Tribal Style represents everything from Folkloric inspired dances to a fusion of ancient dance techniques from North India, the Middle East and Africa. As a general category, Tribal Style covers many flavors of American Belly Dance both the folkloric, fusion and cross over styles which explore modern, jazz, dance theatre, and hip hop with belly dance, as well as fusion with traditional classical ethnic dance forms like Bhangra, Bharata Natyam, Flamenco and now even Polynesian and West African Dance.
Tribal Style dancers (like Raqs Sharqi dancers) often use finger cymbals, but the focus is on the group as opposed to emphasizing solo performance. Tribal Style does feature solos within the group as well as call-and-answer performance with another dancer (duets), or as a whole group. Often there is a chorus which provides a “drone” in the background while the featured pod is the focal point. Both the pod and the chorus are improvised in the moment. Staging for the pod and the chorus is also formalized within the American Tribal Style (TM) form to maximize dancer visibility on behalf of the audience and likewise maximizing group visibility of the leader.
We offer two styles of tribal belly dance- American Tribal Style(TM) and Tribal Fusion/Steampunk. American Tribal Style is based on group improvisation where dancers lead and follow each other. Tribal Fusion/Steampunk takes basic belly dance moves and fuses them with other types of dance styles. Anything goes in fusion. We will also be learning one of the newest forms of bellydance called Steampunk. Steampunk is a type of fusion dance that features locking and popping similar to hip hop. The idea of steampunk dance is taken from a world powered by steam with cogs and wheels.
FatChanceBellyDance®, FCBD®, ATS® and American Tribal Style®, are federally registered trademarks of FatChanceBellyDance, Inc. For more information, please visit www.fcbd.com/about/legal.shtml.
