Our June events around town rocked! I love how TOBD is proving to be so versatile, so easy to adapt to fit our needs. I guess I just love it’s USABILITY!
Once I realized we’re not locked into always looking “Tribal” and don’t always have to use our typical tribal music, my eyes really opened to the possibilities. I guess that’s funny coming from me since it’s my baby – you’d think I’d know TOBD inside and out – but I guess I had to see it with new eyes, so to speak.
During my solo career I danced at hundreds of parties – in homes, offices, various workplaces, event halls, pool parties, nightclubs, you name it. I know how to work an event, deal with pretty much any performance space, no matter how the audience is arranged or how the space is set up. As a soloist you learn to walk into a place, evaluate it quickly and decide how best to showcase your performance. What invaluable experience!
For our short 3-song set at the Bridal Show hosted by the FXBG & Stafford Wedding & Event Pros our quartet entered with Tribal Veil:
veil spins
So here we are doing tribal improv, looking very “cabaret-flavor”… dancing with veils to a shortened version of Ragheb Alama’s Saharony Ellil. Next we banged out some cymbal action to Nancy Ajram’s Baddala Aleik, also taking turns at with solo improv during the taqsim of this lovely song. Finally, pulling out the old favorite Habibi Ya Albi by Ihab Tawfik, we went out for audience participation. That song is gold and had the expected effect on certain folk in our audience who couldn’t resist dancing and even singing along. Yes, the PRISM Dancers know how to work it!
One of the hosts of the event graciously invited me to share a demo at the group’s next networking event in Fredericksburg. PRISM has done bridal showers in the past and we know it’s a great alternative to the stripclub scene. Having a “how to bellydance” party for the bride and her friends is appropriate for all ages – it’s just good, clean fun! So three of us PRISM Dancers put on our basic dance class wear, with a few extra sparklies on top. We used the long fringe skirts to tie our look together:
fringe skirts over class wear
We only did two song’s worth of dancing for the demo. The first number let us dance together as a tribal trio, then we each went out among the audience, having a lot of fun with the brave participants, then we returned to our TOBD trio to finish the song. We used one of our favorite swing electronica songs, Come Dance With Me (Shirley Horn/Sugardaddy remix). For the “how to” part of the demo we used Solace’s Beledi Drum (from Rhythms of the Dance), inviting audience members up to join us – including one sweet little girl! It was a blast!
What I love about my PRISM Dancers is that they’re game for new adventures, and go with the flow. They keep it happy and share the joy. All this and TOBD too – what a blessing!
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Tribal Odyssey - a bellydance journey 
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