world made it an easy trip down memory lane. The truth
is, when I began studying tribal and tribal fusion, I went,
‘Wait a minute! These arms are my people’s arms! What is
going on here? And why am I feeling so natural dancing
with flamenco arms and Middle Eastern hips?’
“So, to make a long story short, I took full ownership that
I am a descendant of a blend of Moorish people, gypsies and
Jews, sprinkled with some European blood — though not too
much [European], to judge by the way all my family looks,”
she continued. “So I felt much more authentic blending the
flamenco and the zambra with my tribal fusion dance than I
feel when I try to blend hip-hop or other modern American
forms. It’s not that I don’t enjoy [the more modern American
forms], I simply resonate more with what is in my blood.”
Despite her love for tribal fusion and its connections with
her own roots, “I actually don’t think I moved completely
into tribal fusion,” Silvia said. “I am not an expert in any
Arabic culture, so I don’t feel legitimate teaching workshops
about it around the globe. I dance cabaret-style — and I
love it — in venues in Houston. Now when I discovered
tribal fusion, the fact that the arms are so close to flamenco,
it seemed to me when I began, it potentiated the strength
into dancing, and I felt much more rooted and at home [in
tribal fusion] than in other styles. So I began experimenting
with it, and I fell in love with the style,” she said.
In the U.S., the combination of tribal fusion with
those Spanish gypsy roots is called Zambra Mora, a phrase
“coined by the one-and-only Amaya for a modality of dance
that I also refer to as Spanish gypsy,” Silvia said. “Both
words — ‘Zambra’ and ‘Mora’ — are from Calo, a Spanish
gypsy dialect, and they mean ‘Moorish party.’ They are
used to name the dance that the gypsies developed, who
arrived in Spain into Al-Andalus at that time. It was heavily
influenced by the Moors, and many centuries later it has
evolved into what nowadays is flamenco.”
Studying and performing tribal fusion dance based in
the Zambra Mora, Silvia said, has given her new insight
into the history of her own roots.
“I had no clue about the history of the Gypsy people
and why their dance and music is so full of emotion
until I learned about their persecutions and the injustices
committed against them, and then about their resilience and
their incredible example of transforming all that suffering
into art. It was a true eye-opener to see into the depths of
that art and see how much wisdom is in the process itself of
creating and performing this art.”
April 2019
The Belly Dance Chronicles
13