Thread: Thoughts on "E.Coast Tribal Bd", found a video

I live on the west coast and have a new class in town "East Coast Tribal Belly Dance". The teacher has lots of enthusiasm, but wasn't able to show/tell me what she meant by this term. Looking on Youtube, I found a DVD trailer. I was wondering what prevailing opinion is of this.

I've been doing this for 25 yrs, have seen styles change, come and go. Popularity goes up and down again. Seems a recent resurgence and combining "whatever you like" music, moves, costumes. But I'm an old codger, wondering what you guys think, not of the video but the whole "ECTBS" phenomenom. Thanks.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8MYUtRUwkE]YouTube - East Coast Tribal Bellydance - DVD-trailer - Amazon.com[/ame]

well i'm probably not the best one to answer. i don't like tribal at all. i've hardly ever seen it performed without losing interest after 30 seconds.
but that aside. it looked like a pretty good dvd if you like the style. because i don't know the intricasies of tribal, i felt like it looked like regular tribal. i don't know what the difference is.
one cool thing on those hip drops she looked like she was floating. that was cool.

I'm not sure how it differs from west coast tribal but my focus is mainly AMCab. This looks heavily influenced by both ATS and hip-hop and perhaps jazz.

Personally, I think when you take away the ME music and add the limb-focused moves as opposed to torso-focused moves, it becomes something other than belly dance. A lot of clips I've seen recently should be labeled world dance or ME-influenced modern dance or some such, not belly dance. But hey, what do I know, I'm just a grumpy old fart, lol!

I saw that discussed somewhere before: the dancers are from New York City, which is culturally a bit of a different place than the rest of the Eastern US. And, from what I understand, the name of the DVD reflects that the roots of this particular performance are in NYC and its unique artistic atmosphere.

Interestingly, before this DVD, I had seen the term East Coast Tribal used for fusion that used choreography to create very exciting, more traditional performances (with traditional songs, and costumes that show an SCA influence), like Awalim and Zafira.

Originally Posted by catwomyn

I'm not sure how it differs from west coast tribal but my focus is mainly AMCab. This looks heavily influenced by both ATS and hip-hop and perhaps jazz.

Personally, I think when you take away the ME music and add the limb-focused moves as opposed to torso-focused moves, it becomes something other than belly dance. A lot of clips I've seen recently should be labeled world dance or ME-influenced modern dance or some such, not belly dance. But hey, what do I know, I'm just a grumpy old fart, lol!

That is what I mean. I am a grumpy old fart also, and get irked at misnaming things. Fusion is fine, if it is portrayed as such. I get annoyed at those who put on a costume, move around, and call it something it's not.

This looks like it incorporates hiphop, jazz, whateverness. It is interesting to watch, but I'm not sure I'd call it belly dance. Leading me to agree more and more that I shouldn't call raqs sharqi "belly dance" , except the general public gets confused with the term "raqs sharqi", not to mention "danse oriental".

Old farts Unite!

That solo at the end looks very heavy on the pop and lock and light on the M.E. movements to me.

I do like tribal when it's done well, and fusion when it's done well. I thought some of the combinations were interesting that they were showing in the video clip but to me it looked very "modern/hip hop/m.e. fusion....aaaaaaand perhaps that's what sets it apart from ATS and other tribal fusion groups. LOL!

well im don't like the term belly dance and i don't think tribal has much to do with raks sharki so i don't mind tribal dancers saying belly dance be they west or east coast.
call it what you like.

I have it. I'd say this is more Tribal Fusion.

The definition steffib may be talking about is on my site:
TribalBellyDance.org

I inquired about this on tribe, and the prevailing answer was that they were looking for a name for the video, they are on the East Coast and so called it that. not because they think they have invented a new style.

Also, I know of no one who *calls* themselves East Coast Tribal. It's more for scholarly discussion to have the term.

So I am curious what the person is teaching as East Coast Tribal...?

Originally Posted by TribalDancer

Also, I know of no one who *calls* themselves East Coast Tribal. It's more for scholarly discussion to have the term.

So I am curious what the person is teaching as East Coast Tribal...?

She grew up here, went away and is back, name of Stormy. I know little about her but have talked with briefly. If you want more info, let me know and I'll private message you what I can find.

Originally Posted by TribalDancer

The definition steffib may be talking about is on my site:
TribalBellyDance.org

I inquired about this on tribe, and the prevailing answer was that they were looking for a name for the video, they are on the East Coast and so called it that. not because they think they have invented a new style.

Thanks -- I was wondering the same thing. I sort of figured it was something like "represent your coast" but I didn't see them make the "E" with their fingers :)

Isn't it time we had Midwest Tribal?? Can't someone represent for the corn fields?

Wow, I really haven't posted here in a long time.

Anyways, I'm a new member of Sera's troupe, so if you have any questions about it I can try to help out.

>wistfully> Can I wear a costume like she has in the solo but just do belly dancing?

I just wish people wouldn't call it belly dancing when they are performing to non-Middle Eastern music and using mostly Western-looking movement. Like Jaziri was sayin'.

Have you noticed the music farts at the beginning?..g.:
and UK bellydancers might think this how they do it in Scarborough
Nah I jest They are quite impressive.
Seriously, I have seen the video and did wonder, for a nanosecond , if this was how all East coast tribalists danced.

Looks good to me-- yeah, so she was dancing to 'weird' music right then, but that doesn't mean she doesn't also dance to ME music- do we have to make up a new dance style name for every song we perform to? And the movements went with the music, as is supposed to be the case-- lots of belly dancers do pops and locks-- just not usually with their arms (which she really doesn't do either, she just does some different arm positioning). She looks a lot more like a belly dancer than a hip hop dancer to me, although she may have studied hip hop as well (I just started taking classes and trust me it will be a long while before I can do anything that even barely resembles my teacher!, maybe a single move now and again but it ain't easy and would definitely take skill to mix in with my regular repertoire, if I even wanted to try...).

I'd have to see the whole video to make a determination but from that little bit she looked pretty good as far as the instructional part goes and I think there are plenty of moves in that performance that can be done while listening to ME music. Let's do like the guy from youtube and paste that performance into another song-- if we pick the right one I bet it will work just fine...

You can definitely wear that costume.

To me, it simply seems like "tribal fusion". I enjoyed the video very much (I own it), and it is great inspiration for tribal fusion choreography and improv bott, but I don't feel it is a brand new style that needs a new name. And if I did think so, I wouldn't just name it after wherever the dancer lives. Any more than what I do is "Seattle Tribal Style" because we have our own take on tribal improv and tribal fusion. It's just inFusion Style, and I think Sera has her own style, too!

You know, if I were going to name this dance style in general, I'd call it Urban (Tribal) World Dance Fusion. I think that's a far more accurate description than any other I've heard so far.

Modern Tribal Fusion Belly Dance takes inspiration from so many sources outside of belly dance I'm not sure how accurate it is to still call it belly dance, any more than it's accurate to call it hip hop or Indian or martial arts.

I agree that this style has many modern dance influences in it, as does Urban Tribal's style. So much that it is more like a little bellydance thrown in with modern dance rather than the other way around.

Sera does have a distinct style, and there is a lot of modern, hip hop, and jazz influences, but at the end of the day there is a lot of belly dance too. The piece on the DVD is just one piece. There are loads of others clips on YouTube of her and Solstice where we're performing group improvisation to a live band, or a piece that she'll readily admit is more on the modern end of the spectrum, or a piece that is belly dance only to non-belly dance music.

She's not going out there saying that she's the founder of a new tribal fusion phenomenon, so I'd just take the title of the DVD at face value.

Originally Posted by Daniela2006

She's not going out there saying that she's the founder of a new tribal fusion phenomenon, so I'd just take the title of the DVD at face value.

I hear ya Daniela. But it is exactly this question here that is why we are talking at all. Some people think she IS claiming to have created a new style, because of the DVD title--and now someone is using the moniker for their style (Stormy?).

As I said earlier up there, I asked about it on tribe when the video first came out, and from the responses I understood that was not her intention (to claim she invented a new style), but people are so easily confused by tribal style monikers and the 50 variations that people want to name and rename things, it makes sense that there would be questions. Nobody is questioning Sera's creativity or skill! Not me anyway. ;)

Originally Posted by aziyade

Isn't it time we had Midwest Tribal?? Can't someone represent for the corn fields?

Sure! I'll get right on a collection of corn-n-cheese inspired tribal combinations!! Blue Lotus Tribe representin' da Midwest in crazy farmer style!!

(the thing is, we actually *do* teach a workshop we call "A Taste of Chicago" that's a sampling of our troupe's original combos for tribal improv.)

As for the East Coast Tribal DVD... I find it pretty interesting and full of ideas that can be taken and used as inspiration. Sera's performance wasn't really my style, but I did like the instructional portion of the DVD. To be fair, I've seen other footage of Sera dancing and have loved her!

Well with out seeing the labeling of DVD I wasn't sure if I was looking at a tribal group called East coast Tribal or if it was a new style or if we were being asked in this thread comparing east coast to west coast tribal styles? OMG I'm ..c::

I will say she is very talented dancer. Wish I could do some of those moves but I could easily tell the hip hop fusion of it and thought it was a bit heavy in that area as to completely omit the belly dance aspect. I don't know, maybe it was the choice of music too which influences my take on it...c::

I think I need to sit down...