Tribal Fusion (dance form)

Tribal Fusion Belly Dance is a modern Western form of belly dance which was created by fusing American Tribal Style belly dance and American Cabaret belly dance. Artists frequently incorporate elements from Popping, Hip Hop, 'Egyptian' or 'Cabaret' belly dance, as well as movement principles from traditional forms such as Flamenco, Kathak, Odissi, and other folkloric and classical dance styles.

Tribal Fusion Dance is a branch of the American Tribal Style Belly Dance movement, which began in the early 90's by Carolena Nericcio, the director of Fat Chance Belly Dance.

The first Tribal Fusion dance company (although there was no name for it at the time, they simply called it Belly Dance Theatre) was Jill Parker's Ultra Gypsy. (June, 2010; Stants, 2008;) Jill Parker is often referred to as the "mama of Tribal Fusion". (June, 2010) Ultra Gypsy expanded on the American Tribal Style repertoire of movement, costuming, and music. "In the late 1990s Jill and her dance company, Ultra Gypsy, began to scale down the tribal costume, expand the movement vocabulary, work with modern DJ mixed music and play with theatrical themes in their performances. This had a significant impact on tribal dancers and opened up the floodgates of Tribal Fusion innovation." (Stants, 2008) An early example of Ultra Gypsy's work was filmed by the cable TV program "The Cutting Edge", produced by Jerry B in Berkeley, CA in 2001; directed and edited by D. Sosnoski.

Stephanie Barto, a student of Nericcio, brought ATS to the Midwest with a group called Read My Hips, founded in Chicago with Heather Stants. Later, during the early development of Tribal Fusion, Heather Stants worked to introduce new elements to Tribal Style bellydance, including a minimalist aesthetic, underground electronica music and elements of modern dance. In 1999, she formed Urban Tribal Dance Company in San Diego, largely influenced by hip hop and street dance styles. In contrast to many other tribal fusion performers, Urban Tribal Dance Company was known for their minimalist costuming more traditional to modern dance than to Tribal Style.

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