American Tribal Style Bellydance is a unique combination of traditional Middle Eastern dance, music and costuming blended with fantasy and given a modern-day twist. Because it's so eclectic, it can be difficult to describe, but if it's taken apart, step by step, a clear idea of it will emerge.
ATS is American in its very essence. Blending and combining elements of costume, music, jewelry, props and dance in an intoxicating and fantastic collage, each tribal group creates its own mini-culture. American Tribal Style dance groups use phrases like “Middle Eastern Fusion” and “Tribal Fantasy” to describe themselves. ATS creates an evocation of what could be or might be. Drawing on elements from cultures as far-flung as India and Morocco, and as evocative and exotic as Gypsy culture and Ancient Egypt, each ATS group brings together those aspects of the dance which sing to them. Music can be anything from a simple drumbeat to an ultramodern synthesized orchestration; costumes can be uniform within the tribe, or wildly unique. ATS draws from a wide palette of ethnic possibilities, just as America itself reflects its own ethnic diversity.
ATS groups use the word “tribal” in a uniquely American way. An ATS “tribe” is a group of dancers who share a vision of the beauty of the world's oldest dance form, and make it their own. Group members work through consensus to create their group's highly individual dance style. The famous Fat Chance Bellydance troupe is legendary for their hypnotic, unison dancing, Gypsy Caravan for their exciting performance style. Each group evolves a focus and a “look”, be it sensuous, energetic, colorful, dignified or what have you.
Another way in which ATS groups are “tribal” is in the fact that the dancers perform for each other, and with each other, moreso than for an audience. A combination of carefully studied and perfected posture, arm movements and positions, dance steps and floor patterns are coupled with improvisation to create an endless variety of movement patterns which challenge the dancers to alternately follow and lead, no one person standing out as the “leader” of the group. An ATS group becomes a second family for its members.
Every ATS group has its own style, which springs from the impossible-to-duplicate combination of personalities and movement styles of the group members. The ages, lifestlyes and life histories of group members also mold the tastes of the group in choosing costumes, music and performance themes. As group members spend more time dancing and working together, they inevitably influence each other, gradually creating a style which belongs not to any one group member, but to the group as a whole. A vibrant, confident, disciplined ATS group stands out in its own special way, carving a niche which cannot be duplicated by any other group.
NOTE: "American Tribal Style", or ATS, is the copyrighted Tribal Bellydance style of Carolena Nericcio, founder of Fat Chance Bellydance, based in San Francisco, California. All Tribal Bellydancers owe a debt of gratitude to Ms. Nericcio and Fat Chance Bellydance Tribe. However, only certified ATS teachers and trainers can use the phrase "American Tribal Style" or the anagram "ATS" in an official way, such as on letterhead or in advertising. Therefore, teachers and trainers not certified within the specific discipline of ATS must use other designations. Tribal Dance Arts and the Daughters of Sophia Tribal Dance Troupe designate themselves practitioners of "Tribal Fantasy". The official training system of Tribal Dance Arts is Daughters of Sophia Tribal Style Bellydance.
Flamenco/Tribal Fantasy Workshop Class
click on photo to to see larger picture
Daughters of Sophia Tribal Style Bellydance is a unique system of bellydance training based on authentic traditional Middle Eastern dance steps. Blended with movements from a variety of dance styles, Daughters of Sophia Tribal Style Bellydance is presented in an easy-to-learn format. Daughters of Sophia Tribal Style Bellydance is a system Ashtar developed based on her decades of experience in teaching students just like you. You'll learn to dance in a sensitive, confidence-building environment. You'll be guided expertly in everything you need to know to get started in the exciting world of Tribal Bellydance. Best of all, you'll begin dancing in the very first lesson.
Ashtar is a dance teacher of enormous background in many styles of dance including Tribal Style Bellydance, Imperial Russian Style Ballet, Jazz, Eastern European Folk Dancing, and Flamenco. She has trained in the disciplines of Yoga, T'ai Chi, and I Chuan Chi Kung. She is also a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programmer skilled in accelerated learning techniques. She has four and a half decades of experience in teaching dancers and draws on a vast fund of knowledge to find the exercises and methods that work for you as a dance student.
Spanish Dance Workshop Class
click on photo to to see larger picture
Ashtar knows the secrets to help you achieve the movement skills you've been striving for.She teaches in a supportive, creative atmosphere that makes students eager for more. Her clear, direct instructions make each exercise meaningful. Her concise explanations of dance concepts make learning bellydance understandable and enjoyable. The scientific principles behind the structure of her classes will help you achieve the fitness level and shapely dancer's figure you deserve.
Tribal Technique I: (60 minutes) Class consists of simple, gentle standing and seated stretches to tone and strengthen the muscles and shape the body, isolation exercises to teach body awareness and basic dance moves, and a full thirty minutes of dance steps in the basic vocabulary of Tribal Bellydance. Simple combinations may be given. Dance steps include hip movements, arm positions and movements, and traveling steps.
Tribal Technique II: (60 minutes) Continues the work of Tribal I at a faster pace and with more advanced movement combinations, plus introduces new steps. Each class includes a figure-eight movement, an undulation, arm combinations, variations on hip bumps, etc.
Tribal Technique III:(60 minutes) Brings the student to an intermediate level, with futher complexity of movement, more demanding stretches and isolations This grade level continues the work of integrating arms, head and torso movements with feet and hips.
Tribal Technique IV: (60 minutes) Completes the technique of Daughters of Sophia Style with stretches done in combination, and isolations done with arm and head coordination. To increase endurance and mental focus steps and movements are layered. Combinations for breathing patterns, phrasing and musicality are studied to give depth and breadth to the student's technique.
Tribal Workshop: (60 minutes) (not currently offered) An experimental class which ranges widely over various topics including, but not limited to, improvisation (both solo and group), balancing (swords, baskets, etc.), costuming, and history of the dance. After a preliminary warmup, a topic from one of the above subjects may be explored, or intensive focus may be placed on specific steps and technical challenges. Special requests will be cheerfully considered. The class will be adjusted to the technical level of the students.
Goddess Energy Bellydance: (60 minutes) (not currently offered) This class places emphasis on building and channeling energy in the body, combining bellydance moves and Chi Kung techniques. Deeply focused and meditative, this exiting class includes veilwork and guided meditations on the chakras.
"I teach my class based on a lifetime of experience in dance, and thirty years of experience in teaching dancers. The basic principles of physics and anatomy combined with an understanding of effective teaching methods are brought together to make learning bellydance easily understandable - and fun!
Dance Class
Class begins with a series of stretches, both standing and sitting, to prepare the student's body for more energetic movement. Properly executed stretches also fulfill a number of other functions, both shaping and strengthening the body, increasing kinesthetic awareness and often acting as dance movements in themselves.
After careful stretching, a systematic series of isolation exercises are practiced. These drills help to ingrain movement patterns into the student's nervous system, providing her with a vocabulary of dance steps at the same time. The drills vary slightly from class to class, in order to cover, over a cycle of four classes, all the basic moves which belly dance requires.
Following the isolations, hip and torso movements are the focus. In each series of four classes, selected steps are practiced. This permits careful correction and improvement over time, without the student feeling overwhelmed or rushed in any given class.
As students progress through the grade levels, more complexity is added. Students increase in confidence each time the cycle of four classes is repeated., They can easily track their own progress as well as pinpoint areas where more careful attention from the teacher may be needed. Before long, dancers are shimmying, spinning, and taxim-ing to their hearts' content."
