Thread: ATS and Tribal Fusion

I would like to start Tribal dance this month, but don't really know what the difference is between the two styles. Both styles are taught on the same day and I decided to go to both. Is it better for me to start with ATS or does going to both sound like a good idea? I have been studying Egyptian and Cabaret for about four years now. I do love it, but I would like to learn all styles. Thanks for the help.

ATS is a particular format - one might call it the original tribal, though it's not, strictly - that allows you to learn to do group improvisation tribal-style. Tribal Fusion... well it depends on your teacher, because some tribal fusion has about as much to do with tribal as I do. Which is to say NOTHING. But mostly, it is a development out of a tribal base (ie ATS and similar formats) that has more scope for personal expression and solo dancing, and it *usually* means "dancing like Rachel Brice/Mardi Love/those other windy locky poppy chicks in the melodias".

I would say that it is good to do both, if TF interests you, because ATS technique is very particular and since tribal in general is about "all moving the same" it might help to reapproach belly dance moves from a tribal perspective.

Thank you. I figured by starting with both I could learn the basic steps and then move on to the fusion, because I do like the pop locking.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

..."dancing like Rachel Brice/Mardi Love/those other windy locky poppy chicks in the melodias".

..l;,..l;,

Everyone in my troupe - and myself - are taking from a nearby TF teacher because we're all cabaret dancers interested in Tribal. Its a LOT of fun, we're loving it and learning a whole bunch.

I do both. I started with Egyptian/Cabaret, and after 2 1/2 years or so of that, I also started taking a tribal fusion class, more out of curiousity than anything else. It turns out that I love both, and I dance with two separate troupes--one that performs Egyptian raqs sharqui and folkloric styles and the other that dances tribal fusion stuff.

Although we are "fusion" we are not soloists and are not poppy/locky. We are rooted in ATS, but we make up our own combos, because we don't want to be a copy of anyone else. (Also, I heard FCBD is going to be copyrighting their combos.) Our teacher used to perform Classical Indian dance, so our dance is fused with a bit of that style, plus a little bit of flamenco and jazz. We do both choreography and cued, group improv. In the group improv, there may be solos, duos, and trios in front of the "chorus" sometimes, but none of us are soloists, per se.

Anyway, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing both. I think the tribal helps me developa group awareness that is useful in dancing with my "cab" troupe, too. (Tribal isn't the only way to develop this awareness, of course, but it does tend to be more of a focus in tribal.) At the same time, learning Egyptian style before studying tribal helped me to bring an awareness of the roots of bellydance to my tribal dancing. I know what is bellydance and what is fusion, and so when we do veer from bellydance, we are doing so with intention and purpose (suits the music, mood of the piece, etc.), and not out of ignorance of what bellydance is.

I took my first tribal workshop yesterday and it was fun. It was an ITS - improvisational tribal style - but one thing I learned about ATS bothered me, and that is all dancing is based on the right handed side. I am a left handed dancer in a lot of ways and not only is doing it on one side not very healthy but I think I would be bored. But if I ever take up tribal, it would be ITS instead.

I would take both classes, if you can afford the time and resources to do so.

But if you are going to take just one class, I would go for the ATS class. Tribal fusion means so many different things anymore, and quite a bit of it is very far removed from the roots - hence the "fusion." If you want to go back to those roots, then ATS is the way to go. You will have an understanding of how this particular style has evolved, and personally, I think it's a good idea to have some idea of what you're fusing, if you're studying fusion ,r:;

Originally Posted by Fotia

I took my first tribal workshop yesterday and it was fun. It was an ITS - improvisational tribal style - but one thing I learned about ATS bothered me, and that is all dancing is based on the right handed side. I am a left handed dancer in a lot of ways and not only is doing it on one side not very healthy but I think I would be bored. But if I ever take up tribal, it would be ITS instead.

I do ITS, but it's based heavily on ATS - and what we do is in performance, much of the dancing is primarily based on the right hand side - the reason for basing it on one side is to simplify the following / cueing (at least, that is my understanding) if you always know which side the moves are going to present to, etc, it is much easier / quicker to follow / catch on / etc ... now, in practice, drilling, etc we will often do the moves to both sides for just the reasons you mentioned - it is not particularly good for the body to only do the move to one side and not to balance it ... we just wouldn't use that while improving ... but things open up if you come out to solo so it could be useful for that also. ...

Fotia - Kajira's style is based on both sides of the body, so the moves can start on either side and the formations can change orientation. That is how I first learned ITS, but my group has reverted to starting on the right to simplify things. I think Gypsy Caravan also uses both sides of the body, though the very little bit I learned was oriented more to starting on the right.