By Joy Herbst

Belly dance in the United States has seen many eras and stylizations throughout time. With the recent insurgence of belly dance fusions and tribal sub-genres, many lines have blended and generated fantastic artists, and fostered gorgeous creative outlets. Tribal belly dance has spurned a great deal of interest of late, and we’ve seen tribal heaped with everything from hip-hop, burlesque and circus arts to tango, fire and vaudevillian showgirlship. Somewhere along the lines of these developments, it became less and less apparent where the “tribal” really was in some of these performances, and it is of my opinion that it is very important to understand where the term tribal belly dance came from, and most specifically what is American Tribal Style.

      American Tribal Style (ATS) belly dance is a modern adaptation of folkloric dances spanning from the Silk Road, so named as it represents the trade route of Romany/ Gypsy peoples crossing the continent of Asia to the Mediterranean and into North Africa, that focuses on improvised group performances. There are approximately 7o steps in the ATS repertory that are easily cued by the active dance leader to her fellow dancers. These steps are derived from Indian dances, as well as Flamenco, Egyptian cabaret, and Algerian folkdance. This gracious and majestic style was created by Carolena Nericcio in 1987 when she culminated her dance experiences as a student of Masha Archer, and formed Fat Chance Belly Dance in San Francisco, California. Masha had studied with Ms. Jamila Salimpour, a former Ringling Brothers acrobat and belly dancer who founded Bal-Anat, the very talented dance company who brought folkloric dances to the Northern California Pleasure Faire in a showcase format starting in 1967.  Each member of the troupe Bal-Anat represented different ethnic dances and cultures, varying from Tunisian Tray dances by John Compton (of Hahbi`Ru fame), Ouled Nail dancers from Algeria, and Turkish dancers, and featured live musicians.

       Masha went on to create her own dance company, the San Francisco Classic Dance Troupe in the 1970’s after studying with Jamila for two years. The troupe further fostered the American Tribal Style dance form with elaborate costuming that drew from Masha’s artistic background that was interwoven with eclectic tribal jewelry, Indian  cholis and head scarves. Carolena joined this group at the young age of 14, and danced with Masha for approximately seven years before moving onto her own group, Fat Chance Belly Dance.

       Fat Chance Belly Dance was born from a handful of dedicated students of Carolena’s who immersed themselves into this creative and self-empowering modern adaptation of Middle Eastern dance.  Some notable early students and FCBD members included Paulette Rees-Denis (Gypsy Caravan, Portland, OR), Jill Parker (Ultra Gypsy/Barbary Coast Shakedown/Foxglove Sweethearts, San Francisco, CA), T. Thorn Coyle, Rina Rall, Karen Gehrman, Suzanne Eliot and Kajira Djoumahna (Black Sheep Belly Dance and Tribal Fest, CA). The name Fat Chance Belly Dance was penned by Mr. Jim Murdoch, a fellow entertainer and close friend of Carolena’s, who found the title fitting after she had told him about her frequent retort of “fat chance!” to tasteless requests for a personal belly dance performance, after divulging she was a belly dancer.

      Improvisation was always a strong component of Carolena’s dance experiences with Masha, and it carried over into her own teaching.  So much so, in fact, that it became a basis for ATS as it is known today.  While maintaining a good sight line of the leader to the accompanying dancers, the movements are cued to create a unique and lovely dance performance.  The steps all originate from the right foot/side for easy cueing and to facilitate successful improvisation.  The benefit of a dance form that is based in improvisation begets a relaxed style that can translate into any type of performance space, involving various/interchangeable dancers and can be presented always in a most entertaining and beautiful way. 

      The music required to perform ATS is generally Egyptian folkloric recordings, as it provides an excellent and rhythmic beat to count and follow the steps of the dance.  FCBD has performed often with accompaniment by the musicians of Helm, however live music doesn’t provide the most consistent beat to dance to, and therefore recorded music is optimal. Given that ATS is an improvised format of belly dance performed among a group, the music must have evenly counted measures so that the fast steps of the repertoire can be synchronized among the group to present a unified dance.  The slow steps are mostly arrhythmic; they flow according to the leader’s cues, and are not complemented by the requisite accompaniment of the finger cymbals that embellish the faster musical pieces.

      The costuming does not come from one culture or region specifically, but is instead a creative and colorful amalgamation of many layered items. Current costuming involves sweeping 25 yard skirts and huge pantaloons, fringed hip scarves, Indian cholis, coin bras, brocade vests and ghawazee dresses, and topped with oodles of tribal jewelry, Kuchi cuffs and hip belts, Afghani tassels, Tuareg necklaces, headpieces and turban wraps. Oftentimes tribal dancers have permanently adorned themselves with colorful and elaborate tattoos and piercings, or the temporary henna or mehndi tattoos.   The costuming truly allows every woman’s individualism and beauty to shine while stylistically bonding the members of the tribe into a unified group of stately performers. 

      Recently, in efforts to ensure that ATS is taught and perpetuated in a clear and consistent manner, Ms. Nericcio has started offering workshops to certify dedicated students of American Tribal Style in two formats; General Skills Certification and Teacher Trainings.  Select numbers of FCBD-certified ATS teachers have gone on to represent ATS in its pure form without fusing it with any other style, to become Sister Studios, the most notable being Megha Gavin of Devyani Dance Company in Alabama, who couples with Carolena for Tribal Pura and has contributed many great movements to the ATS repertoire. These efforts have stemmed from the need to clarify tribal and ATS amidst mass evolutions of the format from what was first presented.  Many adaptations exist, from Paulette Rees Denis’ Gypsy Caravan and Kajira Djoumahna’s Black Sheep Belly Dance (both which employ symmetrical movements and do not rely on the right side movement base), to Sharon Moore’s Infusion Tribal of Seattle, Washington and Quinn Donovan and Gypsy Fire in Bend, Oregon.  

      A list of all Sister Studios, as well as many great photos/ videos, articles, and an online boutique with music, dvd’s, books and costuming are to be found at www.fcbd.com, the website for Fat Chance Belly Dance.
 

      Other recommended resources include: 

      Tribal Talk, A Retrospective (An anthology of former FCBD newsletters).

      Fat Chance Belly Dance: 20 Years Live Performance with Carolena Nericcio, an excellent chronicle on dvd.

      Fat Chance Belly Dance Tribal Basics dvd’s Volumes I-VII.

      The Art of Belly Dance: A Fun and Fabulous Way to Get Fit, by Carolena Nericcio, available at BN.com and www.fcbd.com 

      The Tribal Bible,  (OOP) Kajira Djoumahna, www.blacksheepbellydance.com

      Tribal Vision: A Celebration of Life Through Tribal Belly Dance, Paulette Rees-Denis, www.gypsycaravan.us