This piece was featured in Manko’s Mutant Muse Digest, the Autumn issue.

Who Are You Dancing?

Tribal fusion, like many art forms before it, has followed patterns of ebb and flow; people are introduced to it, people leave it, and the people in it find new inspiration. Up until this point, we’ve enjoyed quite a bit of freedom and growth as the majority of us, having honed a better grasp of technique, move on artistically and do what is intended of the form – fuse. However, I worry that the art form has stalled. Too many are now coming to the form through the “side door” and seeing only the midpoint of the very postmodern movement occurring right now, without the context of the modern or traditional phases. Dancers that really just set out to be their own artists are becoming “canon” and seeing their moves, music, and costuming being appropriated by others, who see the what but don’t know the why.

So what is tribal fusion and isn’t it just a ‘free-for-all’ to begin with? To me, it’s the culmination of the styles that came before it – all flavors of oriental, folkloric, ATS, etc. As more people grow up on dance, the lines between styles become blurred, and what results is a postmodern mélange of our experiences. The main mechanism at work here is boredom; once technique and style demands are met, artists tend look for new inspiration elsewhere, and what they bring back both propels and muddies their art further. But while there is great freedom in this art form, there are overwhelming responsibilities as well, as this form is essentially a bastardization. It takes a skilled technician to be able to fuse divergent elements like burlesque and theater, african and industrial, modern and b-girling, to her bellydance while still remaining true to her roots, whether she learned from Suhaila, Carolena, Artemis, Jamila or Raqia. It’s a struggle – but as we see around us, it can be done. Tribal fusion dancers live on the shoulders of giants, and even as we fuse and deconstruct and paste together, we can’t lose our history.

So who do we trust with the art form and why? Ultimately, tribal fusion isn’t a singular style that someone can just pick up and perform; it’s the endpoint after a lot of hard work in various dance classes with various dance teachers in various dance styles. It’s something for the people that have been through it all and still want more. It’s not something that comes as a result of old-school “familial” teaching or imitating your “local deli superstar”. A tribal fusion dancer is THAT tribal fusion dancer – a single artist (or troupe) for whom a certain aesthetic just WORKS. When you look at the dancers you love, you don’t love them because they look like someone else or fit perfectly into the current trend – you love them because they’ve made something wonderful. A tribal fusion dancer who is JUST LIKE another tribal fusion dancer is NOT a tribal fusion dancer. In a lot of ways, we’re totally screwed – there’s no list of moves to learn and replicate to perfection to make you a tribal fusion dancer, the way there is for some other styles. It has to come from you.

So how do you become a tribal fusion dancer? You work at it. No, really, work at it. And then get bored and move on. You seek out training, you seek out inspiration, you seek out music that speaks to you, you create, you invent, you fuse. You don’t rely on tricks or gimmicks or costuming – those things are merely the trappings of what people have done before you. You don’t just do what so-and-so is doing, even if it’s your favorite thing in the world, because you’re not her. You understand that you have to spend some time at the bottom before you can get to the top, some time as the student before you become the practitioner and even more time before you become the teacher. And you realize the top is about YOU and who YOU are as an artist. – Eugenia

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Starting this fall, Eugenia will be teaching at Saffron Dance in Arlington, VA!  Focusing on posture and body awareness, students will learn the core concepts and muscle engagement necessary for execution of the slinky, powerful, and precise movements that characterize tribal fusion bellydance.  Visit the Instruction page for more information and a link to register.

In 2009, a couple DC-area bellydancers began to lament the lack of venues for the artsy and conceptual pieces they wanted to do.  With an inaugural show at DC’s yearly art event, Art-o-matic, it became apparent that there were other dancers in the area that wanted a platform to experiment without needing to be a personality or please an audience.  Thus, Brain Dance was born.

Performance info, gallery, and merchandise available on the new Brain Dance page!

In July, Eugenia will be teaching a workshop on American Tribal Style: Technique and Beyond! For both beginners and advanced students, this workshop will be a great ATS technique tune-up, as well as a primer for innovation within the format. Details TBA, watch this space!

Also in July, Eugenia will be collaborating with local artists Asharah (asharah.com) and Samantha to bring you BrainDance: Experiments in Postmodern bellydance, at Artomatic. Come and enjoy a bellydance show unlike any other, with special guests Ariel and Shakra! You really really really don’t want to miss this show!!!

Kaihea was my friend and troupemate, a wonderful woman to whom I owe very much.  Please join the friends of Kaihea in celebration of her life.

This event started as a benefit to raise money to help a wonderful performer and friend, will continue as a torch to her memory. Held in honor of Kaihea’s birthday, the event will feature performance by her many talented friends, with a focus on several styles of belly dance, fire performance and more! All proceeds generated by this event will be donated in part to DCTribal, which she co-founded & to Cancer Charities, to help fund research on the terrible disease that took our beloved Kaihea from us entirely too early.

This Saturday.

Hello!  On this site you will be able to find info on my performances and classes.