(Originally published on Yahoo! Voices on December 13, 2013. Links in this article were extracted then)
This year in bellydance has been phenomenal. The performances and choreography to be found on Youtube is superb. I started with about 400 videos and whittled them down - painfully - to the top 20. Unfortunately, not all styles of Oriental Dans enjoyed the same level of talent and skill this year. I had difficulty finding good videos of the more traditional forms of the dance. Either the filming itself was poor quality, or the costumes a little too revealing or sloppy, or the dance itself was not up to par. It seems, however, that Tribal Fusion is having a sort of glory days. An effort was provided to display the best of the best, as I do every year, and as great a variety as possible within that first over-ruling law. The videos are presented in no particular order. So, settle in and happy shimmies!
1. Youtube user blackzebra72 has uploaded "Mia Shauri Bellydance With Tamborine". This is easily one of the best examples of what the more traditional cabaret forms can be. Whoever was in charge of the music for this event obviously missed the end of the song and let it play through again. When it began playing a third time Mia, who must be exhausted, gives a shake of the head to indicate it should end. Thus, we find out that at least half this performance is improvisation. And it is delightful to watch repeatedly.
2. Illan Rivère gives us one of his own performances. This man from France is one of the best Tribal Fusion dancers practicing today. I never watch one of his dances without coming away in awe. He is breaking boundaries and carving out new directions for the dance constantly. In "Solo Illan. Tandem.", he is painted as if he were a golden image of some ancient god but moves as if he were actually made of rubber or water. This is the ultimate in Tribal Fusion bellydance.
3. Tori Halfon uploaded "Kami Liddle performs at The Massive Spectacular! 2011". Almost everything from the Massive Spectacular shows is amazing, and Kami Liddle is stellar. With her trademark fusion of Tribal Fusion bellydance with Modern dance, her graceful fluidity draws crowds from everywhere. When a Hall of Fame of Bellydance comes into existence, it is bound to include her.
4. From LongHairBellyDancer comes "Sadie belly dance (Sadie's complete belly dance)". Sadie shines best in her drum solo dances as has been seen in past articles of this type, but she excels at any style of cabaret. This video is classic Sadie.
5. Ebony Qualls pioneered the fusing of Tribal Fusion bellydance with hip hop and she has uploaded a wonderful group performance of just that. It is has the long, unwieldy name of "Hip Hop Bellydance - Tribal Fusion - Ebony and Raqs Caravan Urban - Rakkasah Spring Caravan". These girls are clearly having fun and so is the audience.
6. amiradance has uploaded her own dance (which is becoming increasingly common as Youtube gets tougher on copyright issues) with "Belly Dance tabla solo by Amira Abdi". This is just about the most traditional you can get in terms of cabaret: a bouncy, lively, full on assault of drums and flash and hips. Amira shows us how they are doing it in the Middle East with gusto.
7. Erson Cile gives us this remarkable performance by Giuliana that borders on but does not cross into Gothic Tribal dance. "Tribal Fusion Giuliana" seems like a fragment of a dark and memorable dream. This is superb dancing. Tough minded, hard-edged, drawing heavily from the flamenco influences on Tribal dance and technically near to perfect, this video gets better with repeated viewing.
8. Tori Halfon strikes again with another Massive Spectacular performance. "Deb Rubin peforms at The Massive Spectacular! 2011" is one video I will be coming back to in the future. Deb's bedlah is beautiful and the song she is dancing to is contemporary and powerfully evocative on its own (the song is called "In The Tower" by DeVotchKa. There's a poem hidden in that song, waiting to be teased out, but I digress). Her lines are so clean that it is as if every movement were ready made for a photographer. As we all know keeping the line clean is all important in dance. This performance enthralls me.
9. Zoe Jakes was on fire this year! Tori Halfon gives us this unusual performance that represents something new in Zoe's dance, "Zoe Jakes of Beats Antique performs Fusion Belly Dance at the Massive Spectacular!". It seemed that this year, Zoe was all about taking her art to the next level by turning her dances into stories. In this video, we run the gamut of emotions. The dancing itself is hypnotic. Halfway through, she pulls out the familiar beast to a Beats Antique song she has made classic.
10. missakiwikawaii uploaded "impro tribal/hip-hop". This video is made all the more exciting by what that title suggests - that it was not choreographed, but is improvisation. That is difficult to wrap your head around when you watch this. Léa N'Kaoua takes Ebony's idea of fusing hip hop with Tribal Fusion Bellydance, throws in some Gothic Tribal influence, and does something spellbinding, something you wouldn't believe if it hadn't been captured on video. Don't look away and try not to blink or you will miss something incredible.
11. IrinaDances gives us her own work that is always amazing. Irina is well on her way to bellydance superstardom and this video "Bellydance Fusion by Irina Akulenko" illustrates why. You might recall her sword dance as the personification of Justice in 2011's article. This year she dances to what sounds like a modern twist on Native American flute music.
12. You can't get much more authentic than Tamar Bar-Gil's offer of "Tamar Bar-gil - raks baladi". This is a form of cabaret bellydance. Tamar dances it as it was meant to be. Raks baladi is Arabic for "country dance" and this is it. I love this. Tamar gives it her heart and soul. Technicality is not her focus - she's more about just dancing for the enjoyment of it - but she's not lacking in technical skill either. This is refreshing to watch.
13. Kami Liddle (yes, that Kami Liddle) uploaded "Gold Star directed by Kami Liddle at Tribal Fest 2013". It is a group dance that embodies Kami's style and is pure fun. Zoe Jakes is also part of Gold Star for this performance as well as several other famous names in bellydance. These ladies are lovely and excellent. They define fabulous.
14. Tori Halfon must be very much involved in the Massive Spectacular! shows. Another video by that user is "Mira Betz performs Fusion Belly Dance at the Massive Spectacular! Las Vegas". Mira Betz is one of the most well known names in bellydance and for good reason. Her style is a combination of Tribal Fusion dance and modern/interpretive dance. She loves to tell stories with her choreography. Here she gives us the muses as dancers. I love this performance for so many reasons. I'm sure you will, too.
15. ProduccionesPelusas uploaded "Eva Sampedro - Tribal Fusion Dance (Mission & Turkish Percussion Darbuka) (15-12-2012).mov". (There does seem to be a trend toward ridiculously long names for videos.) If there is such a thing as unadulterated, straight-on Tribal Fusion Bellydance, this is it. This has almost a vintage feel about it in everything, from the bedlah, to the music, to the lighting, and the choreography. Eva executes it as if she was born dancing.
16. Tori Halfon had most of the best videos this year, including "Joline Andrade performs Fusion Belly Dance at the Massive Spectacular!" Joline has some of the most precise and cleanest lines in bellydance and she knows how to use them. It seems likely that she also studies ballet in order to keep them so very strong. In this dance, she pulls out classic poses drawn straight from ancient Egyptian paintings and Indian dance. That last pose alone is worth the video's place in this article. Well done, Joline!
17. Youtube user diliuke has been attending some bellydance competitions and uploaded our last cabaret video, "1st place in competition 'Queen of the Pyramid' 2010. Bellydancer Dovile from Lithuania (Kaunas)". Dovile is dancing to classic music from the Bellydance Superstars tours. Her dancing is almost too precise for cabaret. This is strong dancing, stronger than has been seen from cabaret in general lately, and that is encouraging. She dances with passion, but also manages to get the audience going as well. And her bedlah is gorgeous. This video represents hope that cabaret bellydance will pull out of its current slump.
18. Tribal UMRAH Festival uploaded the teacher's performance for us. "Rachel Brice & Illan @ Tribal Umrah 2012" has the two biggest names in Tribal Fusion dance working together in the same performance, Rachel Brice who invented Tribal Fusion and Illan who is the best male bellydancer in Tribal today. The result is astounding. I could never tire of this dance!
19. Again, here is Zoe Jakes to tell us a remarkable story in a dance that is possibly her best performance of the year. Tori Halfon uploaded "Zoe Jakes Fusion Belly Dance performed at the Massive Spectacular! 2013". This starts with the new side to Zoe's dancing that she has been developing this year, but ends with typical Zoe as we have come to know her until now. Fun stuff.
20. Rachel Brice (again yes, that Rachel Brice) has uploaded a group dance for us titled "Rachel Brice's Datura at Tribal Fest 13 - Full Set". Rachel choreographed, directed, and appears in a rollicking fun Tribal dance that includes some of the biggest names in bellydance, such as Ashley Lopez and Gothic Tribal legend Morgan Fey. The audience is on board before the dancing begins and it gets louder as it goes. This is what they have been waiting for. The dancing can't be beat. Every girl brings her best. And the sari skirts at the end was an inspired choice.
I hope you felt the need to zaghareet after every one of these videos. I did! Personally, I'm so excited for what 2014 will bring in bellydance! See you next year.
(Due to the shutdown of Yahoo! Voices on July 31, 2014, there will be no article of Best of Oriental Dans for 2014. The series will resume in 2015 on this blog.)
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