I wanted to write an article to talk a little bit about my style of belly dancing as well as other popular styles here in Chicago. Belly Dance can actually vary regionally in the US so I only feel that I have the authority to comment on the prevalent Chicago Styles, which fall under two main categories, Middle Eastern and American Tribal.
Middle Eastern
Typically in Middle-Eastern nightclubs and restaurants in Chicago, you will find Belly Dancers wearing brightly colored, sequined and sparkly costumes doing an elegant and glamorous belly dance with lots of hip accents and fluid body and arm movements. This style encompasses a broad range of belly dance styles known by many names such as Oriental Dance, Raks Sharki, Cabaret. We use both traditional and contemporary music from Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and other Middle-Eastern countries. These types of performances often include props such as veils, canes, swords and zils (finger cymbals).
I have a great deal of pride in my Belly Dance geneology. I received majority of my belly dance education from a wonderful Chicago dancer named Angelina, who is the daughter of an American belly dance legend Dahlena. Dahelna began her belly dance education in the nightclubs of Boston, which were dominated by belly dancers of Syria.
The wonderful style of belly dance which they gifted me with is often considered in the belly dance community to be a more “old fashioned” or “traditional” belly dance style. Dahlena emphasizes many techniques that she learned from women who would dance “homestyle” which I would describe ask quite simply, the way middle eastern people dance when they are home! Its the type of subtle hand, head, shoulder, and hip movements you will see the guests at middle-eastern parities and weddings doing. These movements are very traditional and fully middle-eastern flavored!
So if our style is “old-school” you might be wondering what the “new-school” style is. This destinction is highly debated and sometimes even controversial, but by my definition, the main differences I see in this “old-fashioned” verses more moderns styles are:
1. The Shimmy. If you look at my tutorial on The Shimmy Techniques you can see that there are two kinds of hip shimmies that are commonly used today. I associate The Leg Shimmy to be more of the modern way, and the The Glute Shimmy as more of the old fashioned way. Many dancers, myself included, have learned to incorporate both in their dance.
2. The Influence. Modern styles are much more heavily influenced by Jazz, Ballet and Modern dance. I think this is a wonderful thing to let a dance form grow and change within the context of the culture it is in. There is only one loss I think the modern style has had because of this influence and that is the internalization of many of the movements. Traditionally, belly dance has been a very “turned-in” style, in almost the opposite way that ballet is “turned-out”. Many “old-school” belly dance steps are even done pidgeon toed. This “turned-inness” translated to a beautiful internalization of the movements such as core contraction during undulations, and hip accents that are pulled up or in to the body. I feel like many modern dancers have neglected these subtleties that were very unique to belly dance.
In Chicago we are blessed with many talented dancers of both styles often in some combination. My Favorites are Angelina, Alexandria, Sabah (who is a traveling Belly Dance Super Star) and Vanessa (the current house dancer at Julianna’s Restaurant)
American Tribal
American Tribal Style is almost the rebellious second generation of belly dance. It originated in the west coast, specifically in San Francisco but a woman named Jamila Salimpour and her dance troupe Bal Anat.
Tribal dance is much more free form then other dance styles and dancers are very liberal with their techniques and costuming. They have broken all the rules of dance that have been adopted for hundreds of years (such as keeping shoulders down and back) in a way similar to hip-hop and pop dancing.
Tribal costuming is much more earth toned and dark often using tassels, coins, natural beads and darker fabrics.
Tribal dancers are very experimental and use alot of undulations, body contortions, back bends, pop and locks, and arm movements.
Some Chicago Tribal Dance groups are Blue Lotus Tribe, Read My Hips, and Hipnotic.
I know my knowledge about Tribal Belly dance is not very extensive, if you would like to contribute some information I would really appreciate it.
