The Massive Spectacular!™
The Massive Spectacular!™ this year truly lived up to its name.
Artists from around the world came together to celebrate
and exalt in the beauty of tribal fusion dance. The Massive
Spectacular!™ offered performances from a wide variety of
tribal artists, each bringing their own unique background,
style, and interpretation of tribal bellydance to the stage.
From slow and soft to loud and exuberant, there was no end
to the range of performances the production had to offer.
As someone who has been in the bellydance community for
over a decade, it was interesting to see how styles with tribal
dance have changed over the years. The moves, choreography
and energy utilized in the performances were top tier!
it was very prevalent in The Massive Spectacular!™. Modern
dance influence can be seen throughout the costumes as well,
with more simplistic skirts and tops and stark lack of jewelry
and ornamentation. Various designs of halter tops and dance
skirts or shorts made up the majority of the performances.
An element that was truly impossible to ignore were the
costumes. The costumes brought to the stage could have had
a showcase all to themselves. Long hair, sequin skirts, and
rhinestones, normally the traditional accoutrements of cabaret
dancers, could be seen throughout the show.The incorporation
of cabaret costumes into tribal performances is not new, but
Zoe Jakes and Jill Parker were stunning as always,
particularly Jill’s return to old school with a drum solo at
the end of her performance. Seeing a performance done
to such a pillar song within the bellydance community is
always exciting. The combination of flapper girl chique with
Beyoncé made Zoe Jakes’ genre-jumping choreography fun
There were as many types of tribal bellydance styles on stage
as there were performers. The incorporation of different
dance styles such as hip hop, Latin, African and ballet, made
each performance unique and highlighted the wide variety
that tribal style dance includes. They were emotional, raw,
fun, flirty, and all of them brought real life to the dance form.
Zoe Jakes