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Even though American Tribal Style's look is folkloric, it's not authentic folkloric danse form.
It's a mixture of different dance styles like Middle Eastern Dance, flamenco, gypsy-dance,
Kathak and dances of North Africa.
Originator of tribal style is Jamila Salimpour and her folkloric dance troup Bal Anat. Dancers who
carried it further are Masha Archer, who developed the visual side of tribal style costuming
and Carolena Nericcio who defined the danceform into American Tribal Style, ATS.
Her FatChance BellyDance troupe started performing in the end of 80's in San Francisco.
Today Tribal style is very famous in USA and has spread in Europe as well and is getting more and more footspace.
The idea or essence of ATS is well included in the name itself. The word "American" is a thought
of a dance where different influences come together, as many cultures has moved in the same place
or region (America). People bring with them their own cultural gifts and are willing to share them
with others. "Tribal" is a picture of its outer nature: a group of dancers wearing their typical
clothing. They have a "dress-code" like different groups of people or tribes have their own outer
appearance. They dance in a way that tells to audience that these people share the same interest.
Tribal dancers call their group a Tribe.
In Tribal style 4/4 rhythm is common. More complicated rhythms are more useful for solos where
the dancer can better stay concentrated only in her own expression and nuances of the music.
Zills are essential part of Tribal Style dance. This dance form has only two kinds of movements
classified according to their tempo: fast ones and slow ones. Fast is always executed with fast
music and cannot be transformed into a slow one. And on the contrary: slow movements require slow
music or the rhythm that can accommodate oneself with slow movements. Slow movements demand
also more intensive muscular work than fast ones due to their nature.
A group of Tribal dancers is a community sharing a strong interaction through their dance.
Tribal dancers dance together - to each other and for their own pleasure. Solo is not the most
important part of the performance. They do exist but are usually short. Normally there are two or
more dancers dancing together. Typical for Tribal Style is also improvisation; although there
would be some choreographing the improvisation should be primary. Meaning that Tribal dancers
create the dance at the very moment they are performing. My own vision is that doing choreography
the group will lose the freedom of the "real time" creativity and get instead the fear of
forgetting the next movement.
Group work is significant for this dance - even a soloist is supported by the whole group,
her Tribe. The dance pose and execution of movements differs from traditional Middle Eastern Dance.
Strong hand gestures as in flamenco or Kathak are strongly present. The dancer does not curry
favor with the audience in the way as it's done in traditional Middle Eastern Dance. Because the
dance is based on improvisation every member in the group has to stay attentive on what happens
within the group and what the leader dancer is doing. Other ways it wouldn't be possible to
follow cues and signs she gives to the group. It's necessary that each member of the group
has the same standard in her dance - that makes the interaction possible. Dance style that would
differ from the common norm would break the signal system and cooperation would be prevented.
This would bring confusion among the dance group.
Tribal group is a group of dancers who support each other. Dancers should not compete
in order to beat the other one with their skills but the weakest one can trust to have the rest of
the group standing by her. This would partially help each member to develope as a dancer.
The trust and commitment are elements that ideally are found in the Tribe. Dancers should be
able to trust that the group aiming to achieve the same goal. The leader of the dance
can trust to receive the support of her group and each dancer in her turn can trust that other
dancers accept her decision. The group should also share commitment and discipline; this way the
group will flourish and grow together.
ATS represents femininity in a very positive way. It's goal is not to flirt or "please"
the audience, nor bring out the woman as an object. The "Tribal" woman has good self-confidence
but not in the way that puts down the male sex. There is beauty and strength in her appearance,
no matter if she is short or tall or if she wears XXL. Audience can sense this serenity and mutual
share of trust between the members of the group during their performing. Or it can be experienced
through working together at the dance class.
History links
www.fcbd.com/html/history_rr.html
Jamila Salimpour:
www.suhaila.com/Pages/Articles
www.bhuz.com/Articles/articles.feature5.asp
Intervieuw of Masha Archer:
www.gypsytrail.com/newsletter3.html
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