One of the best things about ATS (AKA freaking out about dancing solo)

In the "spotlight"
(but the Alish right behind me)

I call myself a belly dancer.  I have studied and I teach a range of Middle Eastern Dance styles and think all of them are beautiful.  But if given the choice of what to dance, study or teach, tribal is my pick.  American Tribal Style dance (ATS) or Improvised Tribal Style (ITS) is a group improvised style of dance that incorporates a vocabulary of movements, each unique and (where needed) with its own cue.  A group of dancers has a leader who chooses the movements to perform based on the music she is dancing to, and the others follow.  It is a silent language and, when done well, the audience (unless educated) won't know that it is an improvised performance as the dance becomes seamless and stunningly beautiful.

At my dance school, Koroit Belly Dance, we call this style of dance MiTS (Meenkeel Improvised Tribal Style), and we study and incorporate movements from a range of teachers and troupes as well as adding some of my unique movements.  Most of the credit for our movements and education goes to Carolena of Fatchance Belly Dance and Devi of Ghawazi Caravan.

aaahhh.... reconnecting

Together with my troupe, the Meenkeel Gypsies, I perform MiTS more often than not.  It works fabulously in restaurants and parties as it fits into any space and, because it is improvised, we can work within the moment - include an audience member in the dance, move to a different space in the restaurant or (and this is the point I am coming to) duck out of the spotlight when we have a little moment of nerves or a mind blank.

Beauty in a small space

You see in all of these styles, there is a leader, but at any point in the dance, she can decide to change the lead, therefore allowing another dancer from the group to come forward and take over.  Leading the dance is the part of ITS that most beginner dancers hate - that moment of being in the spotlight and having to think of what to do, being responsible for the whole troupe!  But experienced dancers come to love the lead.  Being in the lead gives you a chance to play with the moves that you love the most, making the music work in the way that you think it should and therefore showcasing the dance how you believe it should be.  It also gives you a moment of "spotlight"!  Being up there in the lead, you can't really see the other dancers, so for a moment, you can imagine that you are dancing solo and being amazing doing so (OK, that sounds like showing off - but we're performers, we're meant to!).  So you're up there being awesome (at least you think so) and then you make eye contact with an audience member and suddenly your mind goes blank and you start to freak out...........  and here it is, the beauty of ITS .......  you turn that move around and there are your dance sisters, smiling at you, and it all feels OK again.  One of them takes the lead and you keep on dancing - seamless.

Dance sisters!  Love em!

I can dance solo.  I have done plenty of times, on stage and at restaurants and parties, and I've just signed myself up for another performance on my own.  I teach "solo" too - in all of my classes and workshops, I'm up the front of the room dancing and instructing on my own.  But I don't love it as much.  Without my sisters right there to help me out, the spotlight is a little brighter and scarier, my hands shake a little more and the butterflies in my tummy go crazy.  Solos are not my thing, but I'll keep doing them because there is a need for them, but also because they make me appreciate my dance sisters even more.