Tribal Fusion - History

History

Tribal Fusion is a form of bellydance that began in 1996, in San Francisco, California, with Jill Parker, who founded Ultra Gypsy Dance Theater company, the first Tribal Fusion dance company. (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.

Tribal Fusion Dance is a member of the Tribal Style bellydance movement that began in the San Francisco bay area in 1967, founded by Jamila Salimpour. Jamila Salimpour taught Masha Archer, a feminist and visionary who sought to remove the sexist stigma that had been attached to bellydance since the colonialist era of the mid 19th century. Masha Archer taught Carolena Nericcio who would later go on to become the innovator behind American Tribal Style bellydance, also known as ATS. Carolena Nericcio went on to teach ATS to Jill Parker who in turn taught her fusion of ATS to numerous students.

Stephanie Barto, a student of Nerriccio, brought ATS to the Midwest with a group called Read My Hips, founded in Chicago with Heather Stants. During the early development of Tribal Fusion, Heather Stants also 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 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.

In the early 2000s, an influx of new dancers became involved in Tribal Fusion's early development. Tribal Fusion was largely popularized by Rachel Brice and the Indigo (formed in 2003), who became internationally renowned as they toured with the Bellydance Superstars. Rachel Brice studied Tribal Fusion with Jill Parker and performed with Ultra Gypsy in 2001. Mardi Love, a pioneer in Tribal Fusion, was an early member of Urban Tribal with Heather Stants, later joining the Indigo with Rachel Brice. Rachel Brice describes her personal dance background as a combination of techniques from Suhaila Salimpour, Fat Chance Belly Dance, Jill Parker and Mardi Love. Rachel Brice also greatly contributed to the popularity of movements similar to popping, though she credits former troupe mate Ariellah Aflalo as the source. Initial members of The Indigo performance group were Rachel Brice, Mardi Love, Michelle Campbell, Sharon Kihara, Shawna Rai, Janice Solimeno, and Ariellah Aflalo. Sharon Kihara also studied with Frederique and performed with Ultra Gypsy. Currently, the Indigo is composed of Rachel Brice, Mardi Love, and Zoe Jakes, who have been touring their own show "Le Serpent Rouge" since 2007.

The term Tribal Fusion is used to describe any Tribal Style dance form that incorporates the use of solo performances, utilizes world music, classical music or electronica, and involves the fusion of Tribal Style bellydance with any other kind of dance.