THE THINKING GAL'S GUIDE TO BELLY DANCE STYLES PART FOUR: FUSION & FANTASY

This is Part Four in a series of articles I am writing on identifying the many styles of belly dance. As with the past three pieces, I will offer the disclaimer that in no way is this intended to be a comprehensive view of oriental dance in it's myriad styles...just a thumbnail sketch. It is my intention merely to provide a frame of reference for beginning students, and also a jumping off point for curious dancers of all styles. At the end of this article, I have mentioned many dancers who are specialists ( and/or authorities) in the various styles discussed, so you can do more research on the subject if you choose to.

FUSION: This is a category that is difficult to describe because there are so many variations under the umbrella of belly dance fusion, running the gamut from styles that can readily identified as some form of oriental dance to those that would leave an uninitiated audience scratching their heads and wondering what, exactly, it was that they were seeing.

Even though it’s probably the oldest dance form on earth, belly dance has a very hazy history. The fact that in Arabic, belly dancing is called Raqs Sharki (“Dance Of The East” or “Dance Of The Orient”) points directly to the idea that nobody is exactly sure where it came from. However, it seems that most scholars and dance historians generally agree that the basic movements of oriental dance were spread by nomads (the Roma or “gypsies”) picking up indigenous folkloric dance steps in different countries, adding them to their practice or repertoire and carrying them along from place to place. This would definitely support the argument that the genre of movements we call belly dance today- with or without Western influences- is just one big piece of fusion.

But in modern times, the term Fusion is usually not applied to classic or traditional belly dance from any particular country. Today, Fusion is a category unto itself. A kind of mash-up of one or more dance styles mixed with traditional belly dance, the popularity of Fusion has grown due to the “globalization” of ethnic music- for example: Flamenco-Arabic fusion combines Spanish style dance with oriental dance, and is performed to music that is similarly blended. But fusion can embody mixing Middle Eastern dance elements with just about anything from Ballet to Bollywood, from hip-hop to contemporary jazz technique, or basically, any other type of dance or athletic practice. One of the earliest proponents of Fusion was Dahlia Carella, who created a style she called Dunyavi ( loosely, "world-wide") Gypsy, which combined mixed elements of Arabic, Spanish and Rom styling into a beautiful, passionate pastiche.Today we see Fusion encompassing combining belly dance with gymnastics, contortion, ballroom dance, Poi-spinning, Asian fan dances, and the like. The possibilities are endless…. and the results can range from a stunning and seamless fusion of styles to, for lack of a better description, a total train wreck.

Tribal Fusion has grown as a genre unto itself, with much mixing and melding of the “classic” Tribal styles known as ATS (American Tribal Style) and ITS, or Improvisational Tribal Style dance with other types of dance forms. Those practicing Tribal Fusion can be soloists or perform in a troupe; they can work improvisationally, or be extremely choreographed.

Costuming for Fusion is not by any means set in stone, but usually takes its cues from the types of dances that are being fused together. Under the umbrella of Fusion, costumes can range from those with wild rock and roll and high fashion influences to dress reflecting the ethnicities the Fusion style is co-mingling with. Some forms of Fusion costuming seems to have absolutely nothing to do with belly dancing at all and looks almost generic, such as bell bottom pants and midriff-baring tops that call to mind Seventies style modern or interpretive dance.

Increasingly popular right now are the recent genres of Fusion which feed freely on melding belly dance with retro-style burlesque, using large feather fans, and wearing costumes that look like they’d be more at home in a Victorian bordello than on a stage, and Raqs Gothique, or Gothic belly dance, a style attributed to “The Goth-Mothah” herself, Tempest. Raqs Gothique blends a dark, rock ‘n’roll and Gothic sensibility with either cabaret or tribal style belly dancing…which leads us directly to the next genre…

FANTASY: Often high-concept, fantasy belly dance is similar to Fusion, in that it utilizes the movements of Arabic dance- but that’s where the similarity ends. Fantasy belly dancing is oriental dance that is strongly flavored with something else that comes purely from the artists’ imagination and fantasies. The dancer can perform ANY style of belly dance combined with some element of visually and/or dramatically portrayed fantasy. Again, this type of dancing it doesn’t necessarily have a distinct technique, standard look or readily identifiable costuming, because it is a dance performance that has been dreamed up by the dancer, a performance not based in any sort of specific discipline or ethnic genre. Two “classic” examples of Fantasy pieces would be a dancer performing as a snake writhing out of a basket or a genie popping out of a bottle, but compared to what’s going on today, that seems very old hat!

Some good examples of current Fantasy belly dance include performances incorporating imaginative and previously un-traditional props such as masks, Isis wings, feather boas, and fan veils; Pharoanic-style performances, as the movements were never actually documented except in two dimensions on the walls of tombs; Pirate Belly Dance (oh, that there ever was such a thing!) Zombie Belly Dance, Fetish Belly dance, even Cowgirl Belly Dance. The wildly popular Steam Punk Belly dancing is practically a genre unto itself and would require an awful lot of explaining to a non-belly dancer, not the least of which could be what do wearing goggles and jewelry made of broken watches have to do with oriental dance? Pure fantasy, that's what! Many fantasy dancers portray ancient myths or legends, tying them in with belly dancing. More fantasy dances have featured belly dancers performing as a troupe of dolls, as Mata Hari, as silent movie stars or as mermaids; a dancer singing Opera while belly dancing, and belly dancers wearing gas masks, Darth Vader outfits or impersonating Michael Jackson! A few years ago, at Tribal Fest, Sashi of Ascend Tribal caused jaws to drop and tongues to wag with her fairy wing piece, by employing aluminum "wings" which were literally pierced into the flesh of her back!

In 2010 at Gothla UK, I saw a Victorian-flavored belly dance piece called “Tea Time At The Asylum which featured sexy, corseted nurses, at another UK show I saw dancer Akasha (Heike Humphreys) perform with gigantic bat-wings to a Marilyn Manson song. In 2010, MECDA’s Cairo Caravan featured an entire stage devoted to belly dance “Sideshow Wonders”, such as Steven Eggars as the “Half Man, Half Woman”, among many other oddities. Also in 2010, at the Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive, I performed a Fantasy piece (and lived out a childhood fantasy of my own!) by getting sawed in half retro-magic style during the middle of my set with the help of Tanya Popvich and Sascha Biondi. Luckily, I was “fused” back together!

More fantasy specialists are dancer Jindra Payne, a bona fide ballerina, who was the first oriental dancer to perform on toe-shoes (this has now been taken up by Sabah, and both performers were trained by Halla Moustapha) and what may be one of the most quintessentially “out there” fantasy dances of all time: Dondi’s comedic parody act where she performed as a raks sharqi- dancing Marilyn Monroe.

Just some of dancers (all extremely different from each other) who excel in the blended realms of Tribal Fusion, Fusion and Fantasy: Rachel Brice, Zoe Jakes, Heather Stants, Ariellah, Blanca, Neon, Unmata, Suhaila Salimpour, Zahra Zuhair, Mesmera, Samantha Riggs, Sherri Wheatley, Kristina Nekyia, Michelle Manx, and of course the people mentioned previously in this article.



Top picture: Tempest, Gothic Belly dancer
Second picture: Samantha Riggs , Pirate Belly dancer
Third Picture: Belly Dance Fantasy

GYPSIES, TRAMPS & THIEVES

This year I have been on the road non-stop… right now, I feel like I “woke up” in the middle of May-it’s hard to believe that 2010 is almost half over. After many back-to-back trips, most recently to Miami and Tribal Fest in Northern California, I’m home in LA and, miraculously, will be here for three full weeks. Being home with my wonderful boyfriend and my four amazing kitties-not to mention sleeping in my own bed and NOT living out of a suitcase seems like quite a luxury…but even with my vagabond lifestyle and occasional bouts of home sickness, I love my life. Even though I have been doing this for years, it never gets old. Every day I am not only thankful that I am doing something I love to make a living, but also that my profession allows me to meet so many remarkable people- both artists and behind-the-scenes folks!

On the first weekend of May, Joharah brought me to Florida for her spring event. a weekend of workshops and shows at The Miccosukee Resort, just north of Miami. From the moment I arrived, it was non-stop fun. Joharah’s assistant Jeanette picked me up and brought me to Joharah’s house, for an incredible homemade dinner. In addition to being a costume designer, running a bustling import-export business and putting on huge events, Joharah is also a kick-ass gourmet cook! And so funny- what a sense of humor that woman has - we got along so well immediately, she is charming and earthy. Her house is literally a palace of bling-bling; full of gigantic piles of costumes, mounds of rhinestone jewelry, and the tabletops littered with intricate little perfume bottles from the Arab Emirates. The walls are hung with hand-sewn Egyptian tapestries, there was furniture covered with gold leaf and made of wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl, Saudi-style low cushioned couches, Moroccan rugs… it was a feast for the eyes.

My workshops started the very next day, and all I have to say is that Joharah knows how to throw an event! The whole weekend was so well organized, not to mention being completely fun and totally detail-oriented. Her support staff and family members help her and everything runs like a well-oiled machine…. The theme for this weekend was “Seventies” and it was carried out in full even to Disco-Ball decorations on every table. At the end of the workshops, Joharah gave away many full costumes for door prizes.

Miami is chock full of incredible, well-trained, dedicated dancers who are beautiful inside and out. Everyone brought their A-game to my workshops and to the stage. There is a diva-licious fierceness that the local dancers have which seems to be unique to the Miami scene. I have never seen such collective hot attitude and stage presence-not to mention such an assortment of awesome, sparkly, animal-print costumes- anywhere else. All of the performances on both of the nights were great, but a few really stood out to me… and two were even dedicated to me- what an honor. One was from Superior Dance Arts, directed by Monica and Sarah Silvestri, and featured a hot chair dance: imagine my surprise when, at the end, the chairs were tipped over and the underside spelled out “F-A-R-H-A-N-A”. The other dedication was offered from Jihan Jamal’s Bellyrinas. I had never met Jihan before… and was excited to, because when I first started belly dancing, I actually carried around a picture of her in my wallet that I’d cut out of “Arabesque” Magazine. I used to stare at it every day for inspiration. I was so touched that Jihan dedicated her group’s performance to me because of my baby-dancer/ fan-girl obsession, that when I admitted this to Jihan afterwards, we both became teary-eyed. Another beautiful dancer I shared a teary moment with was Lamis, a veteran dancer and one of the “mothers” of the Miami scene, to whom the entire event was dedicated. Lamis performed an elegant fan number with huge Sally Rand fans, and was a light-filled presence both onstage and off. I had met dancer Princess Turimmi in Cairo last year, but had never seen her perform, which she did Saturday with her new Egyptian husband, Mahmoud Shalaby. They did a Tannoura (whirling dervish) duet- and for some reason, perhaps a spiritual connection, Tannoura always makes me cry… so yes, it was a tear-filled weekend, but oh, such happy tears! Last but not least, I was totally blown away by Andrus, a young make dancer who dances modern Egyptian style. In addition to being completely fun offstage, his stage presence is dynamic; he also has impeccable technique, gorgeous, clean bodylines and an impressive sense of control.

I also got to hang out with my pal Carrara Nour, a Connecticut-based dancer who was visiting Florida, and Michael Toscano, who'd been a production assistant on my movie "Stuck!". Both of them came to Miami and brought a lot of laughter with them!

After Miami, I was home for two days and then off to Northern California for Tribal Fest 10: A Decade Of Deca-Dance. One of my favorite events ever, I have been teaching and performing there for the past six years, and it’s always a blast! Even though Tribal Fest was the very first-and still the largest -Tribal and Tribal Fusion event in the world, every year it just gets bigger…and better! And every year I’ve attended, I come home hoarse from laughing and yelling- because it’s always so much fun! Kajira Djoumahna and her husband Chuck Lehnard really know how to throw one crazy party that is also another event which practically runs itself: with total precision and a lot of behind-the-scenes help from volunteers. If you have never attended Tribal Fest before- I urge you to… no matter what style of dance you like or perform, you will be left dumbfounded because it’s such an eye-opener! Such diversity of style, so many terrific up-and-comers, so much creativity in dancing and in costuming.

For starters, here’s a sampling of just some of the teachers: Rachel Brice, Carolena Nerrichio and Fatchancebellydance, Amy Sigil & Unmata, Kami Liddle, John Compton & Hahbi ‘Ru, Heather Stants, Ariellah, Deb Rubin, Sharon Kihara, Suhaila Salimpour, Tempest, Paulette Rhys-Dennis, Zoe Jakes, Artemis Mouratt, Jeremiah Soto, Elizabeth Strong and Mardi Love. Everything from folkloric Rom dance to yoga, from “old-school” Tribal to deejay mixing to all sorts of fusion is offered… everything that is except possibly strict cabaret-style dancing- but this year, even that taboo was broken- and not by me…. But by Rachel Brice, who taught an entire workshop on fusing Tribal with cabaret!

Over the course of the three days of performances, there were way too many stellar shows to mention. But some high points were: rising young dancer Frank Farinaro’s athletic set, Zoe Jakes, Elizabeth Strong and Rose Harden’s Beats Antique extravaganza, which featured everything from Roaring Twenties style showgirl floor work to fan dancing to a precision chair dance done in white Israeli gas masks… Colorado’s gorgeously blinged-out fusionistas, TribalTique; John Compton and Habi’ Ru, who are always crowd-pleasers, Ela Roger’s elegant solo, and Kami Liddle’s beautiful dance, which, unbelieveablely was performed less than an hour after a car accident: she was rear-ended on her way to the event! More jaw-dropping performances included Colleena Shakti’s exquisite Indian piece-she is always so divine; and of course the fantastic group work of, as I like to say, “The Big Four”: Fatchancebellydance, Kajira’s Blacksheep Bellydance, Unmata and Gypsy Caravan.

Perhaps the highest-or lowest… as the case may be… point in all of the shows was Kajira’s husband Chuck’s novelty tribute to Tribal Fest’s 10th year anniversary,” King Chuck and The Chuckettes”, featuring Rachel Brice, John Compton, Heather Stants, Tempest, Kajira, Michelle Manx, Amy Sigil and myself, with sign language interpretation by Lori Tawasha of Evil Eye Belly Dance.

Done to the tune of Steve Martin’s “King Tut”, King Chuck and The Chuckettes had one highly disorganized on-site rehearsal, which resulted in gales of laughter and disbelief from all who participated. Rachel Brice showed up to the rehearsal all serious and ready to tape the choreography, which mainly consisted of all the dancers doing kooky “walk Like An Egyptian” cheesy moves, perfecting our “show-biz faces” and generally hamming it up. Chuck admitted then and there that when he asked all of us to join in, he never dreamed we’d really take him up on it!

We performed our debut -and farewell - performance on Saturday afternoon in silly, over-the-top costumes, including John Compton dressed as a mummy and Amy Sigil in a cabaret outfit that nearly fell off as she took the stage! There’s nothing quite like the backstage mechanics of a “number” like this, including Chuck’s bout of stage fright and not to mention seeing Rachel Brice in a cheap Cleopatra wig dumping an entire can of baby-powder onto John Compton’s mummy rags to “age” them! Heather Stants had just run off the stage following her performance and was transformed immediately into a tacky showgirl with a cheap wig and my sparkly leopard-print caftan. The on-stage dancing was constantly interrupted by John Compton’s “Mummy Dearest” antics, as he pawed at Rachel and me, leering one-eyed through his mummy rags. Frank Farinaro even threw underwear onto the stage as though it was a Tom Jones concert!

It’s insane moments like these that could never happen at another dance festival that makes Tribal Fest unique and so much fun! If you’d like to view the hysteria, you can see it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIq1W1gckQ0

With that, I’m off to actually cook dinner…. something I NEVER gets to do when I am on the road!


Photos: Rachel Brice, John Compton and I backstage at Tribal Fest before performing "King Chuck" ; Andrus and I hanging out post-show in Miami

TRIBAL FEST 9

It’s hard to believe it, but I am FINALLY backed in LA after three weeks on the road!

I’ve done “hard time” on Death Row on the set of the “Stuck!” shoot in Macon, Georgia; been in a Tornado Watch, taught and performed Egyptian Cabaret and Burlesque in Buffalo, Missouri, and I just came from Tribal Fest 9 in Sebastopol, California.

Tribal Fest is one of my all-time favorite dance events, and it’s the largest and longest-running alternative belly dance festival on the planet. Located in the wine country of Northern California, the sleepy town of Sebastopol always explodes into a manic, hip-shaking riot in the third week of May when Tribal Fest rolls into town. Dancers come from all over the world to participate, and the place is humming with beautiful women and unbridled creativity all week long! The general atmosphere is kind of like a gypsy encampment mixed with a circus back-lot. Belly dancers from all pop-culture genres- Goth, Steam Punk, Pirate, Ren Faire, Burlesque, cabaret and plain old Tribal were represented. The fashion parade was awesome, as usual- everyone dresses to the nines even if the temperatures are soaring.

This year marked my fifth anniversary of teaching and performing at Tribal Fest. I taught two sold-out classes, one called “Drama Queen” which was all about theatrical presentation I the context of belly dance; the other one focused on all-abdominal belly dance technique. My students came from Taiwan, Netherlands, Italy, UK and all across the USA… and one can only guess what other countries were represented by f the other attendees!

Friday, May 15 was the first of the weekend’s shows, and the dressing room was brimming over with dancers running their numbers and changing into elaborate hand-made costumes. I performed a vintage-inspired fan dance/belly dance fusion, and my set went great. I shared the stage that night with many of my favorite dancers, including the delicately gorgeous Indian dancer Colleena Shakti, elegant in an embellished red velvet costume; awesome sword duo Romka; the ever-gorgeous Rachel Brice; Kiki Kuan, who does Tribal mixed with classical Chinese dance; Tempest, Asharah (in a fabulous duet with a live cellist) and Suhaila Salimpour. Suhaila’s company closed the show in an 18-minute number that brought the house down, including an awesome segment with some fierce Fosse-style chair dancing.

When I wasn’t dancing or teaching, I hung out sipping wine in the hotel hot tub with my travel-mates Natasha and Kelly of Skellramics and our pal Andrea Ferrante. I got to visit with old dance-pals who were also attending, like festival organizers Kajira Djoumahna and her hubby Chuck; Blume Bauer of Belly Dance Gear, Politti Ashcraft of Dancer’s Oasis; Julia of Blue Scarab, Rachel Lazarus-Soto and her hubby Jeremiah Soto of Solace, amazing Bollywood artist and Tall Ship sailor Samantha Riggs; the Tribal Tique gals from Colorado, and the Midwest Tribal Mafia! Those Mafia gals were so impressed with my stories from the “Stuck!” set, they gave me a bottle of wine called “In The Slammer”! Also spent some quality time with Kajira in the closet of the Sebastopol community center, while she simultaneously got a winged skull tattoo from Natasha and Skellramics and gave an interview to Theresa of belly dance magazine "The Chronicles"...all this while Karim Nagy was teacing a class on Egyptian Tahtib right outide the door! I also got an incredible massage from LA-based dancer Heather Shoopman, and got to hang out a lot with two of my favorite UK dancers (and party girls extraordinaire) Tree Russell and Heike Humphreys, who come to Tribal Fest every year!

Now, I’m home for three weeks before more teaching and performing in Salt Lake City Utah for Electric Circus and in Cairo, Egypt for the Ahlan WA Sahlan Festival.

My baby kittens have gotten big and calendar-quality cute…and it’s sooo nice to be back in my own bed. I have a dancing workshop this coming weekend, but it’s here in Los Angeles at Dance Garden. Hopefully, I’ll be able to tear myself away from the baby kitties long enough to un-pack and do some laundry!


**pictured: Princess and UK dancer Heike Humphreys