About ATS

American Tribal Style Bellydance

ATS was created by Carolena Nericcio of Fat Chance Belly Dance in the late 1980s. ATS is a modern style of bellydance that blends traditional bellydance movements with the stylings of Flamenco, North African, and Classical Indian Dance. ATS is performed without choreography, but a group of dancers moves in unison using a shared vocabulary of movements and cues.

The "American" part of the name denotes that this is a modern dance that was created in North America, though based on movements from the Middle East. "Tribal Style" refers to two things: dancers always work as a group, or tribe; and, the costuming and style of ATS looks very "tribal," or ancient and earthy. In fact, much of the costuming and jewelry worn is antique and comes from areas such as Afghanistan and India.

Coordinated improvisation is made possible through dancers' positions on stage and visual cues that indicate which movement is coming next. The leader always stands to the front left of a group of 2-4 dancers, and the followers stand behind her, positioned to see her head, shoulders, arms and hips, which is where the cues originate. An audience will rarely notice a cue, however; the dancing's fast pace, complete synchronization, rich and colourful costumes, and exciting music provide an engaging show and the cues only appear as part of the dance.

While ATS originated in FCBD's San Francisco studio, today there are studios and troupes all around the world that share this unique movement vocabulary.