Post 10 of 11.
Fusion (formerly known as Tribal Fusion) comes from ATS. As we know, ATS came from Am Cab ("as unromantic as it sounds to tribal bellydance historians, these dancers who hit the Ren Faires by day simply changed costumes and danced the night away at the restaurants. They were cabaret dancers in Ren Faire drag, if you will."-Shay Moore). From the original FatChance BellyDance troupe came Jill Parker, who created "Ultra Gypsy" and the start of "tribal fusion".
These days, to be more respectful of Native Americans, many dancers are dropping the "tribal" from the description, and even more have stopped using the G word. Each troupe has started coming up with terms that most closely represent what they do, and I have no doubt that from this a dominant term will eventually emerge organically, given time. I have included it in this intro so you know about the history, but we'll stick with some of the updated terms for the rest of the post.
Fusion (formerly known as Tribal Fusion) comes from ATS. As we know, ATS came from Am Cab ("as unromantic as it sounds to tribal bellydance historians, these dancers who hit the Ren Faires by day simply changed costumes and danced the night away at the restaurants. They were cabaret dancers in Ren Faire drag, if you will."-Shay Moore). From the original FatChance BellyDance troupe came Jill Parker, who created "Ultra Gypsy" and the start of "tribal fusion".
These days, to be more respectful of Native Americans, many dancers are dropping the "tribal" from the description, and even more have stopped using the G word. Each troupe has started coming up with terms that most closely represent what they do, and I have no doubt that from this a dominant term will eventually emerge organically, given time. I have included it in this intro so you know about the history, but we'll stick with some of the updated terms for the rest of the post.
There's a shift from the group improv of ATS to choreographies, which gives fusion dancers a more refined brush to paint the music with (instead of a big brush that paints in blocks of 2, 4, or 8). Raqs Fusion might combine bellydance with African dance, Indian mudras, Yoga, Breakdance, or Hip hop. There are of course others but these are the most common. This article is based on an interview with Jill Parker.
Shems has a great playlist for dance fusion too, and I'll throw in a few videos to highlight. Again, look through a play-list, then another, and a different one, and then go back to the first. This is how you'll start to see the similarities between different dancers and be able to recognize the dance and music style, so that you don't have to rely on costuming choices to tell what style someone is doing.
Rachel Brice studied directly with Jill Parker, she also has a background in traditional bellydance of several years. One of her main fusion elements is yoga and she is rumored to have said in a workshop that while in India she saw women weaving who seemed otherworldly in their speed and movements because they did it all day everyday. She supposedly said that she takes simple bellydance movements and drills them a minimum of 100times a day in order to achieve the otherworldly quality associated with her isolations. This clip is from when she was touring with the bellydance superstars, the association with this is a part of why she is such a recognizable name in bellydance, and indeed the first dancer who's name I knew.
This is the first time I saw Kami Liddle, and it's a great highlight of how drum solos have the least variation between styles (of course there is still some). The rhythms are a great way to find the common "bellydance" thread for "fusion bellydance", in spite of different trends that come and go.
Kami Liddle and Zoey Jakes at the Massive Spectacular, 2 very different personal styles interpreting the same fusion choreography. This song is a great one for fusion bellydance because it unites the dance elements: Arabic singing and traditional beats (you see them do a nod to it when the beledi/ masmoudi saghir rhythm comes to the front of the music) and then electronica style remixing.
Eventually, as you slide across the scale farther and farther away from bellydance and have fewer of those Arabic elements involved it becomes contemporary bellydance fusion, this is a beautiful example performed by Ava Fleming. It still gives me chills.
With any kind of fusion it's important to have a solid understanding of they styles one is putting together and how the elements of one's production (music, dance, costume, maybe props, we don't usually have the luxury of lighting or set ^_~) work together to present the same feeling/message. Ultimately though, if you are being true to yourself and respectful of the cultures of origin just remember that......
and keep on dancing!
Shems has a great playlist for dance fusion too, and I'll throw in a few videos to highlight. Again, look through a play-list, then another, and a different one, and then go back to the first. This is how you'll start to see the similarities between different dancers and be able to recognize the dance and music style, so that you don't have to rely on costuming choices to tell what style someone is doing.
Rachel Brice studied directly with Jill Parker, she also has a background in traditional bellydance of several years. One of her main fusion elements is yoga and she is rumored to have said in a workshop that while in India she saw women weaving who seemed otherworldly in their speed and movements because they did it all day everyday. She supposedly said that she takes simple bellydance movements and drills them a minimum of 100times a day in order to achieve the otherworldly quality associated with her isolations. This clip is from when she was touring with the bellydance superstars, the association with this is a part of why she is such a recognizable name in bellydance, and indeed the first dancer who's name I knew.
This is the first time I saw Kami Liddle, and it's a great highlight of how drum solos have the least variation between styles (of course there is still some). The rhythms are a great way to find the common "bellydance" thread for "fusion bellydance", in spite of different trends that come and go.
Kami Liddle and Zoey Jakes at the Massive Spectacular, 2 very different personal styles interpreting the same fusion choreography. This song is a great one for fusion bellydance because it unites the dance elements: Arabic singing and traditional beats (you see them do a nod to it when the beledi/ masmoudi saghir rhythm comes to the front of the music) and then electronica style remixing.
Eventually, as you slide across the scale farther and farther away from bellydance and have fewer of those Arabic elements involved it becomes contemporary bellydance fusion, this is a beautiful example performed by Ava Fleming. It still gives me chills.
With any kind of fusion it's important to have a solid understanding of they styles one is putting together and how the elements of one's production (music, dance, costume, maybe props, we don't usually have the luxury of lighting or set ^_~) work together to present the same feeling/message. Ultimately though, if you are being true to yourself and respectful of the cultures of origin just remember that......
and keep on dancing!
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