Now, I’ve got to admit, I haven’t used this DVD in quite some time, personally.  It’s not really my fault.  I gave it to my sister and she loved it so much that I never saw it back.  I just haven’t gotten around to ordering a new copy yet.  However, this has always been one of my favorites for drills.  It may not go over a lot of terribly challenging bits of choreography, but drills help give you a strong base to your dancing.  Without these strong foundation movements, the rest of the dance won’t look as clean and sharp.

While not expressly dance related, using yoga for a warm-up encourages a wonderful routine of stretching, the part most often forgot in any at-home practice routine.  The stretches are something you can push as deep as you are comfortable, and you’ll be surprised at how quickly your flexibility increases.  The yoga stretches are simple enough that even someone with no background in yoga can practice them without risk.

The drilled movements are simple, basic movements that you’ll learn in most belly dance classes, both tribal and cabaret.  While I don’t think this is essentially a tribal fusion DVD, the movements are taught in a way that encourages the style of isolation used in many tribal fusion performances.  Most of the basic movements, like hip and chest drops and lifts, are pretty basic and are easy enough for any level of performer to follow  along and strengthen her body.  However, the part I find most useful for beginners is the breakdown of both top to bottom and bottom to top full body undulations.  These are perhaps some of the hardest movements for beginning dancers to learn.  This DVD really gave me a great understanding of how the movement broke down and how the body mechanics worked, both giving me better technique, and better ability to teach my students how to perform the movement.

Overall, I would recommend this DVD to any dancer, especially a beginner that will need plenty of work on strengthening her body and focusing on technique.  The exercises will help get the body into good shape for dance and keep it that way.  While I wouldn’t suggest using it for a daily practice, it’s a good supplement to a weekly routine.  I can tell you from experience, daily use of this DVD can get kind of repetitive and boring.  Mixing it up a bit definitely helps this video stay fresh.

For all my students, pay a lot of attention to this video.  Erin Gillespie is one of the most wonderful dancers I know.  I’ve been privileged enough to dance with her on several different occasions.  We’ve danced together at five different events now and I can only hope that we will have many more opportunities to dance together in the future.

This particular piece is perhaps the best tribal fusion piece I’ve seen in a long time, and I’m not just saying that because she’s a friend!  The piece contains a huge element of traditional ATS style tribal bellydance.  If you’re familiar with ATS you should be able to recognize at elast half the moves there.  The fused elements from flamenco fit smoothly into the movement style.  I absolutely love the music, Boy with a Coin by Iron & Wine.  It’s beautiful, dramatic, and keeps a good grasp of the feel of both tribal style bellydance and flamenco without feeling unfocused.  For me, this is a perfect example of a well done fusion.

Something to watch for in the video?  Aside from the ATS movements, look for the camera bouncing.  It happens with the stomps.  That should tell you how powerful those feet hit the floor!  Erin certainly isn’t just playing around here!  She puts real power and energy in her dancing!  It’s completely inspiring!

My time dancing with Erin has taught me that ATS is a huge challenge.  While I tell people it’s a great way for beginners to get into tribal bellydance, especially if they hope to perform some day, it takes time to learn.  The movements aren’t terribly challenging, but learning to be comfortable with the improvisational nature of bellydance is definitely more difficult.  Not only do you have to feel comfortable and confident with the movements, but you need to be at least a confident follower.  Leading can be avoided until you feel ready, but it’s something that’s going to have to be tackled eventually.  However, I think it’s one of the more challenging forms of bellydance I know.  Even with all the experience I have, I still find myself challenged with every performance.  ATS is so incredibly easy, but at the same rate, not easy at all!

I’m really looking forward to familiarizing myself with ATS again.  I want to get to the point where I’m so comfortable leading and following that I’m no longer worried about it.  I can just jump into any situation.  When you’re dealing with a regular group that you can practice with all the time it’s easier.  You build comfort and trust, but you can’t do that with dancers you’ve never danced with before.  I want to get to the point where I can just jump in and dance with anyone.

What am I going to be doing every chance I get for the next few months?  Getting familiar with ATS again!  I’ve got a wonderful opportunity to dance with Sonya from Austin of the Typsy Gypsies.  We’re going to get together and work on improvisational dance.  I’m truly excited about this.  It’s going to be a lot of fun and I should have some great new things to bring out to classes!

What did you think…? That sword…pretty amazing, huh? It makes me want to do sword again, but I definitely am way too out of practice to get anywhere close! And the rest of it…that Flamenco…wow…and in case you didn’t get it the first time…wow…

Seriously, though, what did you think? Comments? Feedback?

Over the past couple of years I’ve had the privilege to share the stage with them a few more times.  Each time they were just as delightful.  Each time they were just as wonderful on stage and off.  They are truly an inspiration.  I just wish I lived closer to their studio so I could afford to take their classes!

This is the latest video I’ve found posted for their troupe:

This is a beautiful piece that really shows how unique and inspired they really are.  I’ve gotten a chance to see them grow so much as a troupe.  Their combination of individual segments and group improvisation is wonderful!  They’re one of my favorite ITS troupes, for certain!  I only recognize three of the members in this particular piece.  It looks like they’ve grown.  It will be wonderful to see how they expand as the years go by!

Sarah Rose and I had the crazy idea to work on a project together with short notice.  We had one choreography to Hot Oil, No Sweat from one of our Tribal Night events, and it just needed a bit of quick modification to make it work for two.  However, one wasn’t going to be enough.  We wanted to do two pieces, and this other song just fit so perfectly along with it!

When we first listened to Hot Honey Rag I don’t think either of us had any idea how much work this little choreography would be!  The first half (as with everything we’ve worked on together) flew together!  It seemed to positively write itself!  The steps just flowed.  It was like the choreography was writing itself.  It was absolutely perfect, darling, exactly what our vaudeville inspired piece needed.  The audience was going to get a kick out of it, and we were going to have so much fun!

With day one behind us, it seemed like we’d be done in plenty of time, but that last thirty seconds of the song just didn’t want to work for us.  They were fast, repetitive, and screaming for sloppy things that we had no hope of perfecting to smooth in time.  Instead we found ourselves going over the first half of the choreography, laughing our way through it.  It was exactly what we needed.  I had more fun with that choreography than with anything else I’ve ever done!  I don’t think we could have kept a straight face through all of that if we tried!

Eventually the end did come along, and as we stumbled through it we just kept on laughing.  Yes, it was a short song, so choreographing it in three days isn’t so unbelievable, but for me, it really kind of is!  I’m not so good with choreography.  I tend to come off as stiff, awkward, and unprepared.  I make a lot of mistakes and I’m pretty sure it shows.  However, working with someone else was so much fun!  We got out there, danced our piece, and didn’t stop smiling until long after we’d both gotten off stage.  It was loose, playful, and fun!  Talk about a relaxed atmosphere!

When we performed it, all expectations went out the window.  I stopped caring if I was making a fool out of myself or if I’d messed it up because I was having fun and the audience was laughing!  Yes, the audience was actually laughing!  I needed to hear that.  They were having a good time, and we were being exactly what we needed to be, as entertaining as possible, the hit of the night!

Our great collaboration meant the solo I had directly following those two dance pieces just happened.  She was sitting right there in the audience, something to play off of.  She made faces at me, I responded back to her.  Yes, the rest of the audience was there (though, the place had thinned out as it was late in the night) and I think they seemed to enjoy it.  However, she and I had such a moment.  It was like all that time we’d spent lead up to a collaboration that hit at a far deeper level.  We weren’t just putting together this incredible music piece.  We weren’t just working on a show that the audience would hopefully enjoy!  We were finding a common bond between two people.

For a while there I think I’d almost forgotten what the word “tribe” really had to do with our art form.  I’d forgotten what it felt to have that bond, that special connection, that sisterhood.  I’d forgotten what it’s like to laugh through a choreography while you’re trying to remember what you just wrote down.  I’d forgotten how much less frustrating it is to hit a point in the choreography that nothing seems to want to fit when you’ve got help to work through it, to bounce ideas off each other.  Most of all, I’d forgotten how good it feels to share that sense of accomplishment when you walk off stage together, knowing you’ve made something that not only did your little tribe enjoy, but the whole audience did as well.

I’ve noticed that things are different between cabaret or “oriental” and tribal bellydance.  I’ve noticed that there’s a distinct difference.  In cabaret I’ve noticed there’s a bond, but there’s much more of a sense of one leader and a group that follows to her choreography, to her vision.  In tribal you find a lot more collaboration, a lot more group visions, a lot more connections between dancers.  Our connection isn’t through a leader or a director and the rest just fall in, we’re really one functioning unit, a family, a tribe.  I don’t think I’ll ever see tribal in the same way, nor will I ever look at a tribal soloist on stage with the same eyes.  It’s tribal.  We need the tribe.

Before I put on this first video, let me add a little preface.  This first piece is dramatically different.  I know a lot of dancers that don’t particularly enjoy cabaret, but watch through to the end.  There’s a dramatic, fantastic little twist, and I absolutely adore it!

Wasn’t that just inspiring?  Well, even if you don’t find it so, I certainly do.  This is a perfect example of the versatility a dancer can have, transitioning seamlessly between tribal and cabaret.  More importantly, this piece seems to convey a story to me.  As a dancer, we all go back to being people when the lights go down.  Both dancers and the Middle Eastern Dance community is influenced and changed by the news, the war in Iraq, and so much more.  While this story may convey something entirely different to another person, to me it shows the transition between the person I am to the public, and the person I really am when the lights go down.

April Rose has studied and danced with Unmata, so it should be no surprise that she’s involved in their Blood Moon Regale.  Their shows have inspired me to think about creating one right here in Texas, something theatrical and a little bit crazy and fun.  So here’s another video of the wonderful April Rose.

Wasn’t that a little creepy and strange!  But, wow, the control she has over her body.  I only wish I was that controlled!  I wouldn’t say this is belly dance at all.  It’s more modern dance, however, this is a great example of versatility of a dancer.  I find it absolutely fantastic.

Now, I can promise you April wasn’t doing any of this next one when Erin and I had the wonderful opportunity to meet her at the Desert Passion show this weekend!

I love watching bellydance with fire!  It’s awesome!  Doesn’t bellydance and fire make a great combination?  It’s not exactly doing bellydance and adding fire.  It’s a bit more complex than that.  Even with that said, it’s still fantastic to watch, don’t you think?

And here’s the last one…

I don’t know why, but this piece.  It just speaks to me!

April Rose will be in Texas for at least a while now, though she interrupts her class and workshop schedule to tour with Belly Dance Super Stars.  However, she will be teaching a class series in Austin on Tuesday nights from April 12th to May 3rd.  Check it out on her website!

So many people are stuck on the idea that group improvisational bellydance ends with Fat Chance Belly Dance, but there are so many other options.  Unmata is known for their incredible speed and high energy performances.  Sometimes I get tired just watching them!  This particular piece is a little more slowed down, and it shows a couple of their combinations I’ve never seen before!  What’s even more impressive is their movements are entirely improvisational.  If you watch carefully, you’ll catch some of the cues, and some classic ATS movements!  Some of the movements have been modified to suit the feel they capture with their troupe.  This is just one of the many examples of tribal improvisation, and another great example that you can throw a cue on anything!

Another interesting fact about Unmata?  A few years ago on Tribe there was a huge discussion about what to call other forms of improvisational tribal dance.  Carolena respectfully requested that ATS be used for the original format only, Fat Chance Belly Dance format.  This would reduce confusion, since there was a lot of talk on Tribe about American Tribal Style movements.  There was a lot of talk about what style of ATS different people practiced.  It got rather confusing when you couldn’t remember who said they practiced “FCBD ATS”, what moves specifically defined “GC ATS”, and when you were talking about “BSBD ATS”.  For those of you who don’t know, that’s Fat Chance Belly Dance (FCBD), Gypsy Caravan (GC), and Black Sheep Belly Dance (BSBD).  To solve it all, many of us ATS dancers that didn’t necessarily fall under the new FCBD format only definition started looking for a new name to identify with.  It came up in discussion that Amy Sigil (troupe leader of Unmata) had been using the term ITS for years.  ITS stands for Improvisational Tribal Style.  While there are some dancers who still want to call themselves ATS dancers, even though most of us have agreed to the common definitions on ATS and the broader ITS, most of us have come around to using these definitions.  Thank you, UNMATA!

Carolena of Fat Chance Bellydance and Megha of Devyani come together for this awesome duet piece.  I’m specifically dedicating this video to my friend Erin, who I danced with rather recently.  She’ll probably get quite the laugh at this piece!  Yup, this is the two of us at her son’s birthday party right there.  She’s Megha, confidently going from move to move.  Me?  I’m pretty confidently leading, like Carolena, but when it comes to following, I had more than a few moments like Carolena did where she didn’t quite know what was going on!

One thing I love about ATS is the obvious enjoyment the dancers are having!  It’s just further proof that no matter what happens on stage, as long as you’re having fun, that’s what matters most.  Isn’t that what we’re all dancing for?