Dance
I've been taking belly dance lessons since January 2004 and it is in my blood to such an extent that I consider myself somewhat obsessed. I eat, sleep and breathe it. I think about it all the time and practice as often as I can. I am a member of Eceni, the five of us meet usually once a week to practice. We are studying ATS - a synchonised group improvisation as created by Carolena of FCBD, San Francisco, USA.

I'm fascinated by tribal bellydance, and intend on taking as many classes as possible with as many teachers as I can. In terms of fusion artists; Rachel Brice is a beautiful lovely whose incredible dancing took my breath away when I saw her perform live, and who's workshops are fascinating and loads of fun. With regards to ATS the most enjoyable workshops I have taken were with the 'Grandmother of Tribal Style'; Carolena Nericcio of FCBD, and Megha Gavin of Devyani Dance Co. I applied for the General Skills certification course in early 2008 and never believed I would be lucky enough to be chosen for a place - especially as there were only around 20 places available. I was so excited by the news that it didn't really sink in until October arrived and I headed down to Glastonbury. One week later, including the Tribal Pura workshops - and I headed home, certified by the creator of the dance form I study. I made so many friends and had an amazing time.

I dislike talk of fertility rites, of practicing for childbirth, dancing in red tents, sisterhood of the womb type stuff; it makes me cringe.  If you want to dance for your husband the Sultan - remember to dance for yourself too. The history of bellydance is like most other forms of dance - shrouded in time and generally misrepresented. It is to me, today, all about dancing for yourself and the others around you (if there happens to be anyone else around at the time) and honouring the ancient feel of the movements - the feeling that you are moving in a way that a woman did thousands of years ago and keeping it alive.

It is about feeling something inside and letting it out just a little bit, either in your living room or in front of friends at a Hafla. It doesn't matter why or how it came about. By all means give acknowledgement to those who went before, and certainly those who were key figures in creating the art, obviously this is both polite and respectful, and I try to do this, however my focus is very much in the here and now. Arguing over the past feels pointless and negative.

Society in general doesn't understand anything about bellydance. It is in itself a quite awful term. Much more is involved than wobbling your stomach about...though unfortunately the media often presents it as the harem girl with a jewel in her naval seeking to arouse a group of men.
In reality it is a technical dance form that requires a great deal of strength and flexibility plus a huge amount of muscle memory.  It is not simply a matter of 'shaking it all about"!

To be safe, comfortable and successful at bellydance you should follow a regular practice composed of a thorough warm-up, regular yoga and stretching, drilling of key movements for stamina and to facilitate muscle memory, practice of whichever movements / choreography you are studying or your improvisation format, and always ending with a cool-down, more stretches and some moments taken for yourself to relax.

I see it as a duty to the art to educate others in what bellydance actually is. I admit, the style I am most fond of appears in the media a lot less than the stereotype so I suppose I have a head start.

The reason Carolena called her creation ATS (American Tribal Style) because she wanted to differentiate it from traditional, Middle Eastern dance (ATS was created in San Francisco). it is called Tribal because it is about dancing together as a group (with a 'tribal' look - kuchi jewellery, indian style choli tops, gypsy skirts etc) striving to create the look of a flock of birds or school of fish; clean, synchronised, fluid movement. The dance itself has a strong, dignified quality - belly dance with a Flamenco influence along with elements of classical Indian dance.

ATS has a strict vocabulary of moves / combinations which are always performed in a particular way, meaning the group can perform without a choreography, or without prior knowledge of performance space. This to me is very appealing. I enjoy the silent communication between dancers and the spooky moments when you somehow just know what move the leader is going to pull out of the bag next! I fantasise about travelling to foreign climes and being able to dance with a group who's language I am possibly even unable to understand; ATS is a wonderful way to connect with other women around the world.

Tribal Fusion is something very different (and is usually choreographed).  This is when Tribal style movements are blended with other dance styles, movements or attitudes.  It can be taken an inch, or a mile.  Sometimes it is hard to even spot the belly dance movements within Fusion.  Dance is after all, like any other art form - creative, imaginative, fluid and ever-evolving.