Biography

~ "Ariellah Aflalo is one of the hardest working Belly Dancers in the

business, and it shows in her technique, costuming, emotion, and refined
taste in music and movement choice. She adds her own deliciously dark
touch to the dance, and is an absolute pleasure to watch." -Rachel Brice,
The Indigo

Ariellah studied classical ballet extensively with the Royal Academy of

Dance of London for twelve years, beginning at age three. After a break
from dance that included graduating from UC Davis and two years in the
Peace Corps on Africa's Ivory Coast, she returned to the United States
eager to learn the dance of her Moroccan ancestry.

Trying her hand at belly dance had been a lifelong goal, and was a
natural extension of Ariellah's dance career and life experience. Her
pursuit of belly dance began with the Folkloric style of Janine Ryle, who
studied with San Francisco belly dance institution Hahbi'Ru. Ariellah
eventually became a part of Janine's troupe, Danse Maghreb in which
she performed mostly Algerian Berber dances. With Ariellah's roots
grounded firmly in the culture and tradition of North Africa, belly dance
was a natural fit for her. Janine encouraged her desire to learn from as
many sources as possible, and suggested that she take classes with
Rachel Brice, who is currently one of the most sought after belly dancers in
the world and is currently touring internationally as a soloist, as well as with
The Bellydance Superstars and The Indigo. Ariellah began studying Tribal
Fusion belly dance with Rachel Brice in early 2002 and became a
founding member of Rachel's Indigo Belly Dance Company in 2003.

Ariellah has become a renown international instructor and performer. She

is an icon in the fusion belly dance community and has been featured in
several different magazines, books, radio shows, and articles all over the
world. In 2004, Ariellah won first place in the Star Fusion category of Sirens
In Sanity's belly dance competition, Enchanted Camelot, held in Benecia,
CA. Ariellah was also featured in the first of its kind, "Gothic Belly Dance:
The Darker Side of Fusion" DVD; released in spring 2006, with the sequel,
"Revelations" released in the fall of 2007. Ariellah is also featured on
performance DVDs "Bellydance Underworld", "Tribal Revolution" and many
others. Currently Ariellah's first instructional DVD, "Contemporary Belly
Dance and Yoga Conditioning" is one of the top selling and top rated
belly dance DVDs on the market today. Please check out the reviews at:
www.amazon.com.
Ariellah's style reflects and infuses her personal interpretation of Middle
Eastern belly dance, with a modern, dark flavour, that is uniquely her own.
She is widely known for her strong stage presence and unrivaled
technique. Her performances are designed to mesmerize and invoke
emotion and the darker, more passionate side of dance. Ariellah believes
her style emanates from the passion and contentment that belly dance
has brought to her life, as well as the infusion of her lifelong involvement in
the gothic subculture, allowing her to fully express herself in a unique and
beautifully dark way.

As a classically trained professional dancer, Ariellah understands the

importance of each event to which she is invited, and she strives, with
each performance, to create just the right mood.

History
What is Tribal Fusion Belly Dance?

Belly dance is one of the oldest forms of dance. The style of this ancient
dance has evolved over the years, but at its core it remains the same. It is
my understanding that all belly dance styles have a basis in Middle
Eastern dance that come originally from the villages of North Africa and
the Middle East. This dance spread all over the world, taking on a slightly
different form in Egypt and other places in the Middle East in later years,
now called "Cabaret" or "Oriental" style. It then came to America in the
1890s for the first time appearing at the Chicago World's Fair. From there
the dance spread across the United States. Over the last century belly
dance has taken on many new forms, all based in the original, classic
Middle Eastern movements. In California in the 1960's there was a belly
dancer by the name of Jamila Salimpour who took these classic
movements and gave them a name and a format; taking this dance to
another level and changing it into a skilled art form, like any other such as
ballet or piano. Jamila Salimpour taught most of the belly dancers active
in the bay area today. Those dancers, in turn taught more dancers. One
of them being Masha Archer, who then went on to teach Carolena
Nericcio, who went on to create an entire new genre of belly dance
called American Tribal Style(ATS). She named her belly dance company
Fat Chance Belly Dance. This style of belly dance fused many different
ethnicities in its dance form and also brought in a unique aspect of belly
dancing, where one dancer leads the set of other dancers in
improvisational style dancing. The dance has many cues and movements
all created by Carolena Nericcio. Cues were developed for each step or
combination, usually an arm or head movement that could be easily
viewed by the other dancers on stage.

I believe that ATS became the gateway to creating Tribal Fusion Belly
Dance and all sorts of other new and creative styles of belly dance. ATS
used different costuming than traditional cabaret or folkloric styles, as well
as different hair costuming and allowed dancers to express themselves
with tattoos, piercings and all sorts of jewelry and adornments. In fact, an
abundance of adornment became the norm. And it also led to a fusing of
different styles of music that were not necessarily Middle Eastern. From this
evolved Tribal Fusion, with dancers like Rachel Brice, Heather Stants, Jill
Parker, Mira Betz, Mardi Love and many others, all pushing the envelope,
and fusing the elements from different cultures as well as stylizing the
dance in their own unique way. They moved away from the improv style
of dance and moved toward choreography. Bringing a modern, new,
creative element to an old ancient dance. But at its core there remains
the basic movements of Middle Eastern belly dance, with a few other
ethnic influences, modern fusion music and personal stylizations layered
on top.

It is my belief that tribal fusion belly dance, as well as dark fusion belly
dance, captures the beauty from all dance but allows for new and
creative interpretations. It represents a highly skilled art form that
commands respect, and emmanates beauty.

What is Dark Fusion Belly Dance?

From my point of view, dark fusion belly dance is one of the many
offshoots of tribal fusion belly dance. Dark fusion belly dance taps into the
more theatrical, dramatic, passionate and emotional side of belly dance.
It utilizes the basic elemental movements of belly dance and mixes them
with the dancer's darker stylizations, music and costuming. In my case as a
dancer, I infused my belly dance movements with my own personal
character and personality which contains much of the gothic subculture
lifestyle, attitude, stylings and tastes.

Dark fusion belly dance is a mental and physical aesthetic that a dancer
has inside their being, which manifests through their dance. There is a
continuim of the dancer's gothic aesthetic, so to speak, that is brought to
the table. I have noted that in dark fusion belly dance performances, a
deep emotion is invoked in the audience and there is a sense of the
audience being brought into the performance. The energy that flows from
the dancer is strong and piercing and draws the audience in with its
expressiveness.

How is this accomplished? Well, for one, the hands are most expressive
and the energy conveyed and released in the hands and fingertips can
be powerful and far reaching. Facial expressions and stage presence play
a great role in dark fusion belly dance...it can be done with the eyes,
gazing right into the eyes of the audience, imploring them to feel your
feelings, as well as a tilt of the head this way or that way to express a
thought or emotion or storyline or simply to command attention or
engage or capture the surprise of the audience. I also find that in dark
fusion belly dance storylines can range from fantasy type stories invoking
dark shadows or snakes or myths, or invoking deities or ritual based, or
simply the dancers own story, emotion and expression...

In your practice and training and performance, I encourage you to

elevate your dance and find that balance between technique and
artistry and emotion and dance...I encourage you to bring a higher
energy to all of your movements and an awareness of your posture and
an awareness of your emotions and of your own style of belly dance and
how that comes through; bring drama to your dance...elevate it...