American Tribal Style, or ATS, is a style of tribal belly dance that’s becoming increasingly popular. But what is it, and how is it different from traditional belly dance?

ATS was started in the 1980s by Carolena Nerricio. It’s characterized by its improvisational method, its lead-follow style, its group dynamic, and its costuming. ATS is a very tribal, muscular style of belly dance, inspired by the styles Masha Archer and Jamila Salimpour in the 1970s, while the costumes are very folkloric, with harem pants, 10-yard skirts, cholis, coin bras, turbans, and lots of kuchi jewelry. The dance itself is based on several different ethnic styles, with flamenco and traditional belly dance being the most obvious.

The intent of ATS’s creator, Carolena, is to create a global dance vocabulary. A dancer who is familiar with ATS can meet up with other dancers she’s never met before and dance with them to music she’s never heard before. This is accomplished by a set dance vocabulary, cued by the troupe leader through a hand movement, level change, or head turn. The lead changes frequently, giving every dancer in the group the chance to lead and improvise to the music. In troupes that have spent a lot of time dancing together, most audience members don’t even realize that the performance is completely un-choreographed.

There are several troupes have styles similar to ATS, such as BlackSheep BellyDance and Gypsy Caravan. However, ATS remains the most popular tribal style, with sister studios all over the world, including New Zealand, the UK, the Netherlands, and even in South Africa. Many tribal fusion dancers today, such as Rachel Brice, have roots in ATS, and have adapted it to their own personal style. Carolena’s studio and troupe, FatChanceBellyDance is also the only studio that offers skills and teaching certification.

FatChanceBellyDance offers two course certifications at their studio in San Francisco and at sister studios: General Skills Intensive, a 4-day workshop with Carolena and/or FatChance troupe dancers that covers every move in the ATS vocabulary, and the ATS teaching certification, a 3-day workshop, again given by Carolina or a member of FatChance. ATS teaching certification is required for any dancer who wants to apply as a FatChance sister studio. The workshops are few and far between outside of the Bay Area but FatChance keeps their website updated with workshop dates.

While ATS and tribal style isn’t for everyone, you have to admire the skill and the dedication of Carolena and the FatChance studio. They have worked hard to create a disciplined style that can be passed on to other dancers, and have raised the bar as to what can be achieved by a belly dancer. The FatChance name itself is rumored to have been borne out of a joke after too many less-then polite people requested belly dances: “Fat chance you’ll see me belly dance!”

Not only that, but the improvisational and lead-follow style lend to a strong bond in a troupe. Women who dance ATS find that they are closer to their sister dancers because they can read so much in a small head movement, or a twist of the shoulders. And like any art, the style is constantly evolving to keep pace with the times and the dancers. There is definitely something to be found in American Tribal Style.