduce new elements to Tribal Style bellydance, including a minimalist aesthetic, underground electronica music and elements of modern dance. In 1999, she formed Urban Tribal Dance Company in San Diego, largely influenced by hip hop and street dance styles. In contrast to many other tribal fusion performers, Urban Tribal Dance Company was known for their minimalist costuming more traditional to modern dance than to Tribal Style.
Tribal Fusion was largely popularized by Rachel Brice. In the early days, she referred to herself as "Cabaret with a Tribal aesthetic." Rachel Brice attributes the technique used by many tribal fusion dancers to Suhaila Salimpour. [6] In an email conversation between Rachel Brice and Carolena Nericcio, Carolena wrote that Rachel performed a "Fusion." Rachel decided to refer to herself as "Tribal Fusion," to reflect that she was fusing the style of Fat Chance Belly Dance with other styles. This term stuck, and its definition has morphed as dancers have pursued it as a style of its own.
"Most people can agree that the poster girl of Tribal Fusion Belly Dance is Rachel Brice. Yet she herself writes, 'The real dance heroes that created and fed my personal dance lineage: Jamila Salimpour taught John Compton and Masha Archer, who taught Carolena Nericcio, who taught Jill Parker, who taught Heather Stants, who taught Mardi Love, who all taught me.'
It is this lineage of teachers that has created Tribal Fusion Belly Dance. In the 1960s, the belly dancer Jamila Salimpour created the company “Bal Anat” and performed with her dancers at California Renaissance fairs. The need to fit belly dance into a renaissance style led to a show that drew from the tribal dances and costuming of North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. Props such as masks, snakes, and swords added a theatrical element to the dancing.
Jamila Salimpour taught Masha Archer, who formed the “San Francisco Classic Dance Troupe”. As a trained painter and sculptor, a core part of Masha’s teachings was the goal of creating art through dance. One of her students, Carolena Nericcio, took this goal to a new level by creating an original dance form, which is called “American Tribal Style” belly dance or “ATS”. It is from ATS that Tribal Fusion set its foundation." [1]
Mardi Love, a pioneer in Tribal Fusion, was an early member of Urban Tribal with Heather Stants, later joining The Indigo with Rachel Brice. Zoe Jakes was a long time and contributing member of The Indigo, going on to create her own form of Avant Garde belly dance with Beats Antique. Rachel Brice also greatly contributed to the popularity of movements similar to popping, though she credits Suhaila Salimpour and former troupe mate Ariellah Aflalo as the sources. Initial members of The Indigo performance group were Mardi Love, Rachel Brice, Michelle Campbell, Sharon Kihara, Shawna Rai, Janice Solimeno, and Ariellah Aflalo. Sharon Kihara also studied with Frederique (The Lady Fred) and performed with Ultra Gypsy.
Today, Tribal Fusion is a rapidly growing and evolving dance form. Some feel it is moving away from its American Tribal Style Belly Dance Roots, and some newer Tribal Fusion Dancers have never studied American Tribal Style Belly Dance. For the founders of the form, however, the connection with American Tribal Style Belly Dance is what makes it considered "Tribal Fusion Belly Dance", rather than simply "Fusion Belly Dance".
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Many Tribal Fusion dancers once used the ATS "uniform" as a basis for costuming, the scenario is changing. Additional elements of the costume are strongly influenced by the nature of the fusion - flamenco fusion dancers will wear flamenco skirts, burlesque fusion dancers will wear feathers etc. Costumes are often very elaborate with layers of fabrics, Tulle bi telli, antique tribal jewelry from many cultures, hair ornaments, and permanent body adornment such as tattoos and piercings. At the other extreme, where the fusion has a strong contemporary influence, the costume is pared down to a sleek minimalist style.
Mardi Love pioneered and paved the way for many of the elements of the more adorned Tribal Fusion costumes that are popular today. After working with the more minimalist Urban Tribal, she helped sculpt the intricate, vibrant, and complicated costumes worn by The Indigo. She is the artist who popularized Rajasthani cowrie falls for the hair, using colorful, hand dyed yarn to braid cowrie shells together. She also created one of the most popular belt styles of the mid-to late 2000s by combining Indian mirrored "shisha" with Afghan Guls (beaded medallions), and adding colorful yarn fringe (such as Colinette Pointe 5).
Tribal Fusion is closely related to Dark Fusion pioneered by Ariellah Aflalo, and Improvisational Tribal Style (ITS) bellydance pioneered by Amy Sigil. Tribal Fusion and ITS are both descended from American Tribal Style (ATS) while Dark Fusion exists between Tribal Fusion and Gothic belly dance.
Vaudeville bellydance is an emerging style of tribal fusion bellydance that uses cultural elements of the mid-1800s through the 1930s. The rising popularity of this style is partially due to The Indigo and their show Le Serpent Rouge. Vaudeville bellydance often uses jazz, swing, blues, Balkan, or Middle Eastern-derived music (Beats Antique is a prime example). The costumes are perhaps the most recognizable feature of vaudeville bellydance because they almost always incorporate style influences from the Jazz Era and earlier. [7] As the name vaudeville bellydance suggests, this style is deeply inspired by pre-WWII vaudeville acts, often incorporating comedy into performances. Vaudeville bellydance can also be called tribal vintage style, although vaudeville bellydance is typically inspired by a more narrow time period. This form is closely associated with Burlesque fusion bellydance and much overlap exists between them. Both styles have strongly influenced the tribal fusion genre overall.
Other popular tribal fusion subtypes include steampunk, Art Nouveau, gothic fusion bellydance, world fusion, theatrical bellydance, and urban tribal [8] which is a hip-hop/jazz dance fusion. Many tribal fusion dancers also practice other movement arts such as aerialism, hatha yoga, hooping, fire spinning, poi and other flow arts, juggling, contemporary circus, erotic dance and burlesque, ballet, global folk dance, gymnastics, and martial arts; as such, influences from these arts can be witnessed firsthand in the acts presented at haflas and festivals across the country.
Tribal Fusion dance evolved closely with developments in the electronica and world music genres. Early Bay Area DJs who contributed to the form include Cheb i Sabbah & Bassnectar. The movement carried over into the music produced specifically for bellydancers, also called Oriental music, giving rise to the creation of the electronica Oriental genre. Artist Jeremiah Soto of Solace and Eventide Musical Productions produced some of the first Electronica Oriental albums, quickly followed by Turbo Tabla artist Karim Nagi, and beatboxing champion Pete List. Many more names followed suit creating a rapidly growing musical outlet for the budding new dance form. Producer Miles Copeland contributed greatly to the electronica Oriental movement signing many musicians and dancers who would become forerunners of the Tribal Fusion movement.
Some popular musicians associated with Tribal Fusion bellydance are:
Ballet is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary. Ballet has been influential globally and has defined the foundational techniques which are used in many other dance genres and cultures. Various schools around the world have incorporated their own cultures. As a result, ballet has evolved in distinct ways.
Dance improvisation is the process of spontaneously creating movement. Development of movement material is facilitated through a variety of creative explorations including body mapping through levels, shape and dynamics schema.
Mardi Gras Indians are African American carnival revelers in New Orleans, Louisiana, who dress up for Mardi Gras in suits influenced by the cultural practices of Native Americans, West Africans, and Afro-Caribbeans. The music, dance, and regalia from these cultures created the Mardi Gras Indian tradition during the era of slavery in Louisiana that continues today. This cultural tradition is a part of the African and African diaspora decorative aesthetic, and is an African-American art form. Black masking Indians are a subculture in New Orleans.
Balkan music is a type of music found in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. The music is characterised by complex rhythm. Famous bands in Balkan music include Taraf de Haïdouks, Fanfare Ciocărlia, and No Smoking Orchestra.
Dance in India comprises numerous styles of dances, generally classified as classical or folk. As with other aspects of Indian culture, different forms of dances originated in different parts of India, developed according to the local traditions and also imbibed elements from other parts of the country.
Carolena Nericcio started the Fat Chance Belly Dance troupe, formerly American Tribal. FCBD/ATS developed a unique style of belly dance known simply as the FCBD style, of which the primary defining characteristic is group improvisation. It is generally performed at community events such as festivals and parades, with dancers typically favoring a look provided by wide-legged pants gathered at the ankles, tops known as cholis and full skirts.
Ghawazi are female dancers who danced in return for money in public settings, and the streets. There were male dancers as well, including men who performed movements associated with women and who were pejoratively called khawal.
Rachel Brice is an American professional belly dancer in Tribal Fusion style belly dance based in Portland, Oregon. She is the artistic director and choreographer for The Indigo Belly Dance Company and a frequent performer with the Bellydance Superstars. In June 2011 she opened her own dance studio in Portland, Oregon, called Studio Datura. There she hosts regular dance classes along with workshops from her 8 Elements™ Approach to Belly Dance training program.
The Indigo Belly Dance Company is a tribal fusion style belly dance company that was based in San Francisco. It was founded by Rachel Brice in 2003. Its members include Brice, Mardi Love, and Zoe Jakes. Past members include Sharon Kihara, Ariellah Aflalo, Janice Solimeno, and Michelle Campbell. Many of these dancers currently teach and perform internationally, and have also appeared with Bellydance Superstars.
Gothic belly dance, also named and separated in substyles as Gothic fusion belly dance, dark fusion belly dance and Gothic tribal fusion, is a recently founded dance art movement, distilled from the influences of Middle Eastern dance, tribal fusion, goth subculture and neopaganism. Originating in the United States in the 1990s, it has spread to be practiced by amateur and professional dancers around the world, and it is growing with the spread of tribal belly dance formats.
Improvisational Team Synchronization, Improv Team Sync, or ITS belly dance is a style of group dance improvisation, often associated with Tribal Fusion and belly dance. ITS is performed by a group of dancers consisting of one of more leaders and followers. The dance relies on a shared vocabulary of movements, each initiated by the leader using a distinct cue movement. After the cue, a short choreographed movement sequence, or combo, is performed by the group. The leader chooses the combo based on their interpretation of the music, which is often done spontaneously during the performance. The result is a dance that appears choreographed, but is in fact structured improvisation. This format of structured group improvisation was first developed by Carolena Nericcio-Bohlman, the founder of American Tribal Style.
Acro dance is a style of dance that combines classical dance technique with acrobatic elements. It is defined by its athletic character, its unique choreography, which blends dance and acrobatics, and its use of acrobatics in a dance context. It is a popular dance style in amateur competitive dance as well as in professional dance theater and in contemporary circus productions such as those by Cirque du Soleil. This is in contrast to acrobatic, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, which are sports that employ dance elements in a gymnastics context under the auspices of a governing gymnastics organization and subject to a Code of Points. Acro dance is known by various other names including acrobatic dance and gymnastic dance, though it is most commonly referred to simply as acro by dancers and dance professionals.
Beats Antique is a U.S.-based experimental world fusion and electronic music group. Formed in 2007 in conjunction with producer Miles Copeland, the group has become noted for their mix of different genres as well as their live shows, which mix samples and heavy percussives with Tribal Fusion dance and performance art.
Belly dance is a Middle Eastern dance that originated in Egypt, which features movements of the hips and torso. A Western-coined exonym, it is also referred to as Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance. It has evolved to take many different forms depending on the country and region, both in costume and dance style; with the styles and costumes of Egypt being the most recognized worldwide due to Egyptian cinema. Belly dancing in its various forms and styles is popular across the globe where it is taught by a multitude of schools of dance.
Project X Presents was a collaborative arts network based in Birmingham, England, active from around 2004 to 2009. The group produced a series of themed performance events in the city which they christened "omnimedia experiences".
The following are the special concepts and terminology of belly dance. As this dance has many forms and can be found in North Africa and the Middle East, a significant proportion of the terminology is in Arabic. Turkish or Turkish-loan words may also be encountered among belly dance terms.
Raks Geek is a bellydance, flow arts, and fire performance company based in Chicago, Illinois. They were the first professional group to successfully combine bellydance and firespinning with geek themes in a consistent manner. They are most known for a viral YouTube video featuring a Wookiee bellydancing to a Klingon band playing original music in Shyriiwook, which was listed on UK Channel 4 TV's "50 Funniest Moments of 2012." They are the most well-known example of fusing bellydance with geek themes and are considered one of the top dance companies in Chicago.
In dance, floorwork refers to movements performed on the floor. Floorwork is used extensively in modern dance, particularly Graham technique, Hawkins technique, and breakdancing. Some dance training practices, notably Floor-Barre, consist entirely of floorwork.
World Dance New York is a US home entertainment company, releasing and distributing special interest titles on DVD, video on demand, streaming media, iPhone and iPad apps, and a brand of women's dance and fitness home video products. It was founded in 2001 as "Stratostream - World Dance New York". "Stratostream" designates the company in the business-to-business environment, the home video industry, while "World Dance New York" is the publicly-recognized brand and the name of the consumer-facing operation of the company.
Arab folk dances, also referred to as Oriental dance, Middle-Eastern dance and Eastern dance, are the traditional folk dances of the Arabs in Arab world. Arab dance has many different styles, including the three main types of folklore, classical, and contemporary. It is enjoyed and implemented throughout the Arab region, from North Africa to the Middle East.