Tribal Thursdays ~ A new thing to our page. This was upon request of a former student of mine who has moved away and started teaching. She has requested information on the history of tribal belly dance. We’ve got our Wednesday topic that covers anything associated with the history of belly dance or mideast tradition, so this is perfect! I am starting out simple over the next couple weeks with basic definitions, one at a time. We will delve into other topics later! Stay tuned. Today a basic explanation of Tribal Belly Dance. Not to be confused with Tribal Fusion Belly Dance. Tribal Belly Dance is a specific form of belly dance performed by a group of dancers where all of the dancers learn movements or combinations of movements. Each movement or combination has a “cue”. There is one “leader” in any formation. The “leader” will perform a “cue” letting everyone dancing with them know that a specific move or combination of moves is coming up. The dancers then follow in suit. Thus when a group of dancers has a big enough vocabulary of movement they can form a routine that looks like it is choreographed but it is actually being created on the spot! It is very fun. Next week’s topic… the difference between A.T.S. and I.T.S. with in Tribal Belly Dance.