Improv Tribal Style Belly Dance - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Improv Tribal Style belly dance is a group of dancers with tribal style bellydance traits composing choreography on the spot (i.e., improvising) through previously arranged cued moves. Solos are performed, but are generally supported in a group environment. Improv Tribal Style is a sub-group of Tribal Style bellydance. (It is also known as Tribal Group Improv, American Improv Tribal, Group Improv Tribal.)

Although this style of modern fusion world dance is rooted in the United States, Improv Tribal Style has grown, and continues to grow, internationally and can be found in Australia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom and other countries.

Characteristics

Three common characteristic pairs to help categorize the sub-types of Tribal Style bellydance can be seen as:

Ensemble: Group / Solo http://www.tribalbellydance.org/about.html
Execution: Improvisational Choreography (or "Improv") / Memorized Choreography (or "Choreo") http://www.shira.net/chor-impr.htm
Styling: Traditional Tribal (see: Old School/Classic & ATS costuming http://www.tribalbellydance.org/about.html) / Tribal Fusion (see: Tribal Fusion costuming http://www.tribalbellydance.org/about.html)

Tribal Style can be divided into sub-types depending on which characteristics are combined.

Improv Tribal Style combines group improv and Traditional Tribal styling
Tribal Fusion Style combines group, solo, improv, choreo and Tribal Fusion styling
Combo-Based Tribal Style combines group, solo, choreo, Traditional Tribal and/or Tribal Fusion Styling http://www.tribalbellydance.org/about.html

Choreography

Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

is generally referred to as a set sequence of dance movements, performed the same way every time. Can be done as a solo or as a group.

Group Improvisation (a.k.a. Group Improv) refers to a structured and codified repertoire of movements, each with their own distinct cue, performed in a lead and follow format. Group Improv is generally associated with American Tribal Style and Group Improvisational Tribal Style (a.k.a. Improv Tribal Style).

Solo Improvisation refers to one dancer spontaneously dancing and being "in the moment" with the music. Solo improvisers will often be intimately familiar with their music or have some sort of a loose framework in mind for their dance presentation.

Belly Dance

Belly dance

Belly dance or Bellydance is a "Western"-coined name for a traditional "Middle Eastern" dance, especially raqs sharqi . It is sometimes also called Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance in the West, or by the Greco-Turkish term çiftetelli...

is a dance characterized by sinuous hip, abdominal and arm movements.

Tribal Style Belly Dance

Tribal Style Belly Dance is genre of belly dance that is folkloric, magical/mythical Jean Gebser#Ideas and tribal in nature. Has a grounded, natural and simpler-times feel to it, inspired by Romany traditions. Music and moves, in general, are loosely or closely based on Egyptian folkloric, North African/Middle Eastern, Spanish or Eastern Indian. Costuming includes a rich tapestry of ethnic jewelry, natural fibered cloth and decorations such as shisha mirrors, with earth-tones and jewel-tones preferred. Generally some sort of head-dressing, trousers under a tiered skirt or just trousers, a choli and/or ethnic coin bra are worn. Body piercing, colorful dreadlocks, henna tattooing and permanent tattooing are favored but are not required.

Tribal Style includes and transcends its predecessors, the 1970s California Tribal Style, characterized by its obvious counterculture response to club belly dancing and its daughter (which currently spans three decades — 80s to the present) American Tribal Style, a very carefully stylized belly dance format rooted in improv group choreography, characterized by intense isolation of movement and gesture with finger cymbal self-accompaniment, using a clearly defined group of moves and cues with a confident and upright, open posture.

Tribal Style stylistically contrasts with Rak Sharki/Cabaret/Egyptian Style belly dance.

Improv Tribal Style (also known as Tribal Group Improv, American Improv Tribal, Group Improv Tribal

These are a group of dancers with tribal style belly dance traits composing choreography on the spot (i.e., improvising) through previously arranged cued moves. Can have solos, but generally supported in a group environment.

Examples of Improv Tribal formats

American Tribal Style (ATS), BlackSheepBellyDance ATS Format (BSBD-ATS), Gypsy Caravan Tribal Style Format (GC).

A cross-section of Improv Tribal Style groups

FatChanceBellyDance, BlackSheepBellyDance, Pedralta Dance, Gypsy Caravan, Deep Roots Dance, Heavy Hips Tribal Belly Dance, Skin Deep / Katrina, The Kismet Tribe, Gypsy Trail Tribal Dance Co., n.o.madic, UNMATA, Gypsy Moon, Rare Elements Dance Collective, Danse du Ventre, Tribal Unity, Alchemy , Desert Lotus Tribal, Zephyr

Tribal Fusion Style

Tribal Fusion

Tribal Fusion Belly Dance is a modern form of belly dance which has evolved from American Tribal Style belly dancing, blending elements of ATS with any other style of dance...

Style is a dancer or a group of dancers with predominantly tribal style belly dance traits using other dance disciplines along with world and contemporary dance styles to enhance the core style of Tribal Style belly dance. Improvisational choreography with cues is fundamental to the composition of Tribal Fusion choreography, but the final production is not necessarily fully improvised. Compositionally contrasts with Tribaret. Past Tribal workshop schedules help verify style used for fusion. (See Tribal Fest 7 http://www.blacksheepbellydance.com/tf7/workshops-style.html as an example.)

Enhancements can conceivably include any of the following influences: Middle Eastern folkloric dances (see: Culture of Egypt

Culture of Egypt

The culture of Egypt has thousands of years of recorded history. Ancient Egypt was among the earliest civilizations. For millennia, Egypt maintained a strikingly complex and stable culture that influenced later cultures of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. After the Pharaonic era, Egypt itself...

ex. Ghawazee

Ghawazee

The Ghawazi dancers of Egypt were a group of female traveling dancers of the Nawari people, a subgroup of the Dom people, sometimes referred to as "Gypsies"....

); North African folkloric dances (see: Culture of Morocco

Culture of Morocco

Morocco is a country of multi-ethnic groups with a rich culture, civilization, and etiquette. Through Moroccan history, Morocco hosted many people in addition to the indigenous Berbers, coming from both East , South and North . All of which have had an impact on the social structure of Morocco...

, Berber music

Berber music

The Berber people is the indigenous and major ethnic group inhabiting North Africa and part of West Africa . Berbers call themselves "imazighen"...

, Ouled Nail

Ouled Nail

The Ouled Naïl are:* A tribe living in the Ouled Naïl Mountains of Algeria* The range of mountains in Algeria called the Ouled Naïl* A term in belly dancing refer to a style of dance originated by the Ouled Naïl people...

, Tuareg); Spanish folkloric dances (see: Flamenco

Flamenco

Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....

); Eastern Indian folkloric dances (ex. Kathak

Kathak

Kathak is one of the eight forms of Indian classical dances, originated from Uttar Pradesh, India. This dance form traces its origins to the nomadic bards of ancient northern India, known as Kathaks, or storytellers...

, Bharatanatyam

Bharatanatyam

Bharata Natyam or Chadhir Attam, is a classical dance form from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, practiced predominantly in modern times by women. The dance is usually accompanied by classical Carnatic music...

, Odissi

Odissi

Odissi, also spelled Orissi , is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. It originates from the state of Orissa, in eastern India. It is the oldest surviving dance form of India on the basis of archaeological evidences. The classic treatise of Indian dance, Natya Shastra, refers to it as...

, Bhangra); European Folkloric dances (see: Greek dances

Greek dances

Greek dance is a very old tradition, being referred to by authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch and Lucian. There are different styles and interpretations from all of the islands and surrounding mainland areas. Each region formed its own choreography and style to fit in with their own ways...

, Roma people); Hula

Hula

Hula is a dance form accompanied by chant or song . It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visual dance form....

or Polynesian dance; African dance

African dance

African dance refers mainly to the dance of Sub-Saharan Africa, and more appropriately African dances because of the many cultural differences in musical and movement styles...

; Yoga Asana

Asana

Asana is a body position, typically associated with the practice of Yoga, originally identified as a mastery of sitting still, with the spine as a conduit of biodynamic union...

; Jazz dance

Jazz dance

Jazz dance is a classification shared by a broad range of dance styles. Before the 1950s, jazz dance referred to dance styles that originated from African American vernacular dance. In the 1950s, a new genre of jazz dance—modern jazz dance—emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditional dance...

; Tap dance

Tap dance

Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sound of one's tap shoes hitting the floor as a percussive instrument. As such, it is also commonly considered to be a form of music. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses more on the...

; Ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

; Modern dance

Modern dance

Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...

; Aerobic dance (ex. Jazzercise

Jazzercise

Jazzercise is a dance-based group fitness program. Each 60-minute Jazzercise class features a fusion of jazz dance, resistance training, Pilates, yoga, kickboxing, and Latin-style movements set to popular music. The Jazzercise program was founded in 1969 by Jazzercise CEO Judi Sheppard Missett...

); Social dance

Social dance

Social dance is a major category or classification of danceforms or dance styles, where sociability and socializing are the primary focuses of the dancing...

(see also: Contra dance

Contra dance

Contra dance refers to several partnered folk dance styles in which couples dance in two facing lines...

); Creative dance http://www.dancecreative.org/; Raks Sharki or Cabaret bellydance; Gothic bellydance

Gothic bellydance

Gothic Bellydance is a recent and rapidly growing dance art movement, currently becoming very popular in both the amateur and professional dance communities of the United States and Europe. -History:...

; Hip hop dance

Hip hop dance

Hip-hop dance refers to dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles notably breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s by African Americans and made popular by breaking, locking, and...

; Fire dancing

Fire dancing

Fire dancing is a group of performance arts or disciplines that involve manipulation of objects on fire...

; Bollywood

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

; Vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

; and Burlesque

Burlesque

Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...

Examples of Tribal Fusion

Bhangra Tribal Fusion, Ghawazee Tribal Fusion, Flamenco Tribal Fusion, Bollywood Tribal Fusion.

A cross-section of Tribal Fusion individuals and groups

(Important note: some of the dancers and groups listed below would NOT fall under "Improvisational Tribal Bellydance", and should not be included in this article, as they do not incorporate group improvisational stylings. Tribal Fusion bellydance has dual meanings, thus this list under an article about Improvisational Tribal Bellydance is misleading.)
Rachel Brice, Domba!, Frederique, Gypsy Noir, Hands of Kali, Heavy Hips Tribal Belly Dance, The Indigo, Zoe Jakes, Ultra Gypsy, Underbelly, Urban Tribal, Zafira, Belladonna...

Combo-Based Tribal Style

Combo-Based Tribal Style is a dancer or group of dancers with Tribal Style Belly Dance traits composing belly dance through planning and arranging the movements, steps, and patterns of dancers. Dancers then practice and perform the set composition. (Group & Solo, Choreo, Traditional Tribal & Tribal Fusion)

A cross-section of Combo-Based Tribal Style groups

UNMATA (Combo Based Tribal), Sera and Solstice Dance Ensemble (East Coast Tribal).