Threads of Classic American Belly Dance in contemporary American Middle Eastern Dance

Workshop Leader;

Dr. Laura (Amara) Osweiler

Come learn how to add American Belly Dance into your style. This classic, high energy, audience pleasing form blends dances from all over the Middle East with American popular culture. Also, explore which aspects of its movements, styling, structure and choreographic processes laid foundations in other forms, such as Tribaret, American Tribal Style, Improvisational Tribal Style, Tribal Fusion, Theatrical Belly dance, and Experimental belly dance.

During the 1950, 1960s and 1970s, Belly dancers in the United States developed their own style of dance, known as American Cabaret (Am Cab), now known as Classic Belly Dance. These dancers and musicians blended styles from all over the Middle East with American popular culture. Their experimentations, and eventual codification, laid a foundation for future American dancers to develop other unique forms, such as Tribaret, American Tribal Style, Improvisational Tribal Style, Tribal Fusion, Theatrical Belly dance, and Experimental belly dance.