Tribelle Chic is an outgrowth of American Tribal Style (ATS) belly dance which originated in California with FatChance Belly Dance's founder, Carolena Nericcio. My personal journey into ATS style dancing begin in 2000, when Anthea Poole phoned to ask me if I would be interested in teaching tribal style dancing to my students. She was working on developing a new style of tribal dance and if I taught my students the same vocabulary of movements and staging, then our students would be able to dance together. I had never even thought about learning or teaching tribal before. The idea of having our students perform together was intriguing, and quite frankly, I was flattered that Anthea, whom I had recently met, had invited me to share this adventure with her. We brainstormed and came up with the name for our unique version of tribal dance: Tribal Odyssey, of which we are both co-creators. The first several years of this adventure was spent daily talking on the phone, ironing out the staging, fixing the hand cues and some weird hand embellishments that cropped up which we later decided to axe! After working together for almost a decade, I have created a new ATS style which I call Tribelle Chic. The staging is similar in most aspects to Tribal Odyssey, however, the moves are more feminine and more Egyptian-based. This year, I revised tribal sword movements which I had originally developed in 2005 for Tribelle Chic, developed Tribelle Chic Pot of Flames, and have created many new movements for our repertoire including exciting new veil and skirt moves! The Folk Dance Connection I often consider that American tribal style dances such as FatChanceBellyDance and Tribelle Chic are recent forms of American folklore. The definition of folk dance, as recorded in my Webster dictionary is “a dance that originated among, and has been transmitted through, the common people.” America has long been called a “melting pot.” American tribal style dance is certainly a melting pot of dance styles containing elements from many Middle Eastern countries, India and Central Asia, and contains various American elements as well. The idea of “follow the leader” in dancing comes from many dances such as the Conga line, Bunny Hop, Greek line dances, the English Contra, Square dancing, and of course, the Debke. The costuming elements are also a melting pot: cholis and bindis from India, jewelry from Afghanistan, cowrie shells – the ultimate symbol of the Goddess, pantaloons from Istanbal, flowers in the hair from the Polynesian Islands, and North African facial tattoos. This is not the first time in the long history of dance that folklore dances of one nation have evolved from the folklore of another. A case in point, the Morris Dances of England, practiced in the early 20th century, were described as “quaint” and had “the importance of being English,” reflecting a “romping, care-free spirit of Merry England,” said to be “several centuries old. ” It is thought that Morris dances were derived from Moorish dancing, of “Gipsy derivation.” Morris dancers had a tradition of decorating themselves with tiny bells and colorful ribbons around their legs and arms, which, according to Troy and Margaret West Kinney, was very “Gipsy-esque” (Kinney, p. 172). So here we have in early 20th century England, a well-known English folk dance of Eastern origin – a parallel that we can draw to late 20th century American Tribal Style dancing. Many credit Jamila Salimpour with creating the original tribal belly dance style. She began teaching Middle Eastern dances in California in 1949 after having had a successful career in the circus as an elephant trainer and performer. In the late 1960s, she trained her students to dance in carnival type settings, performing authentic dances from various Middle Eastern countries. She called her dance company Bal Anat, which translated as Dance of the Mother Goddess. Drawing on her past Ringling Brothers Circus background, her 40-member strong troupe was very entertaining with its colorful costuming and facial tattoos. Her students, who wanted to show their forms and athletic bodies, resisted very covered looks and a costuming developed that was part authentic and part not. Jamila described the costuming and the dancing as “half real and half hokum” (Djoumahna, p. 20). Jamila and her students performed at the Renassiance Pleasure Faire, which was an “arty event,” centered round a huge outdoor circus in a 16th century setting. Many of her students went on to teach their own forms of tribal dancing. Most historians of belly dancing agree that this was the beginning of tribal fusion style dances even though Jamila never labeled what she did as tribal. She stated: “So, it wasn’t tribal style, it was more like an attempt to give the audience a thirty-minute education in the dances of the Middle East, cabaret style included!” (Djoumahna, p. 20). Tribal Steps Forward According to Kajira Djoumahna, the next step in the evolution of tribal art forms began with Masha Archer, one of Jamila’s students. She did not try to be traditional or accurate in her presentation, but rather combined many different elements to make an American belly dance using non-traditional music, costuming and dance steps. One of her students, Carolena Nericcio, is considered to be the mother of the American Tribal Style belly dance. American Tribal Style (ATS), synchronized group, improvisational belly dance, was developed by Carolena in the mid 1980’s. Carolena and her troupe, Fat Chance Belly Dance, formed in 1987 in California, inspired tribal dancers all over the United States, and ATS has since spread all over the world. Her ATS format employs both improvisation and choreography. It was Carolena who started using the idea of leading and following in her tribal dance. Paulette Rees- Denis and Kathy Stahlman were both founding troupe members of Fat Chance Belly Dance and went on to develop their own unique forms which are described as I.T.S. or Improvisational Tribal Style: Paulette Rees-Denis with Gypsy Caravan, and Kathy Stahlman with Tribal Moon. Another student of Carolena’s, Kajira Djoumahna, formed Black Sheep Belly Dance and also authored the well-known Tribal Bible. ATF (American Tribal Fantasy) is another term used to describe tribal styles of belly dancing. Other dancers describe themselves as tribal but they are not really doing ATS, ITS or ATF. They take on a “tribal persona” with similar tribal costuming, but they are really doing their own unique creations. A good example of this is the gorgeous, undulating dance style of Rachel Brice. To make it all more confusing, many dancers call their staged version of authentic, Middle Eastern dances - tribal. Of course, this is nothing new to the field of Middle Eastern dance with our many different names to describe what we do. The 21st century has spawned even more versions of tribal: Goth Tribal, Urban Tribal, and even Burlesque Tribal. Recently, I heard of something that through its description sounded like it should be called Trash Tribal – and not because of the dance movements, but rather because the dancers were wearing garbage bags as costumes! One of Laurel Victoria Gray’s early Middle Eastern dance teachers was Jamila Salimpour. Laurel went on to form her own troupe, Sharazad, which performed a repertoire of dances, some authentic and some that she labeled California Tribal (Apynys, p. 4). Several of the movements that I contributed to Tribal Odyssey’s format are ones that I learned at Laurel’s California Tribal Workshop. I have kept these treasured dance steps as part of the Tribelle Chic repertoire. Similar, But Different What makes Tribelle Chic different from other tribal art forms? When developing new moves for Tribelle Chic, I drew my Egyptian-style dance training with Sahra and Shareen el Safy, making the movements, posture, arms and hands more Egyptian. I discarded any sharp arm movements and instead use more feminine and graceful arms and hands. A second major difference from other forms of tribal dancing is the demeanor; I have extensive background as a restaurant and party dancer, so therefore I wanted the demeanor and expression of Tribelle Chic to be mostly joyful, although we do try and project a feeling of Tarab while performing the slower movements. Audience rapport is of more importance than in ATS; we connect with the audience and try to draw them into our performances. Tribelle Chic's costuming is very sunny, vibrant and jewel-toned. These colors definitely show up better on stage; black is rarely used except as an accent. Turbans work well out in California where the air can be chilly, especially in San Francisco, where FCBD members mostly perform. On the East Coast, particularly in Virginia, the heat and humidity contributed to our tossing our turbans and letting our hair flow. We wear bright flowers, feathers and crazy long yarn pieces along with the ultimate symbol of the Goddess - the conk shell in our hair. I remember reading that Carolena had remarked that Fat Chance Belly Dance members could never do veil work because their big headpieces made it impossible; there was no flipping anything over the elaborate headdress. That is one problem we do not have since we wear our hair down; a dozen beautiful veil moves make for an interesting option for Dancers of the Core in front of The Arc! In 2009, Anthea developed eight skirt moves for Tribal Odyssey. I have altered and adapted these movements for Tribelle Chic and added four more moves to make a baker's dozen. These movements are reminiscent of Romani Gypsy and Spanish Flamenco dancing: flaring, twirling, and fun! The moves can be sprinkled throughout a set or a whole dance can be devoted to just the skirt. Exciting finger cymbals patterns help to keep performances lively and up- beat! Dance of the People Tribal dancing of this type is more accessible to the everyday belly dance student than Raks Sharki. When one thinks of “cabaret” or Raks Sharki style dancing, the image that comes to many peoples’ minds is a slim, young woman who has all the traits of a professional model. Miramar's students are a study of diversity, with age ranges from teen to senior, and a wide variety of body types. The combinations of our unique dance format based on folk-type dance moves, are energetic to do, but at the same time, are feasible for the non-professional dance student to perform well. Miramar and her professional dance troupe, Miramar's Jewels were the first group to perform Tribal Odyssey on a professional basis as part of their repertoire at many events from 2003-2009. Because we were working as a small group, we were able to work out the staging for small groups, especially concerning how to dance in a circle with veils. Sometimes, I design a set for my students where the staging is planned. In 2005, I devised a “Skill Drill to Fulfill” for my most advanced students so that they would have a quick-and-easy way to practice all the Tribal Odyssey moves, staging, finger cymbal patterns and veil work. For each song, there was at least one goal to satisfy. This three- song routine was something that we could perform at haflas and shows. Although it was somewhat choreographed – each song had a plan for the staging – we knew that ultimately it would help our “completely improvisational skills” when we dance without direction. In 2006, we performed this set at a recital. Even though we are dancing in an improvisational manner, we are definitely multi-tasking. I often tease my students, telling them they will never become senile with all the brain-stimulation going on. Indeed, with all the multi-tasking that students do to perform Tribelle Chic, each individual student’s involvement and dedication becomes very important. Tribelle Chic is very appealing to students for many reasons. Barbara Hartman, one of my current students remarked: “The first time I saw tribal performed, I was mesmerized by the beauty and trance-like quality.” The Seed of Creativity Blossoms Currently, I am working on several dancing guides for the various Tribelle Chic levels. Anthea and I and originally written a Tribal Odyssey Manual which contained an overview of the TO format, staging, combinations, zill patterns, performing tips, costuming ideas and more. When Anthea’s initial notes were written (late 2001), my students and I had a hard time understanding all of Anthea’s abbreviations. This is not unusual in the Middle Eastern Dance world where everyone seems to use their own dance notation. I tend to write all my notes out in long hand describing in detail how a movement works and in early 2002, I wrote Tribal Odyssey Demystified where I clearly detailed the Tribal Odyssey movements that we had developed to date, provided a key for abbreviations, costume information and detailed stage formation diagrams. From these two early documents, the first 2002 Tribal Odyssey manual was born. Anthea wrote: "Many thanks to my dear friend and dance sister Miramar, not only for enthusiastically jumping in with both feet and creating combinations, variations, and floor patterns for Tribal Odyssey, but in helping me to work out the issues and make good decisions as well. Two minds are better than one!" One of the things that I personally enjoy about Tribelle Chic is being able to use a variety of music; new songs keep things fresh and interesting. I tend to avoid using dark sounding music (except we did recently use some neat songs for Halloween) and instead explore World Music and the brighter sounding songs of American composers. Desert Knight songs by Adam Burke, such as Lone Dove and the theme song, are student favorites. More recently, I have been using songs that have a Caribbean groove, and another with a Balkan beat; my students really seem to be enjoying the different flavor songs. Tribelle Chic will continue to evolve with adaptations for the use of other props. Most recently, my students having been having fun with small candles which we call Pot of Flames! Tribelle Chic Sword is a new challenge for students wanting to express themselves as Dancers in the Core. Tribal dancing has been a wonderful adventure, with never a dull moment, and I look forward to continuing my journey with my dedicated students– exploring improvisational group dancing! Apynys, Anne, Ph.D., "The Dancing Diplomat: Laurel Victoria Gray, A Traveler on the Silk Road,”Habibi, Vol. 18, No. 2, (Santa Barbara, CA: Shareen El Safy), p. 4. American Tribal Style Belly Dance, accessed November 15, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/American_Tribal_Style_Belly_Dance Djoumahna, Kajira. The Tribal Bible, Exploring the Phenomenon That is American Tribal Style Bellydance. (Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sheep Belly Dance, 2003). Djoumahna, Kajira. “FatChanceBellyDance, American Tribal Style,” Habibi, Vol. 17, No. 3, (Santa Barbara, CA: Shareen El Safy), pp. 20-23, 36-37. Kawakib & Miramar, Tribal Odyssey: Improvisational Tribal Style Belly Dance. USA: Kawakib, 2008). Kinney, Troy and Margaret West. The Dance. (USA: Frederick A. Stokes, 1914). Richards, Tazz. The Belly Dance Book: Rediscovering the Oldest Dance. (Concord, CA: Backbeat Press, 2000 |
| References |
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| From 2008 Tribal Odyssey Manual |
| Miramar's Jewels Professional Dance Troupe Performed Tribal Odyssey professionally 2003-2009 |