Training with Carolena Nericcio and Fatchance BellyDance in San Francisco
I’d been learning what I thought was American Tribal style for about a year but the more I discovered about the style the more I felt something was missing. Sure we wore turbans and tassels. We danced in a group with a chorus and I loved the company of the women I was dancing with. We had that tribal spirit.
What we didn’t have was improvisation, the essential element of American Tribal Style Bellydance.
Training and Performing with Wendy Marlett in Dublin
I set about trying to learn the dance alone from DVD’s but being a sociable soul and having a tendency for laziness this wasn’t working too well. After a year of this I discovered Wendy Marlatt who had spent 8 years with FatChance and was now based in Dublin. I flew to Dublin for days of one-to-one tuition with her and a new world of ATS (American Tribal Style belly dance)opened up for me.
Wendy is an incredibly patient and inspirational woman and she’s been a big influence in my life. This will embarrass her completely. Gotcha Wendy!
At about the same time I got together with Lesley Hogg, my dance partner. We had met through our love of Middle Eastern Dance. Lesley is an accomplished and dynamic dancer of other Middle Eastern styles and together we formed a tribal duet, taking the name I had been using for my web site and business, Pedralta. It means “high rock” and it’s a local landmark in the town where I lived in Spain. That’s a whole different story! What is Pedralta?
We danced at the Festival of World Cultures in 2004, as part of Rashani International. As usual Wendy pushed us way beyond our comfort zones and it paid off.
Training in San Francisco
In November 2005 Lez and I decided to do what we’d been talking about for far too long. We boarded a plane to San Francisco to train with the founder of American Tribal Style, Carolena Nericcio, Director of FatChance BellyDance. We stayed with another member of Rashani International, the lovely Kathleen Crowley, costumier to FatChance and now Rachel Brice and all round wonderful human being, not to mention awesome dancer. That’s another one embarrassed!
The Studio in The Mission District
The Mission District, where the FatChance studio was located is not what you might call the tourist area or upmarket. All life is there. It’s fascinating, colourful, vibrant and a little edgy.
The studio was a very low-key affair, above an auto repair shop, entered through a very plain door marked FCBD. Inside and up the stairs we entered into an enchanting world of tribal costume and jewellery, books and photos. There was a tiny changing area that filled with an excited bustle of women just before a class.
Carolena arrived for our private lesson. She was calm, matter of fact and made us a cup of tea. This was very surreal, just Lez, Carolena and me!
The Hard Work Begins
Enough of that – back to work now. The first thing I had to relearn was the taqsim, that fundamental of tribal style, that staple of the dance, the move I thought I could do in my sleep. She explained the move from first principles, the weight exchange, how to achieve that treacle type feel to the slow moves In the repertoire. We moved onto arms, oh please God, not the arms! I thought mine were pretty strong but then Carolena put them where she wanted to see them. Ouch! Thanks Carolena, now I see.
After years of martial arts (That girl’s dangerous) Lez had a few problems getting her shoulders to do what she wanted them to. I told her no good would come from kick boxing.
Over the private sessions that followed we worked on all the moves in the repertoire, arriving daily with lists of questions for Carolena. We showed her our worst and worked on putting it right.
A Truly International Affair
When we weren’t in private lessons with Carolena we were in the scheduled classes at the studio. This was a marvellous opportunity to dance with other students who were experienced in the style. Some were local to the Bay Area, some were out of town visitors and others were from as far away as Japan. We were given a very warm welcome from the other students and teachers there. They were incredibly patient and friendly. One lovely lady from Maine gave me her crocheted zil covers to muffle my zils. Hang on, was she trying to tell me something?
Taking classes with different FCBD teachers was so helpful. The moves are from the same vocabulary but each teacher has her own tips, her own explanation, so you learn something new form each of them.
We were lucky enough to take part in preparations for a student salon. This was a fantastic experience, dancing in different formats and really thinking about how to present the dance to an audience.
Teaching-from Egyptian to Tribal Style
Although dancers had asked me for ATS tuition, I’m so glad that I waited until I’d received some training in San Francisco. This was an eye-opener. I saw how dancers from around the globe can truly come together and improvise dance when they use the same vocabulary. In this way the dance truly comes alive. The effect is magical. When the dancers are comfortable with the moves, they are released to listen to and interpret the music and to connect with each other.
We spent around 20 hours in all dancing intensively, which was almost as long as we spent shopping.( I recommend Haight St) and eating (I recommend everything from Mexican to Sushi – we tried it all.)
Carolena has now formalised this training into two certificates of competency:
- The General Skills Certificate for which you need to audition and then have 15 hours of training in a small group. This includes dance moves, rhythms anatomy and physiology.
- The FatChance Teacher Accreditation is reserved for those teachers who only want to teach the FatChance format and nothing else. This decision has sparked controversy within the dance community, as many dancers also teach fusion and other Middle Eastern styles. lf the FatChance format is all you ever intend to teach, then this one’s for you.
For me the FCBD teacher accreditation is far too limiting. I believe that the FCBD is probably the best foundation you can have for ATS and is the basic foundation for what I dance and teach.
A Brand New and Dynamic Format Pedralta World Fusion® Belly Dance
Returning to the UK I used all my notes and teaching experience to put together a syllabus based on the FCBD format. and taught groups of students in Lichfield and the West Midlands. The classes went from strength to strength, with many students going on to perform in community groups and projects. I taught workshops all over the UK, in Dublin, and even in Madrid, at various events and festivals
I continued to develop and perform and teach a very distinctive style for Pedralta, borrowing heavily from our other great dance inspiration, Flamenco. Pedralta World Fusion® Belly Dance was born. Details of Weekly Classes here
