I bet you thought I was done talking about Tribal Fest 15! No, I have this one last post in me, and it’s about trends I saw on stage at Tribal Fest and how I think they’re going to trickle down into the tribal dance community as a whole.

1. Humor and fun. I want to discuss this one first. I think it’s a trend that’s slowly been building. For the longest time it’s seemed like tribal and fusion belly dance has taken itself very seriously, probably because we wanted other people to take us seriously. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, and while I like seeing serious belly dance, it’s also nice to see dancers let loose sometimes. There were a lot of performances this year that demonstrated that you can have serious dance technique and a wacky persona and put on a great show. Will this spread beyond Tribal Fest? I suspect that a lot of the humorous pieces happen because people feel comfortable letting loose at Tribal Fest. As such, I think we’ll probably only see these kind of pieces at other tribal-specific belly dance events, while dancers will continue to present more serious work at mixed-genre performances.

2. Lip synching/singing along. I saw a LOT of this, sometimes very obvious and intentional, such as Sooz’s full man-drag Uptown Funk performance, and other times I couldn’t tell if the dancer even knew they were mouthing the lyrics. This is something you sometimes see in Egyptian-style belly dance, but honestly, I have a feeling tribal dancers are drawing it more from the drag community. Will it spread? Maybe. I just have to say, if you’re going to do it, commit to it.

3. SPARKLES. The line is really blurring between tribal and cabaret, and I saw a lot more sparkly costumes and some that I would not have been surprised to see an Egyptian dancer wear at a night club or upscale restaurant. Witness the stunning costumes worn by Rose Movement. I’ve seen similar styles on Egyptian dancers many times. My own troupe performed in nude rhinestone costumes this year. Will it spread? I think so. There seems to be a lot less firm boundaries between styles now, and I think especially as more fusion dancers decide to train in more “traditional” Egyptian and Turkish styles, we’ll see more of that influence come into their dance.

4. More individuality of style. There seems to be less people copying whatever Rachel or Zoe’s troupes did last year and more drawing from your own sense of style, or doing costumes that specifically fit the theme of the performance. Will it spread? I think so. I think the genre is maturing enough that people don’t feel like they HAVE to copy the big names to prove that they’re authentic tribal dancers. I think the trend is now towards originality, creativity, and finding some material or embellishment that no one else has never used before.

5. Headdresses are shrinking. I was worried for a while there that we were going to get into Vegas showgirl territory, with towering feather creations stretching towards the heavens, but I think we finally hit the limit of how big you could make a head piece and still be able to belly dance under it. Some performers — mainly the temple style dancers for whom it is most fitting — are still wearing large, elaborate headdresses but in general they seem to be shrinking down to a more reasonable medium size. Will it spread? I suspect so, because smaller pieces are easier to wear and to travel with.

6. Italian is the next Balkan. There were several amazing Italian dancers on the Tribal Fest stage this year and several of them danced to Italian music. Check out this folksy tambourine ATS piece by Barbara Giannantoni, for instance. Isn’t that music GOOD? And with Violet Scrap teaching at TF next year, I think we’re going to see a lot more interest in the Italian dance scene. Will it spread? I’m guessing YES because we’re overdue for an infusion of fresh musical influence.

Do you have any trends you like to add? Do you disagree with any of my predictions? I’d love to have a discussion in the comments section!