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News & Features
From the Idyllwild Town Crier weekly newspaper, 06.25.08 edition.
Tribal
belly dancing
comes to Rainbow Inn
By Marshall Smith, Staff
Reporter
Tribal Rendezvous is a gathering of three of the leading women in the
American tribal-style (ATS) belly dancing cosmos who arrive at the
Rainbow Inn July 26 for music, performances, workshops and, according
to the event’s brochure, “shopping.”
Among the three is Carolena Nericcio, originator of the improvisational
ATS spin-off from classical belly dancing.
The event’s producer is Idyllwild local Rachael Gollub. She opens
the weekend with a no-cover charge tribal dance dinner theater at 7
p.m. Friday, July 25, at Café Aroma. It will feature dancers
from a number of companies mounting a national junket — the Vagabonds
Tour. Appearing Friday night are tour members from Hiplash, Ban-dal,
Karma, Raven and She’enedra.
Beginning Saturday, Nericcio, founder of FatChanceBellyDance in
San Francisco, Myra Krien, founder of the Mosaic Dance
Company/Pomegranate Studios in Santa Fe, N.M., and Heather Stants,
founder of San Diego’s Urban Tribal dance company, pool their talents,
resources and distinctive tribal dance identities to bring exotic and
fanciful entertainment and instruction to Idyllwild.
ATS is a distinctly American variation on the ancient art of
belly dancing, popular in Middle Eastern and Northern African
countries. The historic roots of belly dancing are in dispute, with
some scholars dating it back to ancient Egypt, where both men and women
reputedly performed it, some to Alexander’s Greek Empire, and some to
the region of India where the Roma (gypsy) people originated.
Whatever the historical antecedents, by the 1950s, it had become
increasingly identified with the dance as it was performed in Egypt and
Turkey. A “classical” performance style, as represented in pre-Nasser
Egyptian cinema and clubs, and a costume – the bedlah (a fitted top or
bra usually with fringe, beads or coins) with a fitted hip belt
gathering a skirt that accentuated the circular movement of the hips —
coalesced to define the contemporary art form.
Whereas American movies largely portrayed belly dancing as ribald,
slightly scandalous, and aimed primarily at the seduction of men,
contemporary practitioners and devotees consider it sensuous, a
celebration of rhythm and form, and quintessentially feminine, often
performed for audiences of women.
In 1970s San Francisco, when Nericcio began gathering her tribe of
dancers, and the need for a troupe name arose, a friend suggested
FatChanceBellyDance, based on dancers’ responses to male onlookers who
thought that the dance was primarily designed to pleasure them — a
playful take on “fat chance you’ll get a private show.”
ATS is a fluid fusion of disparate ancient and contemporary influences.
In 1974, Nericcio began belly dancing with Masha Archer and the San
Francisco Dance Troupe (SFDT). SFDT employed a blend of classic
Egyptian cabaret, folk and other influences that broke the strictly
classical mold. When Nericcio formed her own group in the 1980s, she
began to incorporate even more eclectic influences and made greater use
of improvisation and tattoos as body art — another departure from
classical form.
Continuing Nericcio’s approach of making ATS a fusion movement, Stants
borrows traditional influences and combines them with her own personal
expression of living in the modern world.
Krien, granddaughter of Zen philosopher Alan Watts, is known for her
elegant and graceful presence as well as stylistic versatility,
incorporating classical Egyptian influences, classical tribal and
contemporary fusion forms, with nods to Flamenco and East Indian
dance. She is the founder of Pomegranate SEEDs (Self-esteem,
Empowerment, and Education Through Dance), a nonprofit youth
development organization.
Gollub plans to donate all profits from the event to build a
scholarship fund for young Idyllwild women, ages 15 to 18, to study
ATS. Gollub recently completed teacher training in Krien’s SEEDs
program and wants to import it to Idyllwild, as an educational and
empowerment opportunity for local young women.
“Adolescence is an especially confusing time,” said Gollub. “Many young
girls battle issues of negative self-esteem and body image. This dance
program has been a lifesaver for the teens who have participated.
Parents see how highly evolved these young women become who take the
program.”
At 16, Gollub saw Krien perform in Santa Fe. “I felt so moved by it.
Talking to her was almost an act of fate.,” she says. Krien had just
gotten a grant that enabled Gollub to take classes with her at no
charge.
Workshops with Nericcio, Krien and Stants run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday at the Rainbow Inn. A free film presentation follows at 6 p.m.
called “Mountain Tribal,” about ATS dancers in Julian.
The evening concludes with a show featuring the three headliners and
Steven Eggers, a male belly dancer from San Diego who Gollub says is
“amazing.”
Workshops continue at the Rainbow Inn on Sunday with Nericcio and Krien
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call (928) 830-3495 or e-mail
rachael@tribalrendezvous.org for more information and to reserve class
space. Classes are open to men as well as women.
Marshall Smith can
be reached at marshall@towncrier.com.
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