Thread: Question for tribal dancers - your take on ATS/ITS?

I'm loving this thread because it ties in with my "Tribal Fusion" thread, and I'm learning a ton. And YES -- Jetgirl -- I want those begats!!! I find that information so fascinating!! And I'm not the only one. :)

Originally Posted by aziyade

I'm loving this thread because it ties in with my "Tribal Fusion" thread, and I'm learning a ton. And YES -- Jetgirl -- I want those begats!!! I find that information so fascinating!! And I'm not the only one. :)

I wish I had some family tree making software -- that would be funny. Although, I think with all the tribal group forming, disbanding, reforming, and trading members, it would be more like a family yarnball ..l;,

I'll try to do it soon. I have to get some work done right now.

Yeah, I have talked about making a family tree someday, but really, no ONE teacher or influence made a dancer who they are. Especially in the Bay Area where students come and go out of so many different classrooms, gaining so much from this teacher then that teacher, then add the troupes coming and going as you said JetGirl...it's not like a genetic lineage which can be traced in straight lines. Creative lineage is much more liquid and difficult to trace.

For instance, I started with Habib (now of Arizona), and love her to death, but would not call her style reflective of my style. Her philosophy I took away, but not movement really.

Then I went on to Aleili (an original member of Yaleil, godmother of Ansuya), and again, I would not trace my style of dance back to her, but she gave me the appreciation of folkloric and AmCab, and that class is where I got my dance sisters Renee and Michelle, who later went on to form Raqs al-Hamra with me, which later became inFusion.

Then I learned FC from videos, then took workshops and later trained to teach with Paulette of Gypsy Caravan, which was the base of our dance style for many years.

Now I am training directly with Carolena, which is become the base of our dance style now, but we still have bits and bobs of Gypsy Caravan style, and the philosophies of all my past teachers rolled into it.

So who gets to claim me as their direct descendant? Aleili? Paulette? Carolena? Do we trace the whole lineage, or just look at the direct line today? Today Carolena would be simultaneously my Grandmother and my Mother (and maybe even my Aunt, depending on how yo draw those lines).

Complicated!

At Midwest Tribal Mafia we had a family tree of just the Chicago/Milwaukee/Madison tribal troupes. That was enough of a mess. I'd hate to be the one to put together one for San Francisco!