The Tribal Massive 2012!

Sorry, this is quite a long blog! I’ve just got back from the most incredible experience. For the past 11 days I’ve been in Las Vegas for the Tribal Massive event. Organised annually by Tori Halfon, the event sees three different levels of track running with some of the top teachers of Tribal and Fusion in the US, a student showcase hafla and the Massive Spectacular show. I’ve never come away from an event feeling so fulfilled, challenged and excited about dance. I always get post-event excitement and enthusiasm, but this time it feels different. And I’ll tell you why.

But first! My initial days in Vegas did not consist of dance – I arrived a few days early with Jaana, a beautiful dancer and friend from Estonia. We spent the whole time sharing a room together at the Boulder Station hotel. We were never failed to be amused by all taxi drivers that could not understand why on earth we’d be staying at Boulder Station! I lost track of how many times we had to explain to confused taxi drivers that we were here for a dance festival.

Paris in Las Vegas!

Jet lag is not a very pleasant experience. I got over the time difference a lot quicker than my first visit to the West Coast in 2010, when it took the entire 10 days I was there to acclimatise. This time it took 4 days, which was thankfully in plenty of time for the Massive to start. We spent our free days on The Strip, checking out the casinos, and rehearsing our duet which we were practicing together for the first time in person. The first full day we were there – Wednesday – we met with local dancer Amira. She is an Estonian living in Las Vegas, and she and Jaana just happen to be distantly related! She very kindly drove us out the to breathtaking Red Rocks Canyon, about a 30 minute drive out of the city, and later took us to see the Bellagio’s dancing fountain display. That night we went to see the Cirque du Soleil show ‘Ka’ at the MGM Grand. I’ve never seen Cirque du Soleil before, and I was suitably impressed by my first experience. It was an incredible show, the only one we were told which has a storyline running through it. Their tech crew for this show is bigger than the cast due to the wizardry they must produce with tilting and rotating stages. It was very impressive. By day 3 we were so jetlagged that we needed to take a break and ended up napping in the afternoon before visiting the strip again. On day 4 we went to the Mandalay Bay hotel to the shark aquarium, and met up with Tanya from Moscow to walk The Strip. We took the obligatory visit to Hard Rock Cafe (I’m a pin collector), and marvelled at the incredible casinos! The Venetian was probably my favourite, with its canal running through its centre, taking tourists on singing gondola rides as if they were really in Venice. Las Vegas is, in my opinion, like Disneyland for adults! It is outrageous, brash and silly – but I liked it!

Saturday quickly arrived – the first day of the Massive – and we began the 8 days with Mira Betz and Heather Stants. I chose to take the Advanced/Professional track. I did this because I felt that I needed to be challenged and reminded that there is more to learn. I have felt stuck at a plateau just lately and I have had some psychological issues relating to dance that I won’t bore you to death here – let’s just say I’ve had a lot of negative thoughts towards dance coming at me from others and I’ve been processing those into negative thoughts about myself and about dance. And I needed this experience to remind me that there is another level to progress to – you just need to find the right teacher to show you that.

Mira’s workshop was a lecture workshop which covered dance ethics and the issues faced by bellydance. To be honest I was disappointed with this workshop. I felt that she was very broad in telling us about the issues and it would have been good for her to use the opportunity as a forum for discussion. I would have relished the opportunity to discuss in depth these important issues that have existed in this dance for so long (for example public perception of our dance), particularly considering the extensive international community that we had in the room, and to come up with actions that we could take as representatives of this dance to make positive change in the dance community and in the arts world. I felt that Mira didn’t fulfil my expectations on this, and I personally feel that I get more from her as a technical teacher, rather than a theoretical teacher.

The afternoon was with Heather, and we learned some Urban Tribal combinations. I enjoyed the workshop and can see the value in having learned these. There were the obvious contemporary influences and I can see myself bringing some of these into my own performances.

Sunday was once again Mira and Heather – today Mira’s was a technique workshop, mainly focusing on turns and spins which was very interesting and I enjoyed very much. I got some new ideas for spinning and she utilised some interesting teaching techniques which I liked. After the first day’s workshops I had decided I was done with her, and wouldn’t go back to her for instruction. However having once again experienced a technique workshop with her, I would be likely to take more of these. The theoretical stuff is something that I have not been able to engage with in a way that I feel is useful to me and my dance and how I conduct myself in the community. It may seem controversial for me to talk about a well established dancer in this way, but I mean this as no disrespect. As dancers, when we attend workshops we take what we need and leave what we don’t want or need behind. I’m hoping that my writing about this will help other dancers to make strategic decisions about what training they spend their limited money on. It is hard to know what workshops to take and what to leave behind unless you process the experiences of others and come to your own conclusions.

Heather’s workshop was a floorwork class – again it was not what I expected. Urban Tribal is so well known for their impeccable floorwork, and I hoped that Heather would break down some of the technique for this. However we spent the class working out in pairs our own innovative ways of travelling across the floor using shapes and body positioning. It was an interesting workshop but it didn’t provide the technique I was hoping for. I am assuming that she felt that on the adv/pro track we would already know how to do standard bellydance floorwork, as I’d heard she’d taught the same class differently on one of the other tracks. As someone who’s had a knee injury to deal with in the past 12 months and constantly lives in fear of re-injury, I hadn’t had floorwork in my performances since 2009. And so my technique is a little rusty, other than the typical berber walks. I did utilise some floorwork in my latest piece, but it would have been nice to have a refresher. I will have to seek this out with someone else, but overall the workshop was good.

Backstage at the Hafla - Tallulah, Alexis, Sciahina & Yahna

That evening we had the Massive Hafla, where dancers from all over the world performed for their peers. In signing up to dance at the hafla, we had been given the opportunity to receive critique from one of the teachers and from Tori the organiser, about our performances. The teacher we received critique from was the wonderful Amy Sigil :) Jaana and I each performed solos and our new duet. I feel that my solo went well – it was my new piece to You Don’t Know Me by Apparat, and is a very different performance for me as it incorporates elements of contemporary dance technique. It is not at its best presentation yet, but with practice it will get there. It has been a challenge to create and so now it needs drilling into my body. I think the duet went well too – I forgot some parts. Not completely, just being a fraction late in some sections. Overall I was pleased that we managed to pull it off, having rehearsed for only two days in our cramped hotel room in Vegas and learning by studying each other through YouTube videos! Both Amy and Tori’s feedbacks were very positive. Videos coming as soon as we get them ;)

Monday was the day that I really understood why this was the advanced/professional track. In the previous two days, I had felt I had learned some things I could bring to my dance, but I’d not felt overwhelmingly challenged. These were all things that with some practice would come. Zoe Jakes changed all that. I have gushed about this woman all week. I’ve taken multiple classes with her in the past two years, and I was surprised that she remembered me from those classes. This week we would take 20 hours of instruction with Zoe. The first two hours of each day consisted of very challenging drills – complicated layering, intense arm drills and so forth, interspersed with Vinyasa sequences, all set to a brilliant soundtrack. This was where I noticed where I was lacking dramatically in my dance. My basic technique is something that I am very pleased with – I have worked on it for years and I feel that I have that as a strength in my dance. Zoe showed to me that it doesn’t have to end there. There is so much more the body can do than what I’ve been doing. I felt like a beginner again and this was exactly the challenge I had hoped to feel at this event. As the week went by, the drills became more intense and more difficult each day – it showed me I need to be more creative in my layering drills and arm work, and I need to work on precision with increased speed. And reminded me that, basically, I need to “do the work”, and that’s it.

Beautiful Zoe!

Each day Zoe followed the drills with a special topic relating to the Art of Choreography. Zoe admitted that she struggles with making choreographies, which delighted me – I find it so hard to create choreographies, and she is one of the greatest choreographers in Tribal Fusion bellydance in my opinion. If she feels that she has difficulty and has achieved this much, then I feel more positive that I can get better at it too. April Rose says that in order to get better at making dances you need to make more dances. I think that’s very true!! Day one with Zoe consisted of learning a Beats Antique choreography which was very challenging and complex due to speed and combinations of movement. In the days that followed we would use different choreographies to focus on different aspects of the dance. Day 2 – dynamics and movement qualities was my favourite day as this is what I feel is the missing component in my performances at the moment – I can see myself working on this for the next year at least to enable me to start incorporating it into my dance. Day 3 – musicality – was a workshop I did with Zoe last year. Nonetheless it was interesting to have the review and to remind me to keep using the tools from this class. It is something that I immediately put into use after taking it at TribalCon last year. Day 4 involved using improvisation as a choreographic tool (something I do already, but understand how I can utilise it more effectively now). Day 5 focused on formations and staging which was fascinating. She introduced a variety of exercises for groups to use in order to create dynamic formation changes and illustrated this by teaching us a choreography that she had just performed at TribalCon that past weekend with Maria Hamer (would kill to see that video!). By day 5 of Zoe my body was getting used to her drills. I woke up on day 3 with no soreness whatsoever, which just shows if you do it with consistency....! My goal is, after I get married this weekend, I will increase how much time I devote to dance. Over winter I have been fairly lazy and I need to get into a routine, and now Massive is over and I‘m feeling more positive about myself and about dance, I feel like I am in a position to do this now and make positive change.

Our first class with Amy Sigil was on Monday. Her workshop was focused on taking everyday situations and turning them into a dance. It was incredible to see the transformation from mundane to what we would consider to be ‘dance’. I would like to use this in my own practice as a way to draw more inspiration from my surroundings. Amy is very wise, and regardless of whether I will ever perform her combinations or even perform in a style even remotely close to hers, I always come away with something new to think about.

On Tuesday afternoon we had Amy again, where we learned a very fast combo. I decided at this point that we all looked a bit silly trying to do Amy’s style – she does it so well, and when I see myself in the mirror in her workshops I look like a complete DORK! However I decided to not look at myself in the mirror in this workshop and just go for it. I put my everything into dancing the combo and I felt so good at the end of it! The second half of the workshop was one I had done before – STATIC. It’s a discussion workshop, and having done it in Brighton I didn’t feel I got a lot out of it. My final affirmation that you leave with at the end of the workshop didn’t make a lot of sense, and I was in a good place back then with dance. This time I felt more emotionally connected. I’ve been experiencing inner turmoil regarding all sorts of dance related stuff. And reading back my affirmation from this workshop this time made a hell of a lot more sense, and made me a little upset if I’m honest – because it showed me some of the dark places that I don’t want to be sitting in. But I feel like this week has been the page turner for me in how to get back to the good place.

Thursday evening was the Massive Spectacular show! The stage is so much smaller than it looks on YouTube! It was a wonderful show – I was very proud to see my dear friend Sciahina from Rome performing in this show. She performed a beautiful number, and I was so pleased for her that she was asked to perform there. Those of you who know me well know that I inevitably cry at most dance shows! Haha! I get very emotional watching dance, and I always remember looking around the room in SF after Zoe performed at the Mecca Immersion show and seeing everyone, myself included, crying! I didn’t properly cry at this show, but I shed a few tears during UNMATA’s set – a very intense performance which was a tribute to their friend that had recently passed away; and during the Beats Antique performance which was just so amazing I couldn’t help but get emotional. Highlights of the night for me, in addition to these two acts were Kami Liddle, Ashley Lopez and Mira Betz’s pregnant bellyrolls (!), demonstrating she’s still a beautiful dancer even at 8 months pregnant. I’m sure the videos will be on YouTube very soon!

Friday afternoon we had our first workshop with Kami. This was a choreography workshop which focused on adding subtle details to your dance. I had to sit out of half of this workshop – my knee was aching (I’d been keeping it happy on ibuprofen and tiger balm all week!!), I was wary of re-injury, and my right ankle had started to hurt and had become swollen. I decided to take care of myself rather than push through it, and this was the best option. The next day, my ankle was fine and I was able to participate fully.

Our final day, Saturday, started with a lecture from The Lady Fred. This was something I had been looking forward to all week – it was all about being a professional dancer. How to conduct yourself professionally, contracts, how to market yourself and attract more students to your classes. This was something I am very keen to learn. I’ve been teaching Tribal Fusion for just over 12 months now. I’ve only been teaching workshops, and in April I start my very first round of weekly TF classes. And of course, I’m also an event sponsor and am always interested in new ways that I can promote and successfully put on my events. Attracting more people, not just bellydancers, to our shows is a goal of mine. So my expectations of this workshop were high. I wish I hadn’t read the description. Or that the workshop had been much longer to cover all the things that were mentioned. I felt that too much time was spent sharing each participants’ dance histories and we did not cover the things that I was really interested in, and any interesting discussions that arose from what people said were cut off so that we could continue all around the circle. I really wanted to hear about how to use marketing effectively and how to draw more interest in what we do. Getting people in to classes and events is always going to be a challenge due to people having to decide what they need to spend their disposable income on – the more tools you have to promote your event the better. We spent the second two hours going in depth over her contract for teaching and at the last minute being given a performance contract to read in our own time. That was it, we were out of time! I think that time could have been managed more effectively so that we got to deeply talk about how to make a living from bellydance, whether it’s your primary source of income or not. I was very disappointed that we didn’t get to talk about this, as I think it is something a lot of people struggle with. I was especially interested because in my city a lot of classes that had been running for years suddenly had a drop in students and had to be cancelled permanently. I didn’t get what I wanted from this discussion and I was surprised because when I took a workshop with Fred in Split she was very diligent and covered everything she needed to. I don’t know what happened.

The final workshop was a positive way to end the week though – more choreography with Kami. We went over the previous day’s choreography and then learned another one in the second half of the workshop. This was a workshop about moving with intention, and she introduced some interesting combinations of moves and layers. Kami has always been one of my favourite dancers, and I love the way she puts choreographies together. Her fluid style is something that appeals to the way my own body moves, and she enabled some freedom in the movement asking us to add our own subtle details to the choreo, building on the work we’d done the previous day.

Tribal Massive isn’t limited to just classes either – what I loved about this festival is that we got to really socialise with each other. Optional extras such as seeing the show Absinthe (a circus sideshow type show, a bit like La Clique if you’ve seen it – very crude and very funny!), and the group dinner with participants from all tracks and the teachers as well as $1 Margaritas at Boulder Station (!) made it very easy to continue building friendships outside of class.

Bassnectar at the Palms

On our last night in Vegas, five of us went to the Palms resort for dinner and to see Bassnectar. It was my last weekend as a single woman, and we celebrated in style, dancing the night away at the Rain nightclub. Bassnectar is amazing live. Such an incredible atmosphere. It wasn’t cheap but it was worth it! I had a great night with the girls, and I want to thank them so much for celebrating with me!


Overall my experience of the Tribal Massive was a positive one. Even with the few small disappointments that I personally felt in some of the classes, I have come away from this with so much information, inspiration and passion for dance. I have an action plan about what I’m going to do to make myself a better dancer, a better performer, and a better teacher. The majority of that is thanks to Zoe and Amy, so I thank them from the bottom of my heart for reigniting my enthusiasm for this dance form. I met the most wonderful people at this event, from all over the world, and I really hope that I have the opportunity to go back to the Tribal Massive next year. It is a fantastic event, and Tori and her husband Yaniv obviously work incredibly hard to produce this event – it really shows. So I would also like to thank them for their hard work in making this opportunity possible for dancers from all over the world and for welcoming us to Vegas to warmly! And finally a thank you to my room mate Jaana – it was really fun to share with you! And thanks for letting me wind you up with my British sense of humour all week ;)

And a final message for all the girls back home: Zoe has been the most wonderful teacher, and I learned so much from her at this event on so many different topics. I urge you, if you’re serious about your dancing, save your money and go study with her. She is not coming to Europe any time soon so if you want to train with her you have to be the mountain going to Mohammed. It is expensive, but it is most definitely worth the money. I can’t wait to see the change all this information is going to have on my dancing and my style. This woman is amazing – save and go!! I have changed my profile picture on facebook so that she is in it, so that when I log in I will see her and hopefully it will remind me to get the hell off the internet and DO THE WORK! A message I think we’d all benefit from hearing now and again.

Until next time!

A x