What Happened to Tribal Dancing?

Have you ever noticed how when tribal belly dance came along, it allowed for great experimentation and freeing ourselves from the cages of traditional dancing. And now, everywhere I look people are selling conventions and books and videos on 'how to do it right.' And the higher the ticket and the bigger the name, the more clout we are supposed to have as dancers and dance teachers. At some point you have to own the dance and make it your own. Otherwise you will perpetually be a clone of someone else.

Tribal v other types of belly dancing

Following is a question a former student asked me and my answer:



> Hi, Fayme, I know it's been a long time.
>
> Yesterday I did some belly dancing with some
> women who are in the SCA. They do tribal belly
> dancing and I didn't know how to that. Which
> leads me to this question. What is the
> difference between tribal style of dancing
> compared to what we did when I took lessons from
> you?

Ah yes, time marches on.
What I teach is a combination of Egyptian, Arabic, Cabaret and Tribal belly dancing.
Up until about 1987, belly dancers at Renaissance Faires were doing cabaret belly dancing and dressing in that same style.

It didn't fit in too well. So a group in the SF area called Fat Chance belly dance came up with a 'look' they called tribal. It was an eclectic blend put together in the way only Americans could have done, blending together costuming from India, Egypt, Afghanistan, Africa, and wherever else seemed appropriate. Then they started dancing in a synchronized way, all doing the same moves. The closest thing I can think of is the Rockets. Tribal is the chorus line of belly dancing.

Then as the years went on, things evolved even further. More tribal groups sprung up and evolved in different directions. Some of it may barely resemble the tribal style that is credited to Fat Chance Belly Dance. Since I can't see the style you are watching in your SCA group, I can't pin it down exactly. But the background you have should not be too far away from picking up the local style. Just remember tribal is a fabrication, and not historical at all, so don't let them bully you. They'd never document it in a pentathalon for example. Tribal evolved from the steps you already know.

Lately dancing has been evolving in the direction of 'fusion' and including more and more robotics. Some of the new trends can be found on youtube by googling up 'steampunk belly dance', 'fushion belly dance', 'gothic bellydance' and 'raks gothique'.

Hopefully the SCA dancers are teaching you their choreography. If they are then you'll soon see you have a foundation for it.

Making Tassels

It's a rainy day in southern California. I didn't really feel like weaving today. But then I remembered I also needed to make tassels for the woven hipband so I decided I was in the mood to do that.

Making tassels goes a lot quicker when you use 3 strands of yarn at a time. So if I wrap the yarn 25 times around the cardboard, that's actually 150 strands in one tassel. Because each wrap makes 2 strands. Two strands times 25 wraps times equals 50 ends. And each wrap has 3 kinds of yarn so that's 150.

Or to put it another way. One wrap around the cardboard equals 6 individual ends once you cut the tassel across the bottom. So 6x25=150. Sometimes doing things is easier than explaining them.

Woven Hipband

I had an epiphany this morning. I realized the weaving I'm doing on a 6' board loom would lend itself well to making belly dancing tribal hipbands. All I have to do after the weaving is done is hang some matching yarn tassles, coins, shells, or other doodads from the hipband and figure out a way to fasten it around my hips.
I haven't seen any woven hipbands though no doubt someone must have done this before, but it would be unique as far as what I've seen out there so far. Blogger is being impossible today with trying to post photos, but you can see some of the weaving in my other blog here: http://craftaday.blogspot.com/2009/01/weaving-books-and-hummingbirds.html

Tribal Buns

Ever find a video that was exactly like a video you just wanted to make but never got around to? Here's how to make yarn hair falls and how to add them to the buns in your hair. I personally like the Homespun yarn for this but there are many exciting yarns that will work to make your hair look opulent and exotic. I just wish the internet would have been around when I was 22. Not so sure people want to see a fat old lady on youtube videos but I haven't let that stop me so far. Anyway, here is the ever so beautiful dancer from the gypsykiss site showing how to make and wear hair falls. Happy dancing.

Dance wherever you can.

Too hot for a daily walk, but if I turn on the air conditioner, I may bellydance in my living room for a bit. Stretching too. Stretching first and after. Having a good time watching Unmata videos on youtube. Fascinating troupe. Would love to see them live some day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9LeOz_3Z4Y&NR=1

Cowrie hair falls for tribal belly dancing

Today I sat myself down and decided to teach myself to make cowry hair falls for belly dancing. First I took inventory of things I already had in my bead box and in my jewelry box. At first I was going to make a matching pair but I scrapped that idea because I don't have enough cowry shells. With any luck I'll be able to make 2 solos instead of one pair.

I started with a 9 yard strand of black yarn and a 9 yard strand of fuzzy variegated white and blue yarn. I laid them together, evened up the ends, folded them in half and tied a 2" loop in the center. That gave me four working strands. I looped it over a nail so I could keep tension on it while doing the knotwork. Now I'm in the process of stringing and knotting various items. I'm hoping to make a fall 3 feet long. Right now I'm about 1 foot into it. But hope springs eternal. Some of the cowry shells have holes that are too small so I'll have to make the holes bigger...either with my needlenose pliers or the dremel or something. I'll keep you posted.

Update: I ended up using cowry shells, brass bells, pre-made tassels, bone beads, and a bone charm, and a cross section of seashell.
A bead reamer came in very handy for making the pre-drilled cowrie shell holes bigger. I made a needle threader out of wire and used it to pull the yarn through the holes. If you need to know anything else just ask. See the photos in the later post. Basically I used macrame' knots between everything. I didn't use any braiding because I'm working with four strands, not three and I didn't want to relearn four strand braiding when macrame' works perfectly well.