I hate to disagree with you: In the general belly dance community, improv is not used in the ATS sense. In fact, I'd say that the idea of ATS improv is a niche concept, and one often has to explain that the main feature of ATS is improv, rather than wearing a coin bra and tassel belt ;-) There are too many dancers who use the term ATS and don't realize that it is group improv :-( In my experience, the vast majority of belly dancers, and certainly those who study oriental, will recognize "improv" as the complement to "choreography", with a focus on soloists.

Can't wait to see you in Tengri soon!!!!

Interesting point. Our dance teacher (Kawakib/ Atesh) always calls our tribal style "group improv"; when we do individual improvisational dance to live drummers/ music, that's "improv".
She always explains it as "group improv" for audiences if we're performing her Tribal Odyssey style.


<<I think it's time for a new vocabulary. The word "improv" has pretty much been co-opted in many belly dance cliques now to have the very specific meaning as used by ATS dancers:

a single lead dancer chooses the next pattern and uses subtle cues to lead it, while other dancers skillfully and elegantly perform the same pattern at the same time as the lead dancer. In this context, the dancing is intended to look as if it is _not_ improvised: for instance the dancers attempt to have a great uniformity of motion, and the leading cues are not obvious to the audience. <<

I think it may be useful to distinguish between improv in the Pennsic or Jalsah sense - dance all night for fun, and improv in the more performance oriented sense. While these two are undeniably very closely related, it seems to me that there is something different. I can't quite put it in words, I am afraid, beyond saying that at one, I dance for myself, whereas at the other, I also dance for the audience.

One of the skills that has made me a confident performer who is happy to dance unchoreographed (we dance ATS as a troupe, I mostly improvise when performing as a soloist, and look out for the last dancer standing at Pennsic - chances are it's me ;-) ) is understanding the music. That's probably the crucial aspect for me, after overcoming self-consciousness. Once I know and emotionally connect to the music, it's all downhill from there. And, listening to the music and "getting it" (whatever that may mean) is what gets me into "the zone" when dancing. I believe most dancers know more than enough "moves" to improv all night long - it is tuning into the music what is hard for many, and what gets one to the next level.

Good luck - it's a challenging project!

Carla, I am THERE when you teach improve or whaaatever

joyous expression
great buzz
riding the music
cut loose
freestyle

Wow. I really enjoyed reading this thread because you ladies (and gents) are saying what I'm thinking. I am a freestyle dancer and don't really care much for choreos although I do them with my troupe. I have always listened intently to the music and when I discovered dancing later in life, it was just a natural outlet. One frustrating thing for me has been dance teachers who are not musically conscious. I took BD classes for four years before I had a teacher whose warm-up was on the beat. It's shocking really. The dance follows the music.

Anything you can do to set people at ease and get in touch with whatever it is inside them that is generating the movement would be good. I had one teacher take us through a guided visualization exercise that went something like: imagine you are a Spanish tiger hunting its prey. Everyone was doing it so we didn't feel goofy. Then we learned some hot flamenco moves! It was awesome.

One last thought. I would encourage people to listen to lots of different kinds of music and try dancing to all of it. You never know where you will find your muse!