Transcultural Fusion Dance
What is Transcultural Fusion dance?
I first heard this term introduced by Donna Mejia as an alternative descriptor for Tribal Fusion belly dance - a style that has been developing in the US since the 1980’s and now practiced worldwide.).
Donna’s Open Letter to the Dance Community
Donna has for many years been campaigning for an alternative to the use of the word “Tribal”, to respect and honour Tribal and Indigenous peoples who have suffered and continue to suffer erasure, displacement and persecution, in the Americas and worldwide.
It was only in 2020 that this sentiment started to take hold within this dance community, as Amy Sigil changed the name of her format, ITS, from “Improvisational Tribal Style” to “Improv Team Sync” followed by Carolena Nericcio rebrand of ATS “American Tribal Style” to “FatChanceStyle”. Paulette Rees Denis’ “Gypsy Caravan” has become “Global Caravan” for similar reasons.
Amy explains her decision to change here
FCBD Announcement here
The combination of the heightening of the BLM movement with the Coronavirus pandemic causing a global pause, resulted in many MENAHT source dancers being given a platform to speak that they previously had not been afforded, calling into question many of the practices used in the group improvised styles and other Fusion dance styles.
Costuming, jewellery, adornment and cultural signifiers such as facial tattoos (ouchem) have for the last 30-40 years been blended together into an aesthetic that became synonymous with the dance style. Personally, I loved this style and it was one of the many reasons I was drawn to this dance form, but on listening to the views of many source artists it now feels inauthentic, like “dressing-up”. Where I thought I was celebrating the beauty in other cultures, the mish-mash I was using was causing their erasure. I was particularly struck by a quote from one dancer - “My culture is not your costume.” (More on this to follow in a future blog.)
Terminology created in the 1960s by Jamila Salimpour, with the intention of referencing her sources, has been passed down the lineage of US dancers, many who have created their own variations of these steps and the cultural connection has been lost. The idea of using an entire country/culture to define a particular movement (such as Egyptian, Arabic, ) when many similar movements exist in dances from a variety of places is in these times perhaps not so appropriate and many of the US dance schools have now removed this language from their vocabulary.
There’s so much more to it. It's a complex subject, with so many nuances and I’m only scratching the surface here.
So, is Transcultural Fusion just a new name for Tribal Fusion and the Group Improvised Formats? Or is it something deeper - an actual fusion of two or more specific and named dance styles that the dancer has trained in? This video by Hilde Cannoodt was created independently of Donna’s work and Hilde references a Transcultural Fusion of West African and Contemporary dance methodologies - very far removed from the USA fusions with their primarily MENAHT* inspiration.
I have chosen to use Transcultural Fusion to define my dance as my training has been primarily in US Fusion Styles (usually inspired by MENAHT dances and Black funk styles such as Popping and Waving.) The challenge for me is now to discover some of the cultural roots at the heart of 15 years’ of movement vocabulary stored in my body. I’m working towards being able to be more specific about the styles I am fusing and promote and uplift the host cultures, where appropriate, with my performance and teaching.
*MENAHT = Middle Eastern North African Hellenic Turkish
This is going to be an ongoing process, which I intend to continue as long as I am dancing. I expect my views are going to continuously evolve! You can read my “Dance Musings” blog here. I’m currently in a exploratory phase, - if you take my ongoing dance classes you will be joining me on this exploration and I look forward to sharing with you as I discover more!
Strong Motion clients who have dance technique refinement included in the bespoke programme will be working with my preferred technique for the movements and body isolations commonly used in Raqs Sharqi inspired fusion dances (fusion belly dance.)
If you would like to study with source MENAHT teachers I can recommend the following:
(please let me know if you have recommendations to add to this list!)
Zara Abdulrahman (Egypt)
Ozgen Ozgec (Turkey)
Raissa Lei (Morocco) and Kif-Kif Bledi
Nawarra (Morocco)
Amel Tafsout (Algeria)
Soumaya Ma Rose (Morocco)
Sureya (Turkey)
Simon Sako (Lebanon)
Karim Nagi (Egypt)
I am searching for Popping and Waving teachers in the UK and further afield - please help me with your recommendations!
If you are based in Brighton and would like in-person classes, to my knowledge there are not currently any local source teachers, though Barbara Oriental and Nadia Undine are both excellent Raqs Sharqi (belly dance) teachers.
If you have any questions please let me know!