Photo by Chris Maait |
by Devi Mamak
My fascination with American Tribal Style (ATS) began when my
teacher at the time, Kaiya Seaton, showed me the FCBD LIVE! Video.
What I thought I saw was a woman dancing to a mirror. I was riveted
when I realised there were 2 dancers! The synchronicity and the
connection that they have, has always stayed with me.
A few years later in '99' I had the opportunity to go to San
Francisco for several months. Naturally I took as many classes
as I could with Carolena Nerricio and the team at Fat Chance Belly
Dance. I was totally hooked on ATS!
Upon returning to Australia I was struck by the obvious; I was
a now tribal dancer without a tribe and without a teacher. So
I sat down and did a little thinking: "I have to dance this
with someone... if no one can teach me this style I will teach
others what I know and I'll start to build a tribe." So in
2000 I started teaching. At first it was a mixture of what I had
been taught before and ATS but as time went on and I learnt, researched
and practised more, I realised that I only wanted to focus on
ATS.
I started teaching beginners for 1 hour on Monday nights. The
class has steadily grown as have the needs of the students. We
now have 7 hours of classes and in response to the enthusiasm
of the students, considerable additional practice during the week.
Many of the ladies including myself had danced and performed
in other troupes previously so it was natural for us to slowly
develop into a performance troupe. The immediate problem was to
settle on a name! We finally narrowed it down to just a few, unanimously
agreeing upon Ghawazi Caravan. The Ghawazi were known for their
free spirits, using zills, dancing with props on their heads and
in general for entertaining and shocking their audience. Sounded
like us! An "authentic" Egyptian troupe we are not,
but from these Egyptian gypsies we have drawn our name and inspiration.
We now perform regularly at private and corporate functions, festivals,
parties and weddings, not to mention giving regular workshops locally
and nationally. (For a list, please visit the Previous Events page.)
My students and I have great fun at all the gigs. There's little
doubt that dancing publicly is a great learning experience, but
we needed more input. I knew from a personal point of view that
I needed to be shown more, encouraged, corrected, inspired and
above all, to meet others as passionate about this dance style
as I was. In 2002 I sponsored Karen Gehrman from FCBD to teach
a weekend workshop. I had a huge response and participants came
from all over the country. I personally learnt a lot from the
private lessons that I had with her. I organised a performance
night where Karen & I performed an improv duet. I was amazed
as she communicated with me through her eyes. This solidified
my commitment to ATS. I decided to dedicate myself solely to ATS.
"It was rewarding to come back to Australia and see ATS
really catching on and in such a beautiful setting. To be so well
received was an honour. It was wonderful to see students and teachers
from many different dance disciplines brought together for the
workshops and performances. Devi created an atmosphere of respect
and encouragement for all the participants. The collaboration
of the weekend paid a lovely compliment to the co operative nature
of ATS and I'm truly grateful to have been a part of it."
... Karen Gehrman, Assistant Director FCBD
In 2003 all 10 members of Ghawazi Caravan entered the 1st
annual Belly Dance competition. To our surprise and delight we
actually came 2nd in the group section (apparently 1 and a half
points off coming first!). How exciting !
In
March 2004 I sponsored Paulette Rees Denis of Gypsy Caravan. It
was so interesting for me to meet another experienced ATS dancer
and performer especially since her format is quite different to
FCBD. She is an excellent teacher and she really got my head swimming
with ideas and possibilities. It was wonderful to meet her husband
Jeff Rees who is also part of Gypsy Caravan and a wonderful musician.
We held a huge dance and drum extravaganza the weekend that
they were here and it was a huge success. Paulette and I did an
improvisational duet. (This was interesting since I am not very
well versed in her format!). We also had Jeff blowing his horn
on several different instruments (some of which I have never seen
or heard of), and our very own locally grown John May from Hands
Heart and Feet and Andy Bussuttil on Darubuka. None of us had
ever performed together so considering all of this I think we
did a pretty good job. Paulette and Jeff have both fuelled me
with the desire to see and learn more ATS. Who knows who we will
bring out next time!
In May 2004 I was asked to teach at the Sydney Middle Eastern
Festival. I found that to be a huge honour. It went down very
well with one of the comments being. "Best workshop! My first
introduction to tribal. I'm hooked!" Needless to say I am
very pleased. In May 2004 myself and 7 other Ghawazi Caravan members
travelled to the U.S.A where we received more direct, intensive
training from FCBD, Ultra Gypsy and more, which of course was
extremely beneficial.
We also attended Tribal Fest 2004 where we had the opportunity to
perform for our tribal peers. We performed improvisational with
Diaspora of Western Australia. It was a wonderful experience and
one I am sure none of us will ever forget. For more on our trip
visit our "The U.S.A Tour" page.
In December 2004 Lara & I travelled to Canberra to teach
some workshops & the rest of Ghawazi Caravan came along to
perform a show.
In January 2005 I travelled to Victoria to teach workshops in
Ararat & Melbourne where Lenore joined me for a performance
& to help assist me with the Melbourne workshops.
In March 2005 Lara & I travelled to Queensland to conduct
sell out workshops.
Early in 2005 I once again sponsored Paulette Rees Denis (Jeff
came too) for more of her fabulous workshops. We had attendees
from Victoria & New Zealand. One of the highlights was an
impromptu party with wonderful dancers & musicians from different
tribes & different areas who had never danced or played together
& yet it all worked so beautifully & was SO much fun!
This year saw Paulette & Jeff travelling to Western Australia,
South Australia & Northern N.S.W. Proof that the tribe vibe
is growing here in Australia.
I am very excited about the future of ATS in Australia and feel
very lucky to be a part of the "Aussie" tribal scene
since its beginning.
"So what of the future for ATS in Australia"? I hear
you ask. I would like to see us coming up with specific "Aussie"
moves but still keeping that strong ATS presentation.
What I would really like for us "Aussie ATS" enthusiasts
is to keep the very nature of ATS alive and well and really support
each other. I honestly believe that getting along with one another
is the true sprit of ATS and if we cannot get on with one another
it will show in all our performances as what we do is largely
improvised. How can you feed off each other if you are not even
connecting? Remember, the audience can always tell!
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