Tribal style dvds

Moondancer

New member
I'm looking for some dvds on tribal and tribal fusion because i wanna learn more about these styles. does anyone have any recommendations? what about rachel brice's or ariellah's instructional dvds?

thx
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
Okay, I'm NOT a Tribal dancer, but I like doing the Tribal Fusion dvd workouts.

First of all Tribal Fusion is a fusion of ATS Tribal with other things. So the first thing you might want to do is get Fat Chance Bellydance dvds or Gypsy Caravan DVDs to see the "Tribal" part of Tribal Fusion.

Rachel's dvd is so-so. The other one you mentioned is better. Sharon Kihara's dvd is nice too!
 

Zarka

New member
Before you do the Fusion, you should learn the basic. I love the FCBD DVDs and both of Kajira.
 

lizaj

New member
Sahira's Arabian Spices and her new one Ali.
Domba's Shimmy shimmy drop drop. All have excellent combinations of moves.
 

SaraKat

New member
I love the FatChance DVDs with the exception of their costuming DVD, which I thought was a bit silly (I watched it at a friend's house and I am glad I didn't pay for it).
The content on the Gypsy Caravan DVDs is great but I don't like the presentation. I wish they would face away from the camera towards a mirror like on the FatChance DVDs, especially when they teach longer combos where left and right really matter. Of course I'm a bit of a space cadet, so this might not be an issue for you.
I actually really like Rachel Brice's first DVD (eg. the not arms one-- I haven't seen the other one), although the content is very basic and a bit limited in its scope. I felt like even with multiple viewings I can still come away with new insight because she breaks things down very well.
I like Ariellah's DVD. It's really long-- it has a lot of content packed into one disc.
I have heard good things about the East Coast Tribal dvd and the Kassar dvd, but I haven't watched either all the way through, just the performances at the end (again at a friend's house).
My advice is not to go on a spree, but to just buy one DVD and really try to absorb everything in it before you buy another. If you were only going to buy one, it should be FCBD vol 1 in my opinion. Even if you do not want to do ATS, familiarity with the format is always always a good thing.
 

TribalDancer

New member
Start with FCBD and GC videos. Don't skip straight to the fusion DVD's if you want to get your foundations down.

The fusion DVD's are great for exploring many other directions, once you have your foundations down.

I find that students who have diversified too quickly become a "dancer of many styles, master of none". Better to solidify your technique and knowledge of the format on which the fusion is based first, then look at the fusion and decide what works and what doesn't for you!
 

lizaj

New member
Sorry I (foolishly ) assume that potential fusion dancers have done the basics...silly me!:redface:
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
Sorry I (foolishly ) assume that potential fusion dancers have done the basics...silly me!:redface:

Yeah, really! No, seriously -- I was asking about how to start learning Tribal Fusion a while ago, and only a scant few people said anything about learning the TRIBAL part first. I hate to say this, but it never occurred to me to actually study TRIBAL before FUSING it with whatever. I never said I was a quick study, tho... :)
 

lizaj

New member
Yeah, really! No, seriously -- I was asking about how to start learning Tribal Fusion a while ago, and only a scant few people said anything about learning the TRIBAL part first. I hate to say this, but it never occurred to me to actually study TRIBAL before FUSING it with whatever. I never said I was a quick study, tho... :)

I assume so many dancers found what Rachel Brice was doing attractive, they decided to miss out the ATS bit especially as you aren't required to be in a group format. Yes it's happening here also and even missing out the belly dance bit as well!
It's understandable that some don't make the connection and I know some teachers accept the "straight to fusion" students here. Maybe it's right, maybe it's wrong. More Trad. Belly dance doesn't appeal to some potential students. I am still unsure myself but ho hum I fell in love with Egyptian Style and then ATS...and having said that I fuse that because we choreo in the performance troupe I belong to even if I teach ATS as improv.
 

TribalDancer

New member
Well, it so happens Rachel didn't start in ATS. She was a cabaret dancer for ages. She didn't really get into tribal until she was doing fusion with Ultra Gypsy (who at the time was still doing some ATS, but mostly fusion), and didn't take from Carolena until much much much more recently (in the grand scheme).

I love it when people assume that Rachel somehow sprung from ATS. She didn't. And today what she does is so far from those roots, I am not a fan of her style being called tribal anything (as much as I love to claim that gorgeous, talented creature for "the tribal side", it just isn't accurate! ;).

So if someone wants to learn what Rachel does without learnign ATS, so be it. It's not like that style came from ATS in the first place, or retains much of the tribal roots she later added.

This is why I hate the word tribal fusion being used as it is in the first place...The implication is, naturally, that it is fusing tribal. But a lot of what is out there under that name isn't fusing it in the least!
 

staranise

New member
I'm confused, isn't tribal a fusion anyway? I thought that tribal wasn't explicitly ATS, that it all began with Jamila Salimpour and the original Bal Anat dressing in a more fokloric style to suit the ren faires, or is that different? how is what RB does any less tribal? I'm just curious as to what actually defines tribal now.

forgive my Naivete, I have only briefly read the Tribal Bible, and the tribal scene here in australia is relatively small, especially where I live.
I hope I'm not opening up a can of worms....
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
The big debate -- at least in the US -- is whether or not Tribal was first and foremost a COSTUMING style or a DANCE style.

The original Bal Anat wasn't "tribal" in any way that we would think of today. They did the same movements at the Renn Faire in the day that they did at the clubs in the nights. The costuming was more "ethnic" in appearance for the Renn Faire, because that was a look that worked for them.

Eventually they created a SHOW based around what Jamila understood to be ethnic dances from North Africa (or inspired by them) and that became the more formal Bal Anat show. (We got to see ancient footage of the dancers when Suhaila brought the new Bal Anat to St. Louis. It was AWESOME!!)

You can see old photos of Masha Archer on line, and even then you can see her exploring her costuming ideas, but "Tribal" as a dance style hadn't been born yet.

Did Tribal as a DANCE begin with Jamila? Not really, even though Suhaila likes to say it does :) LOL. Carolena was Masha's student and never even took a class with Jamila, but Carolena created the group improv style of DANCE that would be called Tribal.

So if you think Tribal is COSTUMING, then yes it began with (or at least might have been popularized by) Bal Anat. But as far as a DANCE style it had nothing to do with Bal Anat, and came later.
 

lizaj

New member
Well, it so happens Rachel didn't start in ATS. She was a cabaret dancer for ages. She didn't really get into tribal until she was doing fusion with Ultra Gypsy (who at the time was still doing some ATS, but mostly fusion), and didn't take from Carolena until much much much more recently (in the grand scheme).

I love it when people assume that Rachel somehow sprung from ATS. She didn't. And today what she does is so far from those roots, I am not a fan of her style being called tribal anything (as much as I love to claim that gorgeous, talented creature for "the tribal side", it just isn't accurate! ;).

So if someone wants to learn what Rachel does without learnign ATS, so be it. It's not like that style came from ATS in the first place, or retains much of the tribal roots she later added.

This is why I hate the word tribal fusion being used as it is in the first place...The implication is, naturally, that it is fusing tribal. But a lot of what is out there under that name isn't fusing it in the least!

However different Rachel Brice's solo fusion was, you could always see the belly dance!
..and is it true that she is going back if not to cabaret but to ATS format dancing?
 

TribalDancer

New member
No, she is not doing ATS format dancing, as far as I have ever heard. I would be curious to hear or see that!

And Aziyade is right. A lot of people want to lay claim to being the founders of "Tribal", but the fact is that Bal Anat may have had the first moniker which included the word tribal, but they didn't have a different style. They were cabaret and folkloric (fakeloric--Jamilla admits to making stuff up ;)), and used a chorus inasmuch as the rest of the dancers stayed onstage at the same time as featured acts were performing, and sometimes played zills or interacted. Hahbi Ru, too, is often called tribal, but they too are folkloric, and not tribal in that sense of the word.

For the first truly new style of movement and approach to the dance, that began with Carolena and ATS. Which is why I wish people would stop saying "But Bal Anat! But but but!" Because it really wasn't the beginning of the thread as we follow it as a dance STYLE.

Aziyade, I love you. :)

It's funny trying to pin labels on bellydance "back then". As Carolena has said, back then they didn't have the knowledge or the community drive to label things like we do today. Everything was just bellydance--good or bad, but bellydance. So trying to say it was this or that...it wasn't because anyone was necessarily *trying* to be this or that. They were just doing what they felt, or what the situation was calling for (like the Ren Faires, which demanded different costuming and staging than other situations).
 
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