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“Dear Kajira:
I would like to know specifically what innovations you and your troupe have made to original ATS as taught by Carolena Nericcio. In your opinion, do any of these innovations put you in jeopardy of not being ‘ATS’ anymore?” - Barb Price
Aloha Barb,
I invite you to take a look at my web site and especially my personal bio and my Teacher Certification Program info. Much of what you’re asking me is answered therein: www.BlackSheepBellyDance.com More answers and detailed information is in The Tribal Bible. I invite you to check out my DVDs, too. Perhaps then you will find your questions answer themselves. Still, I welcome this opportunity for further clarity, so here goes:
I would have to say that the single most important, specific innovation I am most proud of for personally contributing to the world of ATS is the use of both hips for asymmetrical movements.
It seems so simple, and it is. The simplest concepts can turn out to be the most completely profound in actual application! Just that, and a whole new world of possibility for ATS group improvisational bellydance was opened to us, not to mention the physical benefits from a well-rounded and balanced dance practice which demands use of both sides of the body.
For it is not only the gaining of nearly twice the moves you had originally, but this one little thing also enables the chorus to move more. It enables us to have more formations for our groups. It also enables us to switch directions in the moment while traveling in circles or in other formations to the opposite hip and it’s corresponding stage orientation. It enables us to face the band and the audience no matter where they are in relation to us. In short, this one little thing enables us to have more fun and be more fluid, and allows for any performance situation, all while feeling the most fulfilling and natural for our bodies.
It led to the chorus innovations, which were pretty groundbreaking when we first started using them. The first most obvious chorus possibility was to face the other direction. Wow! Finally, we can circle in the other way for once if we like. We often use two circles in our entrances for stages with two entrance directions, joining them into one chorus. We can also split our chorus and have one half use the right hip and one half use the left, facing each other. (All symmetrical movements still start on the right foot.) If the stage is large enough, we can back away from one another so that all troupe members can be seen. I also pioneered the idea of a “balanced stage” as in a bird’s eye view. This involves the chorus off to either side of the stage, of course facing the group that’s out, with said group also off center stage to create that balanced stage look. This can happen on either side of the stage.
The results of this breakthrough finally made all the seats in the house for an ATS show of equal value. For so many years, only those seated to stage left had hope of seeing the fronts of the dancers in the original, uni-directional ATS format. The fact that the groups and chorus could not use one entire half of the stage and its orientation left the other half out. This was a glaring omission to me from the beginning of my career in ATS. So it was the first, most natural and most needed innovation. It was what brought ATS up to par with all other dance styles on earth. I simply filled in what was missing.
Some of this may not seem as innovative now as it was a few years ago. That’s because we have inspired changes in even our parent troupe, FatChanceBellyDance, and of course myriads of other tribal troupes via my numerous workshops and teacher trainings and our performances. I was happy to see at this year’s Tribal Fest that FCBD’s chorus could actually face their band for the first time in that venue. It’s good that we still give and take from one another. Many costuming changes FCBD went through were extremely similar to new costume ideas United We Dance and later BlackSheep used first. So, the teacher becomes the student. We must be doing it right!
Other ideas I and my dancers over the years have added to the original ATS format as developed by Carolena Nericcio and FCBD have been more movements adapted for use in ATS from oriental and folkloric dance, and the use of both rhythmic and arrhythmic slow moves.
We go through several stages of a selection process before accepting something new. The process we take is relatively the same as the one FCBD goes through when adding new moves, which of course they have as well since I left in 2001. No good troupe is stagnant, all artists continually create. That is expected - new ideas happen. I cannot imagine anyone being content to simply copy someone else’s work for long. To be inspired by, then to create oneself. That is the role of an artist. After all, as Carolena has always said, “A copy is never as good as the original.”
Parts of the process for adding new steps or combinations for BSBD and our earlier incarnation as United We Dance entails asking oneself if it is still ATS. For me, this is extremely important when dealing with BlackSheep BellyDance, as BSBD prides itself in being a hardcore ATS troupe, no matter what other styles individuals may enjoy outside the troupe, myself included. When we’re BSBD, we’re ATS.
This came up last spring before Tribal Fest 7 when I had lunch with Carolena to talk and catch up. She asked me then where I saw my troupe’s style going and I replied, “Nowhere. We love ATS! It’s the single most important innovation in the world of dance since Martha Graham,” I’d said at the time. Now I think: since Isadora Duncan! At least! What Carolena gave us is truly unique and amazing and too wonderful to let slip away. As I say, “It is much more than a series of steps....”
During the selection process for a new move or combination, we have half our troupe perform the new move with transitions in and out of other standard moves several times for the other half, then switch off. Sitting out to watch hastens this process. Does the look and feel of the move gel with the rest of the format? Does the new combination look and feel congruous, or not? Can it be cued smoothly? What will the cue be? Can it be used from stage right, stage left and center leads? Does it need a different cue for stage right than for stage left? ...
During this development process basic ideas that make tribal “tribal” as taught to me from Carolena over my 8 years with her are in full swing. Things such as: end arm pose open to the audience, proud posture, dancer interaction, head angles, cues on the upper body only and extended but rounded arms - and, always in those balletic poses Masha Archer adored unless “passing through” as Carolena used to say. Arabic family moves have the arms moving down the front of the body and Turkish family moves have the arms moving down the outside arc from the body as in the original format, even if they are new moves or combos added to these basic steps. There’s more, but you get the idea. ...
Not all new ideas remain incorporated. Just as when I was with Carolena, if a new idea wasn’t a joy to lead into during normal classroom and stage use, it was discarded. This process is natural selection and I’m sure every ATS and improv-based tribal group goes through it similarly when adding something new. ...
We tend to shimmy overlay more steps than other ATS groups, but I don’t consider that anything innovative in itself. For example, on Arabic with a Twist (Jamila Format Arabic 3), we can shimmy if the leader does on the first 2 counts of that 4-count move. ...
We do use vocal cues as well as visual - that’s something FCBD did not do when I left that other groups did. We incorporated them for some situations because they work well and don’t change the style. ...
The use of both rhythmic and arrhythmic slow moves was another natural addition for me to add to my ATS that I gleaned from my oriental and other dance training where this concept is the norm. At the time I left to create my own format for ATS, FCBD used only arrhythmic slow moves. We were taught to watch the leader and the others in our periphery to tell how fast to turn, for example. That works beautifully, so we kept it. ...
When Paulette left FCBD to create Gypsy Caravan, she decided to use only rhythmic slow moves to differentiate her style/format from that of her teacher’s, and because it felt good to Paulette to move rhythmically slowly as well as quickly. That works beautifully as well, and serves to keep large choruses more together when using music with rhythm. So, we use both. Why not use everything at one’s disposal as long as the criteria that define the form are intact? ...
Nothing herein puts us in jeopardy of no longer being ATS, in my opinion or that of the form’s founder, Carolena. Having written “The Tribal Bible, Exploring the Phenomenon That Is American Tribal Style Bellydance” in which ATS was, for the first time up until 2003, clearly defined, and having two IAMED-produced DVDs titled “American Tribal Style Bellydance” out in that same year - all with Carolena’s approval and help - seal the fate of ATS and I as forever inextricably linked.
For those who need that outside approval, you have it, for Carolena herself stated in
a public forum (on the ATS Tribe on Tribe.net, if you want to recall the archives) that she considers BlackSheep BellyDance ATS. She said that she considers what we do to be the “BSBD Format for ATS” during the big uproar last year when she “laid down the law” for those in doubt. During our luncheon, she was completely fine with me calling what I and BlackSheep do ATS, as she is at every show in which we announce ourselves as such and she and/or her dancers are present, including all eight Tribal Fests so far. ...
She knows I know what I’m doing, and my dancers, too. After all, I had a wonderful teacher! We have always held mutual respect for one another, and a fondness, too. I honor her and I love her, after all! Much of my success I owe to her. I am very careful with her creation and my own that grows atop her solid foundation. This she knows. I was the first one she sent to teach a workshop in her stead, long ago. She and I continue to work together every year and correspond frequently throughout the year. She has always encouraged me since I left in my development of my own ATS Format. We have no problem with one another. She is always the first teacher to be re-booked every year for my event, Tribal Fest. This year we did so even before the 2008 event happened, so eager we are to continue our relationship! And I would have it no other way. ...
I hope this whets your appetite for more info on what exactly it is that we do as members and students of BlackSheep BellyDance. In the end, no matter what styles of dance you enjoy, the main thing is to love them and do them fully and with conviction. Learn all you can, never stop. Understand what you fuse. Honor your teachers, your students and yourself. Live, breathe, eat, sleep dance. Like those that inspire others do. No more and no less can be expected of ourselves. And, act through love to remain fearless!
With Aloha, Kajira Djoumahna
Why not check out the pics of our many happy dancers?
Winner of 2 awards for Favorite Instructor (IAMED & Zaghareet!’s Golden Belly Awards), 2 awards for Favorite Event and Promoter for Tribal Fest (Zaghareet!’s Golden Belly Awards - thanks to all of you readers!) and some honorary awards for DVD content and outstanding achievement. Author of the Tribal Bible, 2 instructional DVDs, producer of Tribal Fest and Maui Intensives, global workshop teacher and director of BlackSheep BellyDance CA & HI. www.BlackSheepBellyDance.com |