Belly Dance: the Meaning of Tribaret

 Carrie Konyha

From what I have read online, it seems that Tribaret belly dance initially referred only to choices of costuming and music. For example, wearing Tribal style costumes but dancing with Cabaret movements, or vice versa. Or it could mean using a combination of costuming elements for a glitzier Tribal look, or an earthier Cabaret style. It could also imply using Tribal music but dancing Cabaret, or vice versa. At any rate, Tribaret did not seem to point to the fusion of Tribal and Cabaret movement vocabulary, perhaps because this category was called Tribal Fusion. Confused yet?

Unfortunately, neither the word Tribal nor the word Cabaret tells us much about what dance form we can actually expect to see. At one time Tribal referred to Jamila Salimpour's troupe, Bal Anaat, which I have discussed in previous posts. Then it was used in Carolena Nericcio's lead and follow, group improvisational format, dubbed American Tribal Style, or ATS. Other troupes developed their own Tribal formats, usually called either Tribal Group Improvisation (TGI) or Improvisational Tribal Style (ITS). Paulette Rees-Denis of Gypsy Caravan calls her format simply "Tribal", as opposed to ATS. All of these variations could be known under the umbrella of Classic Tribal. But as I have written before, the Tribal umbrella has swollen to such vast proportions, to include any sort of "fusion" under the sun, that I am loathe to use the moniker "Tribal Fusion" in relation to belly dance at all.

"Cabaret" has similar issues in that it is usually used to refer to any type of Oriental, or non-Tribal, belly dance, and it leaves out Folkloric forms entirely. Instead, Tribal has come to stand for Folkloric, which is erroneous, even if classic forms of Tribal do incorporate some Folkloric elements. The word "cabaret" also has low-class associations in some countries, so it is not the best choice, to say the least.

Tribaret belly dance has evolved to become the "new" American Vintage Oriental (a.k.a. American Cabaret or American Restaurant), which harkens back to the classic night club and Renaissance faire styles which mixed various forms of Middle and Near Eastern dance and emphasized the use of props such as zills, veils, and swords. It had a distinctive 5 to 7 parts and was particular to the United States while being firmly grounded in the cultural roots from which it derived. Tribaret belly dance today is distinctive from Tribal Fusion.

While a Tribaret performance may use less of the classic 5 to 7 sections, it sticks to the American Vintage Oriental roots, with the addition of classic Tribal vocabulary and presentation from Bal Anaat's direct descendants (ATS, ITS, and TGI). There is no infusion of hip hop, burlesque, break dancing, gothic, or other modern dance interpretations in either movement vocabulary or musicality (though some "funky" or electronic Middle Eastern music fusions may pass inspection).

As an American belly dancer, Tribaret seems to me an "authentic" form of belly dance, except for the unfortunate blending in terms of the meaningless "Tribal" and "Cabaret" language. So what to call it? "Tribaret" is fine if you like it and have a firm grasp on what it means, but I am currently using the term, Classic Tribal Oriental. I may come up with something better and will keep you posted in that case. At any rate, inspired by Carrie Konyha, I am developing my own "Tribaret" combinations, incorporating movement vocabulary and technique from the Egyptian Baladi, Golden Era, and classic Tribal, with an undercurrent of Gypsy romance.

Carrie Konyha is a trailblazer in Tribaret belly dance, having come up with her own format for use in either group improvisation or for solo enhancement. The final performance of her Tribaret video is earthy and elegant, nothing akin to most "Tribal Fusion" disasters. It looks much like classic American belly dance! And if you watch her Tribaret troupe, White Lotus, on youtube, the effect is distinctively Tribal but is richer and more nuanced than the typical Tribal group improvisation. The moral of the story is that belly dance can indeed evolve beautifully, but historically, time and again, we see that going back to the cultural roots is always necessary to be able to move forward with integrity, dignity, and preservation of the authentic spirit of the dance.

Carrie Konyha

Belly Dance: Workshop with Paulette!

Last night I drove an hour to attend a workshop in Toledo by Paulette Rees-Denis, founder of Tribal belly dance troupe, Gypsy Caravan. While I have to admit to being quite starstruck, Paulette is no distant diva. She is warm, down to earth, and has a smile to light up the darkest day. Aegela hosted the workshop at her studio, and having taken classes on occasion with the lovely lady, it was fun to be a fellow student with her.

I felt like I already knew Paulette. I learned Tribal from Angie Hay (a.k.a. Angie Never) in Columbus, who had learned directly from Paulette. When I moved away from the area to Northwest Ohio, there were no belly dance classes being offered in my county, so I decided to teach, and I began with Tribal. Angie was always so helpful when I had questions, and she recommended that I get some of Paulette's videos to refresh my memory. I did so, and also purchased Paulette's biography, Tribal Vision. Last night she signed it for me! I have subscribed for some time to Paulette's online newsletter and have been published there twice. We have corresponded a little via email. But actually meeting her in person was such a sweet treat!

Paulette has been belly dancing for 30 years, but she has been a dancer since childhood. Her mother still dances Flamenco at age 86! In addition to Flamenco, Paulette has extensive training in ballet, jazz, and African dance forms. She was Tribal pioneer Carolena Nerricio's first student and was an original member of her troupe in San Francisco, Fat Chance Belly Dance. They had their first performance in Paulette's backyard. Paulette eventually moved to Portland, Oregon and began teaching her own group improvisational belly dance style. Carolena's format is called ATS (American Tribal Style), and she has requested that other groups do not use this name. Paulette refers to her dance as Tribal, and one common name for non-ATS formats is Tribal Group Improvisation (TGI).

In a nutshell, Tribal belly dance combines movement vocabulary and aesthetic elements from dances of the Near and Middle East, India, Spain, North Africa, and the Romany (Gypsy). It is specifically a group dance which uses a system of cues, transitions, and intuition in a lead-and-follow format, having a homogenous "flock of geese" effect. It looks choreographed but is in fact art created in the moment, improvised within a structured form. The emphasis of Tribal is on a trusting community.

"Fusion" forms of dance that have erupted from Tribal often veer in directions away from any cultural roots of style and music, and in my opinion, no longer qualify as belly dance. While Paulette's form is contemporary and embodies many influences, her band, Gypsy Caravan, uses traditional Middle Eastern music and rhythms. The music is more simplified than classical Oriental to allow for the lead-and-follow format. And her dance is solidly grounded in traditional movement vocabulary. It is at once a modern, interpretive dance and a distinctive form of belly dance that is descended from American Vintage Oriental, earthy and organic but light and graceful.

I found Paulette's technique and teaching style to be of the highest quality. Aegela, who specializes in Egyptian Oriental and Folkloric, especially appreciated her emphasis on the importance of knowing the Middle Eastern rhythms and being able to play them on the zills, as well as teaching movements and combinations on both sides of the body. With Paulette's training in the various dance forms I mentioned, I think her style can be considered a true fusion, particularly with its distinctive jazz influence. Unfortunately some dancers are insufficiently trained in the forms they are supposedly "fusing", but this is not the case with Paulette. She is a true fusion dancer.

Paulette is not concerned with the "style" her students dance, but rather that they become good dancers and learn to express themselves creatively within the community context. Her style and posture are very natural to the body. She wants to be able to keep dancing forever, so she moves in a way that will not cause injury. She also feels that whatever style belly dance one does, Tribal can be incorporated. I used to teach mostly Tribal belly dance, but for the last year and a half, I've been focused on getting back to the roots of Egyptian Oriental. Lately I have become interested in revisiting that Vintage Oriental style I originally learned at Habeeba's in Columbus. Now I am moving toward putting all of my experience together in the vein of the recent trend of "Tribaret", designated as the "new classic" form that returns to American Cabaret (Vintage Oriental) roots but incorporates elements of Tribal. So I guess I am coming full circle!

If you get the chance to study with Paulette, do not pass it up! She is beautiful (even more so in person than in pictures) inside and out and is a wealth of experience and artistry. Thank you Paulette from the bottom of my heart for traveling to Toledo. I hope you will return soon! And thanks to the incomparable Aegela for hosting this truly memorable event.

Belly Dance Evolution Confusion

I want to continue the discussion of belly dance fusion confusion begun in my previous post. Inevitably, the reasoning in many an article and comment I have read is that belly dance is a living, evolving art form, so questions of authentic representation are moot. I agree that certainly over the thousands of years that belly dance has existed there have been gradual changes, modifications, and creative expressions that have evolved over time. We don't have youtube videos from ancient Egypt, only paintings on the walls of temples and tombs. So we can only guess, right? So whatever one wants to do with the dance is okay, yes? No.

Now, I am not a "purist". That is, I don't think you need to travel to Egypt and live with the Saidi people to learn to belly dance, using only Saidi music and wearing the traditional dress. Some Saidi styling can be incorporated while wearing a bra and bedlah and dancing to modern Egyptian music. But think how odd it would be, if you know anything about Saidi, to do that folkloric dance to industrial, gothic music while wearing a corset and ruffled skirt. Costuming is not really my biggest area of concern, but you get the picture. In case you don't...

There is nothing necessarily wrong with this look, but it would be an insult to the Saidi to do a traditional cane dance to moody, gothic music wearing something like this. As I said before, the music and the dance are married, and the costuming should reflect the general dance style. As Bahaia said at Island of Isis a few years ago, if you do not like Egyptian music (or Turkish, Lebanese, etc...), you need to ask yourself why, and that maybe this isn't the dance for you. She mentioned that there is a lot of fusion music available using Middle Eastern rhythms and instruments that would perhaps work if one does not prefer the traditional, classic styles. There is also Middle Eastern pop music. Bahaia added that she feels there is too much division between the two camps of "cabaret" and "tribal" belly dance, especially since both have their roots in the Golden Era of Egypt from the 1930s to the 1970s.

That brings me to my next topic, in regard to these two camps. Jamila Salimpour's troupe, Bal Anat, performed at Renaissance fairs in the 1960s, making popular a folkloric inspired look in opposition to the sparkly beads and sequins that were popular in the night clubs at that time. She developed a chorus line format in which individual dancers or small groups would take turns coming out from the group to showcase their individuality. Dancing with snakes was common. Some dancers prefer the covered up, earthy look of Tribal, which originated with Bal Anat. And some think cabaret dance is too flirtatious, and it's just not their style. I would argue that you can dress modestly doing any form of belly dance, and that you can embody the music in a way that reflects your personality, whether you are shy, bubbly, outgoing, funny, loving, ethereal, intense, or fierce. Besides, don't we women have many, many moods? That's what makes us so glorious!

Bal Anat

Jamila was married to a Persian man, and they owned a Middle Eastern night club, where she was self-taught by observing the dancers from various countries who came through. As I explained before, Americans approximated the movements as well as they could. Jamila is a well-respected innovator in the belly dance community. Carolena Nericcio, founder of ATS (American Tribal Style) and Fat Chance Belly Dance, learned from a former student of Jamila. Carolena's format is based upon Bal Anat's chorus line idea, but her technique is her own creation, and the element of improvisational leading and following was added. Carolena is regarded highly in the Tribal world.

Because ATS has the look and feel of a folkloric dance, it is thought by some to be a more authentic representation of what belly dance might have been like in ancient times. Tribal belly dance is often explained as a modern Gypsy styling, taking what one encounters along the way and "fusing" it together. This is not actually the case. It is an amalgamation of dance inspired by the folkloric forms of various tribes of the Near and Middle East, North Africa, India, and Spanish flamenco. If you have ever seen true Gypsy dance, such as Turkish Rom, which is always done to a 9/8 rhythm, you will recognize nothing similar to ATS, except for dancing in a circle. That being said, the Gypsy spirit certainly lives on in the Tribal belly dance world.

The authenticity issue is not one of tribal vs. cabaret. I have never even heard an Egyptian style dancer refer to what she does as "cabaret." This is a generic term used in America and other countries to refer to belly dance that is not folkloric or tribal. The Egyptian term for what is referred to as cabaret is actually Raqs Sharqi. Raqs Sharqi evolved from the Baladi (meaning "of the country"), the social dance of rural Egypt, which was brought to the urban areas during the Industrial Revolution. In the 1920s the Baladi was polished up for professional night club performances, and Raqs Sharqi was born. The Baladi is the mother of modern Egyptian belly dance. 

ATS/Tribal may be understood as a sub-genre of American belly dance, considering its roots in Bal Anat (which was dubbed in its heyday as "California Tribal"); or it can be considered its own thing, a separate style of belly dance created by Carolena Nericcio. There is nothing wrong with Tribal as long as it is presented as an American representation inspired by the ethnic dances of a wide range of peoples, incorporating various movements and aesthetic elements, rather than as a pure form of Middle Eastern dance.

A more recent development is a partial return to cabaret styling by tribal dancers who want the "best of both worlds" and incorporate elements, in costuming and movement, of the two styles. The effect is similar to the blending of various Middle Eastern styles into American belly dance in the 1970s, with a Tribal flair. Therefore, Tribaret is considered by some to be the "new classic" in American belly dance. The best example of Tribaret I know is Carrie Konyha, who also incorporates Gypsy styling into some of her dances.

Zoe Jakes

The problem of the degeneration of belly dance occurs with the proliferation of "fusion" which is not true fusion, whether it is classified as tribal, cabaret, or other. There is in many cases no blending together of two or more different styles that a dancer has mastered through years of study and incorporated into a cohesive whole. Tribal Fusion has become a catch-all umbrella for anything that contains some element of belly dance, no matter how small, but is not easily classified. And this validation of anything goes is defended in the name of evolution. Let's take a look at the animal world for an analogy here. The elephant of today evolved from the prehistoric wooly mammoth. We can see that while the mammoth's tusks are larger and he has more hair, he is still clearly recognizable as the ancestor of our elephant. The same cannot be said for the difference in the dances of Naima Akef and Zoe Jakes, for example. Birds may be descended from dinosaurs, but a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a robin have very little in common!

wooly mammoth

In conclusion, as Bahaia said, know what you are doing so that you can do what you want. And I would add that if you are going to call your performance or your class belly dance, make sure you have a solid background in a traditional form and that in your creative expression you do not cross the line into a region that is no longer an authentic representation of the cultural dance. I always explain the origins of ATS when I teach in the improvisational Tribal style, which I consider a reasonably authentic form of American belly dance. If you love Tribal, learn it well! Within the realm of Egyptian dance alone, there are already several forms that can be learned and take years to master. There is ample room for your uniqueness to shine. In any case, know where your dance comes from, whether it is tribal, folkloric, gypsy, or cabaret! Make sure your dance has not evolved from a beautiful swan...to an ugly duckling.