At our Spring Hafla in Fredericksburg I gave a mini-lesson in the fan veil combinations. There wasn’t a lot of room but we all enjoyed a bit of follow-the-leader fun together. It’s a plus that the combos are so easy to pick up – that is, they’re easy to do if you’re big enough to actually use them! Are children’s fan veils a thing? Because kids sure do love playing with floating fabric.
Big and little dancers playing follow-the-leader with me
We’re enjoying the Fan Veil “game” a lot – more to come in the next shows as well!
Yes, it’s been a rough start to 2016 with a serious knee injury followed by the flu. I’m dancing again, gingerly because my knee isn’t quite right, but it’ll do. Coming up this weekend is the first public performance of the year! Tribal Odyssey is gentle enough that I feel confident enough to dance, and I’m looking forward to it.
Saturday in Fredericksburg I’m doing a 50-minute interactive presentation on bellydance for a local women’s event, along with some of my dancers. So at the end of this mini-class we’ll do a short dance demo featuring some TOBD.
We’ll use “Love Signs” for slow moves, arms, and Fan Veils; followed by “Come Dance with Me” for fast combinations with finger cymbals, ending with audience participation.
That gives us an exciting and diverse 10-minute demo that includes getting the class participants dancing too!
Fan Veils, with finger cymbal pouches at the ready!
Check out these tunes – they’re so different, but catchy and interesting:
So I’m injured at the moment, but dance class is tonight and I’m excited! It’s the new year, first class, and I can’t wait to get back after two weeks off.
Since I can’t dance until my knee is fully healed, I plan on teaching a bit of a sit-down class tonight – yes, my student are going to be sitting in chairs for part of the class! Not for them to study and take notes, but to go over upper body movements, arm and hand cues, etc.
If you need ideas on how to teach dance while injured, or maybe just a new idea for class material, check out my plan:
SEATED INSTRUCTION for Dance Class
Warm up and stretch torso
Shoulder lifts, thrusts, shimmies
Arm undulations
Rib isolations
1. Cymbal Rhythm Game: 4-count follow me (I play a random cymbal pattern for four counts, then students imitate.)
2. TOBD combos*:
Rib Circle
Head Slides/Circle
Slow Arms
Temple Arms
*while facing front, then in circle, then duets.
3. Eye Contact in pairs (for 30 – 60 seconds. This is a great exercise to make Duet pairs more engaged when dancing together.)
Since I also teach Oriental Raks Sharki, we’ll go over upper body combinations from our current choreographies as well.
So that’s my plan to keep things ticking while I have to sit this out! If you have other questions or ideas on teaching while injured leave me a message in the comments.
Here’s a quick video clip on the “Flare-kick” skirt combination from the Tribal Skirt online course. The full tutorial goes into more detail but this should be enough to get the gist of the 16-count sequence.
Teaching this particular skirt combo is always an adventure. With only two steps in 8 counts, that leaves 6 whole counts where students are going, “huh?!” Of course, ANY combination that includes facing away from the instructor is a challenge in class because students continuously try to “check in” while dancing – which is why I often sit down and watch. At some point you have to cut the cord and see what happens!
So here it is for you to try on your own – can you get it?
Have you ever noticed that sometimes the simplest combos are the trickiest?
It’s funny that it took over a year for me to try it – maybe two years – after Pixie Fae’s original suggestion. I thought it would be difficult to create group improv for fan veils, so kept putting it off when she’d periodically bring it up.
Well, one day this past September I invited her over, and came up with about 8 combinations right off the bat! I shared them at our performance group rehearsals, and also in class – the students all love seeing all the beautiful fan veils in the mirror – it’s such a treat.
So after a couple of months now of using them in class and rehearsals, it’s all coming together. I’ve got about ten short combinations of 8 counts each, and when we dance them together it helps get all the details sorted out for turns, traveling, changing leaders, different formations, etc. It’s really fun!
My performing group PRISM Dancers felt so confident that we performed them in October, at an outside festival in Fredericksburg. In fact, Fairy Fest may have been part of my inspiration for finally tackling these combos. Fan Veils just seemed perfect for a Fairy Festival! But there was no lead-changing that day, it was too soon, and in the wind we could only face one direction. Yes, it was a challenge, but we kept the wind at our backs, and it worked!
We’ve been dancing all summer, what could be better!
In mid-summer we enjoyed participating with many beautiful guest dancers in a show all about VEIL DANCING, called “Reflections on the Veil“. It was amazing to witness each dancer’s gift of vision. Of course we offered our own group veil improv as well.
Tribal Veil trio onstage at Reflections
I’ve also been incorporating Tribal Veil into class and the results are good – even for beginning dancers. It gives new dancers something to hold on to, and they love watching themselves in the mirror, swooping these large pieces of fabric through the air. Who doesn’t love veil dancing? Veils are iconic for bellydancers, and they’re a great workout too.
At Pennsic this year my student Siyala and I danced with Rajni and Jackie from Georgia, our dance sisters whom we see so rarely. We all were more than thrilled to have live drumming for our spot at the Middle Eastern Dance Expo; a sweet percussion band made up of our wonderful Orluk mates and guests. They were able to give us a dynamic range of tempos for our group improv set. Hooray Orluk!
backstage at the Expo!
Immediately after getting back from Pennsic, we were excited to dance at Tribal Cafe in Richmond, sponsored by the Bandit Queens. We did another tempo-dynamic set that was extra fun for me because the song begins with karkabas! I’m talking about “Sahara Caravan” by the Desert Knights. Very cool! Tribal Cafe was a lot of fun for so early in the morning! I hope to do it again sometime, we met great folks.
Nandana, Lisa from NC, Shari Apple, and us after the show; lovely photo courtesy of Providence & Sterling
Then we were absolutely thrilled to be invited to “Tummy Tuesday”, a monthly hafla in Richmond. I LOVE Richmond dancers, they’re so friendly! The space was challenging but my dancers did amazingly well, I’m very pleased with their aplomb! We had a great time doing veil again, and of course finger cymbals. Good times!
yes, we’re beledi tribal!
We have a few things coming up right here in town that should be fun too; what a great way to spend a summer – dancing!
Some of my PRISM Dancers and I did a bit of TOBD in our show at the local multicultural fair yesterday. We used Sirocco’s “Intro” track because it fit in so well with the rural Egyptian music we used for our folkloric choreographies. And of course playing the finger cymbals fits right in too.
I was happy to see my hip moves coming back, I’ve been working on getting them big and clear enough; so I was happy to see this little video, courtesy of Siyala’s family.
We’re all in beledi dresses: no costume changes because it was a short 30-minute show. This also demonstrates how well Tribal Odyssey synchronized improv fits into a show that includes other styles of belly dancing. We began with this TOBD number, then went right into Ghawazee, Raks Assaya; American Oriental; slow TOBD and Tribal Sword; American Belly Dance again; then Interpretive (a fun basket dance). The dresses are a compromise between glitzy and folky – we all stayed onstage through the entire show. So convenient!
Last month I began bellydancing again after my second hip replacement! Not “full steam ahead”, of course, but more and more each week.
Now after a month of dancing, I’m extremely happy to be both dancing, and able to KEEP UP with my students! The skills came back really fast, though my left leg muscles do get tired quickly. It’s getting better though.
Side-steps are the hardest – who knew what a good exercise the “grapevines” were!? My dancers have learned to make their steps a little smaller when I’m dancing with them so I don’t get overwhelmed during the TOBD Circle grapevines. Previously, they’d be absolutely FLYING around the circle – and I couldn’t keep up! I don’t think they realize how very energizing it is to dance in a circle!
In mid-October I performed a little bit of our tribal improv at a camping event in North Carolina, with several other dancers who were there. That was my first time dancing in public since my surgery, and it was such a blessing. It was an amazing experience. I posted about it here: Camping at War of the Wings.
This past weekend, I danced my little butt off at our Warm Hearts Hafla (a food drive for the local food bank). My students and I did a tribal set of several songs, in a low-key party mode. It was so much fun! Then we had open dancing to funky Arabic pop music, and I just danced myself silly and had a great time.
Anthea surrounded by dancers
Tribal Odyssey has been a godsend for me as I come back to bellydance. The moves and steps are challenging but I can manage if I’m careful, and I know it will only get better. It gives me a pathway to dance, and to dance with my friends, where I don’t have to worry about doing the same repetitive routine over and over. The variety we have really works for me because I’m able to do the steps that suit me best at the moment. I’m just loving this dance journey right now!
I know people look for markers, patterns, SIGNS – something recognizable to help them make sense of things, and I’m aware of specifically religious end-time symbolism because my first husband was a religious scholar and we both enjoyed discussing theology, theories, and beliefs. I’m also well aware of how some devout Christians strive to distance themselves from any kind of devilry or worship of what they would consider “false gods”.
That being said, I want to set the record straight on my use of the “Eye of Horus” symbolism in our dance format; as well as clarify any references I personally might make concerning the “Goddess”.
The Eye of Horus
ancient Egyptian symbol and cool eye makeup
First of all, the “Eye of Horus” is Egyptian, and this dance format is specifically inspired by Egyptian dancing. The shape of the Eye of Horus as used in our format specifically refers to the shape of our dance group in a certain situation when more than 4 of us dance together. This symbolism was first suggested by my co-creator Miramar as a way to help students remember this shape when dancing with a group. It refers to the shape of the group when the Lead Dancer is on the short side of the group. This Improv Tribal Style format is not choreographed but must be created on the spot by the dancers themselves, so any memory tricks are welcome.
Secondly, use of this ancient Egyptian symbol does not signify that I promote, condone, or even permit any behaviour or rituals dedicated to Paganism, let alone Satanism, in my dance activities. In fact I actually became an ordained minister in 2002. Don’t get me wrong, I think paganism can be a positive force (at least it’s better than nothing); but it’s not what I’m about, nor is my dance art about that. When I personally lead a pre-performance circle before a show I quite clearly invoke, by name, the Creative Spirit, a Divine personality. How old-school, to be sure!
Third: in the end what counts is MOTIVATION – that is, what is really in someone’s heart when they wear or use a symbol. People may be fooled by appearances, but the Spirit is not. For instance, if I don’t know any better than to worship a God who has human emotions like anger, that’s fine. But if I know better than that and I still pretend to believe in it – that’s not okay. My religion is of God, but don’t expect me to put my new wine in any of your old wineskins.
And now, enter the GODDESS.
I use imagery that speaks to me – and the attributes of nurturing care and planning that females bring to the table are best personified to me on a universal level by the concept of the Goddess, our Mother Spirit, a complement to the seed of our Universal Father, God. Just two aspects of the trinity deity we come from, move in, and can return to.
Since our finite minds are far from being able to understand, let alone explain these concepts of infinity, the familiar concept of the Goddess stands in as a sort of mental shorthand that gives us dancers an image of inspiring feminine spirituality.
Ant that is why, in my personal work, and for my student dance group that performs all styles of belly dance, I use this image:
my dance logo, created by my daughter
It’s as far from a false god as you can get.
Sometimes I have to remind myself that often what other people see is a mirror of what they have in their minds, and is not really about me at all. But in any case, now this is as clear as I can make it.
If you don’t understand this or have any questions, please feel free to ask me.
We help others create good memories when we dance together
Each performance is a chance to create good memories, and build trusted connections between each other.
In Improv Tribal Style each performance is different – anything can happen; often we have a brand new experience with a certain turn, or move, or transition between moves – you never know! That’s one of the reasons I love tribal improv so much. It’s fresh and different every time.
A group choreography works with any dancer, interchangeably – as long as she knows it and performs it correctly; whereas each particular dancer impacts the entire group in “follow the leader” dancing. Each dancer can express her personality freely. She can lead gently, wildly, do the same moves and transitions each time, or put odd combinations together; always include turns, or lead-changes, circles, etc.
So I love the feel of different energies in tribal bellydance, the various looks, faces, bodies, personalities that make up a tribe. We’re recognizable as a group yet each person has their own unique way of going.
In tribal society the older care for the younger, guiding them and showing them how to handle the world – or the performance; protecting them until the younger are strong enough to pull their weight as a leader.
“Elder” is not just a term of age, but signifies someone who “knows much” in a tradition; someone who can answer questions because of their earned knowledge.
This performance trio of widely differing experience levels tickles me because I see Galiyah calmly carrying on and gently leading the other two, who are still “young” in terms of performing. In fact, neither of them are playing cymbals during this performance, yet they’re dancing to ONLY finger cymbals. Only Galiyah and I are playing – this is something new for the others and they seem quite comfortable because they trust the leader.
When I watch these dancers, one very experienced and comfortable in Tribal Odyssey, having danced it for over a decade, with the two others with much less experience, I see an elder taking care of the tribe.
It’s natural, comfortable, and ageless.
I also love the family feel of hearing the kids (and dad) during filming! Is this like your tribal experience?
by Anthea Kawakib
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Here I chronicle the continuing evolution of Tribal Odyssey Bellydance (TOBD).
I also post on my Dancing Through Life blog about belly dancing after 2 Total Hip Replacements. And YouBellyDance has learning and performing strategies for belly dancers.
Tribal Odyssey - a bellydance journey 
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