The USA Tour 2004

by Devi Mamak

Originally published in 2004

I was truly shocked when I asked an off the cuff question in class one night.

“So does anyone want to come to America with me?”

I am still amazed at the response that I got from the other Ghawazi’s. As it turned out 8 of the 10 members of Ghawazi Caravan travelled to San Francisco in May 2004.

It was important for me to return to the U.S to gain renewed inspiration, and especially to receive some constructive criticism from Fat Chance Belly Danceas what we do is based on their format. I had several months of direct training with Carolena Nerricio and FCBD in “99” and caught up with Karen Gehrman of FCBD in 2002, but I wanted to make sure that I was doing and teaching the dance correctly. 

We decided on May when Tribal Fest is held. TF is an annual event held in Sebastopol, California (approx 1 and half hours, north east from San Francisco). It is coordinated by Kajira Djoumahna, the director of Black Sheep Belly Dance and the author of the Tribal Bible, co sponsored by Ellen Cruz.

 

Tribal Fest is not unlike our own Sydney Middle Eastern Festival in that there are tonnes of fabulous workshops to attend, performances to see and of course loads of goodies to buy! The difference is that TF is a tribal dance themed event. Anyway back to the story. More on TF later.
In San Francisco I had booked many private lessons with Carolena Nerricio and Jessie Gauld of FCBD, and Jill Parker of Ultra Gypsy (and former member of FCBD), not to mention heaps of their regular classes and workshops. Needless to say the schedule was extremely physically gruelling with very little time to sight see (we still managed to squeeze in a little). By the end of the trip we had renamed the troupe “Busted Arse Caravan!”

It was great to reconnect with Carolena and to meet Jessie. Both were excellent teachers and had a real talent for breaking down posture, movements and improvisation.

They both seemed very pleased with what we had accomplished and genuinely impressed with our basic technique. I was so relieved as Ghawazi Caravan director to know that very little needed correcting. One of the indicators of this was the joyous feeling of improvising in class with dancers we had never met before. 

Some of us felt that, at first, the FCBD class members were wary of the piles of Aussie girls turning up to their class but they quickly accepted us as we proved we could lead, follow and fit into the class without trouble. It was the true spirit of ATS in action and proof that Carolena’s format works!

Of course we are hoping to have a visit from someone from FCBD in the near future so keep checking our web site for updates!

“People have seemed to pickup ATS at different points in it’s more than 10 year history and fused it with other dance styles. “Tribal” in the US seems to be using the structures and discipline of ATS but also returning to folkloric and cabaret bellydancing with new costumes and attitude. There were even solo tribal dancers.”

 

A lot of what Jill Parker does may no longer be described as tribal but is fantastic. Jill has created her own unique style of dance/ theatre, sometimes described as neo-tribal or tribal fusion, but I don’t know if this even fits the bill. She does use the ATS improv format, but also uses a lot of choreography. Jill has some exciting new moves and modifications of some we know, often using both left and right sides of the body and with varied arm positions.  This is what we learnt in her classes along with hard core strength training exercises. The other side to Ultra Gypsy is the extension of belly dance into performance art. Jill created a show thats main aim seems to be drama, art, storytelling… an emotional movement piece. The costumes are not tied to an “ethnic” or original tribal style; they were clad in silver Lycra and chiffon in a costume that looked post apocalyptic! One night after our FCBD class Jessie took us to Amera (a Fab intimate venue on Valencia St S.F) to see Rachel Brice and her troup, The Indigo perform. WOW! What skilled performers. Rachel Brice’s technique is truly amazing. She is also a yoga teacher which is obvious seeing her back bends, isolations and almost contortion like movements. you could easily imagine her in Cirque de Soleil. She is also considered neo-tribal, with the costume a contemporary mixture of coins, shells, street, feral chick fashion. The movements and presentation had an edgy and sexy, cabaret feel with more of a focus on solo performances. So after two and a half weeks of our gruelling schedule in S.F we headed off to Sebastopol for TF – but not before seeing Paulette Rees Denis and her troupe The Gypsy Caravanperform live in a groovy jazz club in S.F. They were so beautiful! There is something about Gypsy Caravan that you just have to experience first hand. I think it is the energy that comes off the stage from them. You get the feelings that not only are they having an absolute hoot but that they are all really good friends. Whatever it is that “Gypsy Caravan vibe” is incredibly infectious. Oh and did I mention spirited dancing, creative costumes and of course excellent music? Totally tribal – colourful, tattooed, wild, consummate performers!

So it was off to 4th annual Tribal Festival. Sebastopol itself is quite a small town and very quaint. It is in the heart of the country’s many great wineries and Redwood forests. TF itself is held in the local community centre. Kajira does a wonderful job at TF. I can only imagine what an effort it would take to organize such an event. As far as I could tell everything seemed to run smoothly. There were so many wonderful workshops at TF to choose from. e.g: beginners zills, to advanced floor drops to Rajastani dance. Between myself and the other Ghawazi Caravan members I think that we attended every one of them. It was hard to say which was my own personal favourites but I loved Suhalia Salimpours workshop. She brought us back to basics with her mother’s format. The Jamila Salimpour format (the precursor to ATS). Suhalia took us back to the hey day of her mother’s dance career and the troupe that her mother founded, Bal Anat (which Suhalia has since re-invented). It was interesting for me to hear how belly dance as we know it came to the US via Jamila and Bobbie Farrah and how Jamila came about breaking down and naming movements like the Egyptian Basic and the Arabic and then of course having these steps broken down by a woman born into belly dance. We saw how some of Jamila’s movements have evolved into the ATS movements we have today. Suhalia defined which muscles are engaged in each movement as well as suggesting exercises to build muscular strength necessary to execute them well.

I loved Rachel Brice’s workshop. We covered a very interesting snippet of choreography with plenty of locks and isolations. I sat out most of the workshop as I had put my neck out but I took heaps of notes and at least I got to see Rachel dance again. In between workshops did heaps of shopping! You have to imagine it. Stalls everywhere dedicated solely to tribal style dance/music. What’s a girl/guy to do?

Party in SF

One of the most exciting elements for me about TF was to be able to perform for our tribal peers. We came on right after Diaspora of Western Australia. (All the Aussie girls were lodging together for most of the trip which was kind of nice).

Our performance went better than I expected. Our first piece we had performed many times but the second piece we had never performed before and was still very raw in our muscle memory. All in all I felt that it went very well. The energy between us was very good, in that we all felt connected. There was no major stuff ups and the audience seemed to love us (especially Raine’s spontaneous kookaburra call!).

usa7 Jessie Gould teaching in the FCBD studio We had decided on wearing our “summer uniform” which consists of sari fabric choli and matching pantaloons, no head dress or black skirt, hair all back with some simple flowers and jewels (well as simple as tribal ever gets!). I felt that our costumes worked really well as they were so different to everything else that people were wearing. The whole gothic/grunge/urban tribal look seemed to be pretty big.

It was nice to realize that Ghawazi Caravan are not at the bottom of the tribal food chain (which we were all expecting) not to say that we don’t have heaps to learn. There is always room to grow and improve in our dance but the audience did really seem to enjoy us and I have received many wonderful emails about our performance.

The other exciting element was to be able to have an “Aussie jam session” with Diaspora. Needless to say we were all excited about our “Aussie invasion” of TF and were looking forward to our improv session. We didn’t have time for a proper rehearsal just a quick walk through on the balcony of our B&B one afternoon. So anyway… the other ladies join us on stage, the music starts and wouldn’t you know it, it is the wrong music! Music that Ghawazi Caravan had never heard before! As you can imagine a lot of what was discussed on the balcony that afternoon went out the door! That’s improv for you!

There were so many wonderful workshops at TF to choose from. e.g: beginners zills, to advanced floor drops to Rajastani dance. Between myself and the other Ghawazi Caravan members I think that we attended every one of them.

It was hard to say which was my own personal favourites but I loved Suhalia Salimpours workshop. She brought us back to basics with her mother’s format. The Jamila Salimpour format (the precursor to ATS). Suhalia took us back to the hey day of her mother’s dance career and the troupe that her mother founded, Bal Anat (which Suhalia has since re-invented).

It was interesting for me to hear how belly dance as we know it came to the US via Jamila and Bobbie Farrah and how Jamila came about breaking down and naming movements like the Egyptian Basic and the Arabic and then of course having these steps broken down by a woman born into belly dance. We saw how some of Jamila’s movements have evolved into the ATS movements we have today. Suhalia defined which muscles are engaged in each movement as well as suggesting exercises to build muscular strength necessary to execute them well.

I loved Rachel Brice’s workshop. We covered a very interesting snippet of choreography with plenty of locks and isolations. I sat out most of the workshop as I had put my neck out but I took heaps of notes and at least I got to see Rachel dance again.

In between workshops did heaps of shopping! You have to imagine it. Stalls everywhere dedicated solely to tribal style dance/music. What’s a girl/guy to do?

One of the most exciting elements for me about TF was to be able to perform for our tribal peers. We came on right after Diaspora of Western Australia. (All the Aussie girls were lodging together for most of the trip which was kind of nice). Our performance went better than I expected. Our first piece we had performed many times but the second piece we had never performed before and was still very raw in our muscle memory. All in all I felt that it went very well. The energy between us was very good, in that we all felt connected. There was no major stuff ups and the audience seemed to love us (especially Raine’s spontaneous kookaburra call!).

We had decided on wearing our “summer uniform” which consists of sari fabric choli and matching pantaloons, no head dress or black skirt, hair all back with some simple flowers and jewels (well as simple as tribal ever gets!). I felt that our costumes worked really well as they were so different to everything else that people were wearing. The whole gothic/grunge/urban tribal look seemed to be pretty big. It was nice to realize that Ghawazi Caravan are not at the bottom of the tribal food chain (which we were all expecting) not to say that we don’t have heaps to learn. There is always room to grow and improve in our dance but the audience did really seem to enjoy us and I have received many wonderful emails about our performance. The other exciting element was to be able to have an “Aussie jam session” with Diaspora. Needless to say we were all excited about our “Aussie invasion” of TF and were looking forward to our improv session. We didn’t have time for a proper rehearsal just a quick walk through on the balcony of our B&B one afternoon. So anyway… the other ladies join us on stage, the music starts and wouldn’t you know it, it is the wrong music! Music that Ghawazi Caravan had never heard before! As you can imagine a lot of what was discussed on the balcony that afternoon went out the door! That’s improv for you! 

Anyway I did think it was nice to have 8 members of Ghawazi Caravan, 5 members of Diaspora and 1 student of mine (who comes to me for private lessons from Newcastle) all on stage, the Aussie girls, together. I think people liked to see that and I have also had wonderful comments about the jam (stuffed up music aside!).

It was very interesting to watch all the other performances. I now understand when Carolena and FCBD says “yes it’s nice but is it tribal?” and “preserving the tribal identity” (as discussed in Tribal Talk, vol 5 may 2001). There were many amazing dancers at TF but a lot of it is very different to FCBD (if you look at them as being the founders of ATS). This has become so obvious that there are new labels for these wonderfully different dance styles such as Urban Tribal (also the name of a fantastic troupe), neo-tribal, tribal fusion. The costumes and music are likewise evolving. Think Latcho Drum to Flashdance to Mad Max.

People have seemed to pickup ATS at different points in it’s more than 10 year history and fused it with other dance styles. “Tribal” in the US seems to be using the structures and discipline of ATS but also returning to folkloric and cabaret bellydancing with new costumes and attitude. There were even solo tribal dancers. Younger dancers wore costumes that are sometimes very dark having a real gothic/urban/grunge feel to them with lots of black and dreadlocks, a representation of western culture’s subculture tribes. Many have dispersed with cholis and pantaloons, some troupes simplified right down to just singlet and jazz pants. A variety of music is used, often modern with a club or hip hop feel to it. There were also troupes using almost pure traditional Romany or Flamenco dances and music with costumes to match. Of course not everything I saw at TF is going this way. You still have plenty of your typical ATS style of dance, music and costume that we know and love. When someone asked me “what styles of dance did you see at TF”? My response was a mixture of tribal, cabaret, folkloric, jazz ballet, theatre dance, modern dance, hip hop and something you would see from Cirque de Soleil!

My personal favourites and why?

  • FCBD . For me it brought it all home that I am following the right dance path. Movements and posture are powerful, clean, precise and elegant. Their presentation is utterly professional without losing that camaraderie and fun that defines ATS. They had beautiful interaction with live band Helm. Watching Carolena was awe inspiring as I realised watching her that none of us would be here dancing this amazing style if not for her visions.
  • ULTRA GYPSY. They are innovative and imaginative. Very artistic and entertaining. Amazing technique. Gets you thinking of many possibilities.
  • GYPSY CARAVAN. It’s that complete package of dancers/musicians in the one group. Great dancing, great music, great friends. Can’t beat it.
  • BAL ANAT. Wow! What energy. Suhalia is just lovely to watch. I love that casual thing that she has going on.
  • RACHEL BRICE. She mesmerizes you. You could actually stop breathing watching her!

After TF was finished I was approached by one of the producers of BD-TV (Belly Dance Television Video News Magazine)to give an interview on myself and Ghawazi Caravan and what brought us to TF all the way from Australia. It was a lot of fun although by the end of it I was cold and tired. Anyway I might be in the next issue (although heavily edited I’m sure). BD-TV is a new concept. It is basically a magazine that you can view on your television screen; the first issue was already out during the time of TF 2004. It is worth a look (regardless of whether I am in it or not!) as I found the first issue very entertaining and full of great informationon all forms of belly dance. After TF was over I managed to catch up with Kajira for a private lesson. She had some very interesting concepts for tribal in 9/8 time. Endless possibilities! There was so much more that we enjoyed on our trip on a personal level. Everything that we saw and experienced was just fantastic. We caught up with Susan Ivenar (formerly Brown) of Tribe! from N.Z. She is happily married and now living in the U.S. She is a great friend of mine and it was wonderful to see her again. We also caught up with Karen Gehrman of FCBD who had a little girl in 2003. What a cutie! 

Devi and Susan SF 2004How do I feel about the trip? Did I get anything out of it? You bet! These are my highlights:

I feel so lucky and privileged to dance with the other Ghawazi Caravan members. They all come at it from different angles but I can really see how dedicated they are to the dance, to each other and to me. The feeling is mutual!
I feel satisfied that I have chosen the right dance path for myself and Ghawazi Caravan using the FCBD format.
I feel inspired to try more dance styles to improve on my technique, knowledge and repertoire.
I feel challenged to come up with more ideas on dance/music for myself and Ghawazi Caravan.
I feel inspired to get back into my other passion, yoga. I feel challenged to try more asanas, stretches and strength training to better my body and technique in dance.
It was great to see all the different styles of dance. Tribal or otherwise.
I feel relieved to hear that we are doing well and therefore more confident in my teaching abilities.
In particular I was excited to reconnect with some and to make new connections and great friendships with others.

So how does this past trip to the U.S.A tie in with the future for Ghawazi Caravan? We have LOTS of ideas but you will have to wait and see! I will of course be passing on my knowledge with future workshops so keep checking the website or email me. I intend to bring out more wonderful talent from the U.S.A. and believe me you DON’T want to miss out!