Nea's Tribal
The own homepages of Neas Tribal can be found here:
www.neastribal.com
www.myspace.com/neastribal
Nea´s Tribal was founded in summer 1999. The women who met in the tribal family were first inspired by US tribal dance troupes, especially FCBD. But Nea´s Tribal soon found their own new style. According to the motto back to our own roots, they integrated medieval music into their performances. Nea´s Tribal created a new and unique fusion of music and movements from the Orient and Occident. What started out as “American Tribal Style“ became “Oriental Medieval Tribal Style“. The eight dancers forming Nea´s Tribal come from different towns but the studio “Tanz-Oase“ in Dillenburg is home to the tribe. The tribe has its own rituals and symbols. Nea´s Tribal was the first troupe to present tribal dance in this form. Although tribal style dance can be choreographed Nea´s Tribal sets value on free improvisation. This is accomplished by a rotation system the tribe developed themselves. The dancers use non verbal communication to coordinate the dance movements of the group. Pure women´s power - that´s Nea´s Tribal!
About us
Initially Nea´s Tribal was just a group of women infected by the “tribal dance virus“. We wanted to try out this style of dance which was still rather unknown in Germany at the time. Then we changed it according to our own wishes. The founding members of Nea´s Tribal were dancers of the group “Nur - El - Amar” (Moonlight) and so the name Nea´s Tribal was derived from the initial letters. In the meantime only half of the tribe members are also Nur El Amar dancers. Intensive cooperation, personal relationships, sympathy, understanding and our non verbal communication allowed us to grow together as a tribe as each member becomes deeply involved in creating new ideas and dances, there is constant advancement. Nea´s Tribal is never afraid to try out new things. We fused medieval and tribal style music and created a unique new style along with a new rotation system. As Nea´s Tribal places emphasis on improvisation the dancers have to be highly concentrated at all times. Our tribe is a very tightly knit group. We wear the same costume, follow the same rules and wear the emblem of our tribe whenever we perform. We have our own rituals, a tribe elder and our home at the studio “Tanz-Oase“. We love the power of this dance, the pride and dignity of each dancer. We will constantly advance our style of tribal dance with courage and joy.
Workshop with Nea´s Tribal
Normally a workshop is held by one teacher, sometimes two. Nea´s Tribal is an exception. The whole tribe works hand in hand. Right from the beginning the typical tribal feeling can be felt. In many workshops only the steps are explained but Nea´s Tribal also puts great emphasis on communicating the tribal feeling. While one tribe member explains a new topic, the others help, correct and assist the students. The workshop participants feel they are in good hands and they can follow the lessons easily no matter how much experience they have in oriental dance or how old they are. Every participant can dress and feel like a tribe member and experience tribal power by dancing with us. In spite of the unfamiliar posture and the tight turban everybody is happy at the end of our workshop. Our care and support for the participants, our special workshop snacks and the wonderful atmosphere at the studio “Tanz-Oase“ make workshops with Nea´s Tribal a great experience.
Tribal style costume
The typical tribal dance costume which was coined by FCBD and Gypsy Caravan consists of:
v circular or tiered skirt
v harem pants
v tassle belt
v choli
v coin bra
v turban, usually made of several pieces of fabric
v veil, not always worn
v lots of old silver jewelry, gemstones, shell or wooden necklaces, gold is also possible but not as common
The well known tribal costume of troupes like FCBD for example evolved over the years. It changed through trial and error, suggestions for improvement and ideas of the dancers. Anything goes. The costume of a dance troupe or a tribe should be stylistically designed along the same lines but the individual costumes don´t have to be 100% identical.
We, the members of Nea´s Tribal, usually wear long circular skirts over our harem pants. At the moment aprons are a new trend. Our choli tops have long or ¾ sleeves, some prefer backed cholis others wear backless cholis which are tied in various ways. We have experimented a lot with our cholis. We don´t wear a coin bra, but our cholis are decorated with embroidery and shisha mirrors. We wear lots of jewellery (braceletts, chokers, rings, earrings...) Our turban usually consists of several pieces of fabric and we wear our special Nea´s Tribal head pieces. Some of us also wear a flower. Just like the costume of FCBD also our own costume has changed. At first we only wore black skirts but now we have become much more colourful.
Tribal Tattoos
Many cultures of the world have practiced the art of tattooing. The word “tattoo“ is derived from the tahitian word tatau and was first mentioned by Captain Cook who in 1771 described the tattaw practice known in Tahiti. The body is decorated by scratching patterns into the skin and dying them with permanent colours. Body painting has probably been practiced since time immemorial. Tattoos have been used by many civilisations worldwide who did not have contact or a cultural exchange. In the North of Africa and in South America tattoos were not only used as symbols of the individual tribes but also as a magical protection against evil spirits and illnesses. North African Beduin women had tattoos on their lips, cheeks, nose and forehead, and sometimes also on their breasts and bellies.
We, the members of Nea´s Tribal are proud to wear the symbol of our tribe. We don´t use actual tattoos but it has become one of our rituals to paint our symbol onto each others hands before public appearances. And every tribe member has her own individual way of painting her face.
Bindis
The word bindi is derived from the Sanskrit word bindu (drop, dot) and is an auspicious symbol. Bindis have been part of the Indian culture for centuries. Bindis could reveal social and marital status or they were used to welcome guests. Today bindis are usually glued on the skin. In the past they used to be painted on the skin with kumkum powder which was made of the leaves of an Indian flower. Today it can also be bought in liquid form. The bindi of a married woman is usually a red dot. Conservative Indian women still use kumkum.
The women of Nea´s Tribal choose bindis in the colour of their costumes and paint ornaments around the bindi.
Tribal Make-up
The face looks a lot different when the hair disappears under the turban and that´s why a special make-up is needed. It should be tried out in peace and quiet at home until you have found your own personal style. Applying the complete tribal make-up with bindi and face paintings is also very time consuming.
Our headpiece
A special characteristic of our costume is the remarkable headpiece. It was modelled on original historic patterns and integrated into our costume. The headpiece consists of a headband and a decorated band down the back. A similar kind of headpiece used to be worn in Palestine and Jordan. Today only very few women in rural areas still wear this kind of headpiece. We have slightly changed the design to our needs and the headpiece has become a typical feature of the Nea`s Tribal costume, but not of a “normal“ tribal costume.
Zaghreet/Sagaritt/ZagroutThe spelling varies. Zaghreet cries are used by women in almost all middle eastern and arab countries. There are various reasons for these cries. It is always to express strong feelings like joy or sadness. They can also be used to welcome or to say goodbye to family members, to cheer on a dancer or even to protest. When we dance we use the Zaghreet cries to cheer on our fellow dancers. In doing so the chorus gives the solo dancer a lot of energy and the audience feels the special energy of the tribe. And it is a good way of relieving tension. When doing a Zaghreet, always hold your right hand horizontally over your mouth. The left hand is considered impure. Originally this was done to prevent evil spirits from entering the body through the mouth and it simply looks better.
Tribal Dance
The tribal style dance was developed during the 60s on the west coast of the USA. Tribal style dance is not an original folkloristic dance although it looks very authentic. It combines several North African, Indian and middle eastern and also flamenco influences and was turned into a new ethnic fusion by American women. The most famous tribal dance troupes in the USA are Fat Chance Belly Dance and Gypsy Caravan but there are many more. The most important factor in tribal dance is dancing together with others. When improvising in a group some form of nonverbal communication becomes necessary, like for example hand signs to indicate a new movement.
Tribal Dance in Germany
In Germany tribal style dance is still quite new and capable of development. It is ok to take ideas from tribal dance troupes in the USA but we should try to find our own style and not to copy too much. Tribal dance is steadily evolving and it requires imagination and the courage to try out new things. Tribal dance is a group dance to show women´s power. But not every woman can find a tribe or dance troupe in her area. So in Germany tribal style dance is also performed solo. There are a number of solo dancers and tribal dance troupes with different styles.