Tribaleyez Belly Dance

Tribaleyez Belly Dance Troupe is the premiere American Tribal Style® dance company located in Abbotsford, British Columbia, approximately 45 miles east of Vancouver, BC.  Director, rhiannyn, is the only certified ATS® FatChanceBellyDance® instructor in the Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack area.

Tribaleyez is honoured to be part of the worldwide community of American Tribal Style dancers, and to share in the Classic vocabulary of moves, as well as venturing forth into the Modern Style of the FatChanceBellyDance repertoire. The majestic beauty in the carriage and costuming leads one to believe this dance is from some long ago era. However, the roots of ATS began in the 1970s with Masha Archer, and morphed into its present form under the direction of Carolena Nericcio. Although American Tribal Style is a modern North American form of belly dance, its creation does stem from tribal dance moves found in India, the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain.

American Tribal Style appears to be choreographed, but it rarely is, and relies mainly on cues given from a leader to their followers. The dance is, therefore, improvised by creating the choreography in the moment.

Tribaleyez Belly Dance Troupe is comprised of dedicated, amazing, strong and hilarious women, who support each other as true sisters of this fabulous dance style. 

(FatChanceBellyDance®, FCBD®, ATS® and American Tribal Style®, are federally registered trademarks of FatChanceBellyDance, Inc. For more information, please visit www.fcbd.com/about/legal.shtml.)

News:

2011 

~ our first public performance was on July 31, 2011 for AgriFair, Abbotsford, BC.  We invited other local belly dancers to share our time slot in order to give the public a *snapshot* of the various styles of belly dance, most of whom were in awe.

* one photo shoot completed, pictures coming soon, and presently trying to decide on a date for the 2nd one** date confirmed: January 28, 2012 with Simpson Photo Arts

* A successful and fun afternoon at AbbyFest Cultural show on September 17th, 2011, sharing the stage with Belly Belly Hip.

* Raks Almeh's Hallowe'en Hafla fundraising event on Oct. 30 at the Chilliwack Arts Ctr was an outstanding success. We were honoured to be a part of the show, even with only two practice sessions prior to the event!! We side-stepped slightly from the normal ATS format and *GASP* choreographed a good deal of it, due to the specialized nature of the song.  We are looking forward to perfecting the dance over the coming year in order to perform it to its utmost potential for next year's Halloween Hafla :)

* Christmas Hafla at Kostas Greek Restaurant, hosted by Stephanie of Bounce Tribal

2012

*We Love a Hafla was hosted by MEDA and Tha Fae on Feb. 26th at the Port Kells Community Ctr. An amazing evening of dance and camaraderie. We were honoured to open the show in order to honour the event, participants and guests. Thank you for providing that fabulous opportunity!

*The MEDA Grande Bazaar, held at the Bonsor Ctr in Burnaby on March 24/25, is always a fun-filled and exuberant event. Tribaleyez collaborated with Bounce Tribal and showcased the beauty of ATS with beginner to advanced dancers taking to the main stage. Very much looking forward to participating again next year.

* On March 29th, rhiannyn headed south to Seattle for the biggest tribal belly dance festival in the northwest: Cues & Tattoos.  Taking a Master Teacher's Class and Anatomy of a Step 1 & 2 with Carolena Nericcio, Tribal Combinations with Mimi Fontana of Manhattan Tribal, and a private lesson with FCBD's Sandi Ball made for a fulfilling learning experience. The exciting part of the trip was performing with Troupe InternATSional comprised of Christine, Maxine & Stacey-Lou of Akula Tribal from the U.K., Heather Lynn Dirsuwei of Tribal Angels from S. Africa, Nancy Brown and Rich Williams of Ucanto from Seattle, Michiyo Salisbury of Blue Moon Haven from Las Vegas, Jesse Stanbridge of San Francisco, and Rob Galbraith of Shades of Araby from Toronto... and me, rhiannyn, it was so very awesome. SheShe arrived on Sunday morning for Anatomy of a Step 1 & 2 and the private with Sandi. Brilliant weekend.

* April 29th ~ Complete Makeover Contest Fashion Show at the Phoenix Lounge in Abbotsford: A stellar afternoon spent watching women, who have learned to take over their life, confidently showcase fashions from some of our local clothing stores.

* May 12th ~ various locations in the Fraser Valley to celebrate World Belly Dance Day: video coming soon. It was a fun and hilarious experience dancing in four very different venues. That hilarity was caught on film throughout each performance.

* May 19th ~ closed event workshop with Jennifer Thorimbert of Blackthorn Belly Dance, Kelowna. We loved every second of this workshop!  We are happy that we managed to book before she high-tailed it south to live in Los Angeles.  Sorry to see her go, but excited for her in this new adventure and opportunity in her life.  We will see her again when she comes up to teach a workshop, and also at Cues & Tattoos 2013!

* May 26th had us dancing in close proximity with our audience. It was a titch unnerving, but they were a lovely bunch of seniors enjoying an evening out at Caregivers Night Out, courtesy of Stephanie LaFreniere of Human Touch Wellness... such an awesome charity event!

* May 27th ~ found Tribaleyez in Maple Ridge joining a stunning array of dancers and styles at Hafla in the Ridge, hosted by Kim Pechet and her shimmying band of helpers known as Albi al Wadi.  So much fun, and I think we'll all agree that the highlight of the evening was the extraordinary performance by Elizabeth Carefoot. We were lucky ducklings, as she says she's retired, good thing it was Kim's birthday, that auspicious event brought the lovely Elizabeth out of retirement for an evening :)

* June 23 ~ Sacred Well Oasis Hafla & Bazaar in Chilliwack ~ fun times, thank you Sandie [one of my students] for doing up a fabulous event.... wonderful dancing, sparklies for sale, yummy food, and nattering.

Upcoming:

* August 4 ~ AgriFair, duet by SheShe and Shelley

* August 4 & 5 ~ rhiannyn to Seattle for workshops with Kristine <WOOT>

* September 15 ~ AbbyFest Cultural Event

* September 16 ~ all day Intensive with Carolena <WOOT>