Devi

Desert Dreamers

Nancy

Teaching

Tribal Corner

Middle Eastern DanceISSN 14418282

Issue 37 January 2010 $9

Incorporating

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Devi Mamak is theArtistic Director of GhawaziCaravan, an innovative TribalBellydance company basedin the Blue Mountains ofNSW. Ghawazi Caravan and

the younger troupe Ghawazi Girls bothperformed at the inaugural AustralianDance Festival in Sydney in June 2009 to a multidisciplinary dance audience.(1)

Ghawazi Caravan also includes a studenttroupe, Ghaziya, formed in 2004 to giveintermediate level students the opportunityto perform.

Ghawazi Caravan has the motto,“diverse in spirit, united in dance” andthe company grew out of Devi’s trainingwith Carolena Nericcio, the founder ofAmerican Tribal Style (ATS).(2) Devi hascompleted Carolena’s intensive TeacherTraining course and taught at Carolena’sFatChanceBellyDance (FCBD) studio in

San Francisco in December 2008. In2009, Devi co-taught ATS General Skillscertificate workshops in Taiwan withCarolena. Devi’s Ghawazi Caravan is thefirst troupe in the southern hemisphererecognised as a sister school toFatChanceBellyDance (FCBD). It is avery significant achievement that manyof Devi’s Ghawazi Caravan moves havebeen accepted into Carolena’s strictFCBD movement vocabulary.

From her base in the Blue Mountains,New South Wales, Devi has inspiredmany dancers and dance groups and hashosted workshops by Karen Gehrman(FCBD) in 2002, Paulette Rees-Denis(Gypsy Caravan) in 2004 and 2005,Rachel Brice in 2006, Blue Damsel andSolace in 2007 and Carolena Nericcioand Megha Gavin in 2006, 2007, 2008and 2009. Devi also hosted the firstAustralian Tribal and Trance Festival in

2006, which has since become a biennialevent organised by Deb Napier (3).

In August 2009 Devi hosted the first'ATS Drills and Individual Critique'workshops here in Australia and plans torun the full course in 2010 as a series oftwo three-day weekends.

Devi has taught and performed widelyin Australia and overseas and writes theregular column Tribal Corner in BellydanceOasis magazine. Devi generously gavetime in her crowded schedule duringWAMED 2009 to be interviewed by ourSenior Writer, Kerry Stewart.

Kerry: Your mother teaches piano andyou grew up with music in the house;was dance also connected with music?

Devi: I learned ballet as well aspiano, then came a time when they bothbecame serious and I had to make achoice. I really wanted to choose dancingat that point and my mother wanted me

Kerry

DEVIKerry Stewart talks to Devi Mamak, the queen of Tribal in Australia

We chose the name Ghawazi Caravan as homage to Kaiya, who loved the Egyptian style

of dance and to the Egyptian ghawazi, known for being free spirits, using zills, dancing

with props on their heads and in general for entertaining and shocking their audience.

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to choose piano, so I chose piano. I ama Conservatorium Accredited classicalpiano teacher and I have been teachingpiano since 1981. I was a bit sad aboutmaking that choice, but now I think it’sthe best decision I ever made because Inow have both.

Kerry: Your and your mother Natashadanced together at the Sydney MEDFestival Concert, Dancing with the Stars,in 2007. Is she also a dancer?

Devi: She was a dancer when shewas young. My mother is of Russianbackground and there are photos of herperforming traditional Russian danceswhen she was fifteen or sixteen. She hadto make that decision I made and shechose music. Now she is dancing too.When I became serious about dancingshe also took up bellydancing. She flittedfrom teacher to teacher and finally wentback to her roots to study traditional

Russian dance. She really wanted to do something from her heritage. It’ssomething she is very passionate about.Her teacher had been a ballet dancer;she was ninety and still could do jumps.When she passed away last year, it upsetmy mum terribly.

Kerry: Was there social dancing inyour family when you were growing up?

Devi: No, we didn’t do that as I grewup but we see it at every family functionnow, and my mother loves to perform atevery opportunity. We really enjoyedperforming together at the SydneyFestival. It was one of her choreographies.I’m very proud of her that she’s taken up dancing at her age, and she’s reallyquite good.

Dancing has also been an inspirationfor both of us in regard to our music. Mymother has published several pianobooks, and her latest one is inspired by

the rhythms of the Middle East such asbaladi and ayoub, and includes a veildance piece. I am looking forward tochoreographing to these pieces.

Kerry: Do you think having music inyour background helped when you tookup dance later?

Devi: Yes, I think so, because I don’thave to think about the time signatures,or the phrasing of the music, it comesnaturally to me - until my students stopme and question me about it! Then wehave to stop and break it down.

When I first heard Middle Easternmusic, it all sounded the same and I wasnot used to that style of music at all. Ittook a while for me to like it. The changecame when I learnt how to drum, a couple of years after I started to dance.I’m not fantastic at it, but I can hold arhythm. When I knew what all therhythms were (and with my musical

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background I could hear the differencesin the rhythms) then I could hear whatwas happening in the music.

I could not for the life of me ‘get’zilling, but when we were doing our firstzill choreography with Kaiya, I workedout that where everyone else was going1,2,3, with right, left, right hands, I hadto go rrl, rrl. I was terribly downheartedthat I was ‘doing it wrong’, but my drumteacher said she’s noticed that musicianszill like that. I don’t know what it means,or why that is, but I felt better aboutzilling then.

Kerry: How did you get started withbellydancing?

Devi: I was a bit of a party girl in mytwenties. Then in 1996 that had to stop; Iwas not too well, and I was seeing anaturopath regularly. My naturopath was Kaiya Seaton and she mentionedsomething about teaching bellydancing.I didn’t miss the going out and partying,but I missed the dressing up and thedancing, so I decided to try bellydancing,

because I already knew Kaiya. If she hadbeen a samba dancer or a flamencoteacher, I would have taken that up!

I went to her first class and we beganlearning choreography, so I went homeand practiced. When I came back thenext week, no one had practiced!Because I have the classical musicalbackground, I was floored by this bellydance‘scene’ where you didn’t have to strivefor perfection. When I put my mind todo something, I really want to do it. After about eight weeks Kaiya invited me into her intermediate class, which I

really appreciated. I still consider Kaiya my teacher and

ask her what she thinks. Her opinion isstill important to me, and I’m very grateful to have had her as a teacher.Kaiya taught a variety of different stylesincluding classical and modern Egyptian,Baladi, Sha'abi, Pharonic, and Zaar. Shehad a very organic and unique approachto the dance and was also heavily influenced by Suraya Hilal.

Kerry: Was it the discipline and striving for perfection that caught yourattention with ATS?

Devi: Yes and no. I’d only been learning bellydance for a few monthswhen Kaiya organised a video afternoonto look at costuming. We watched a lot of videos and one of them was aFatChanceBellyDance live performanceof Rina and Jill dancing together facingeach other (4). They were so synchronisedthat I thought it was one girl dancinginto a mirror. I was amazed by that andloved the look of the costumes and their

hands. Kaiya told us the story that thereason they were so good together wasthat they lived in a caravan and travelledaround the USA like a performing circusand all they did was practice. Mythought was that none of us would evertravel around and live in caravans, so we could never be like that. It seemedunachievable, and besides, they were onthe other side of the world.

In 1999 I went back to San Francisco

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(where I was born) for three months, to take my son to see my father andgrandmother. After I’d bought the ticketsI remembered, “that troupe is overthere”. I’d never been on a computer in my life, so I wrote Carolena a letterasking whether I could attend classes,and she replied (by snail mail) that Icould. I did as many classes as I couldwhile I was there and brought all thevideos back. As a guest Carolena let mejoin in the advanced classes, but I didn’trealise until after I got home that theywere doing improvised choreographies. I had plenty of “gaps” to be filled but Iknew I really wanted to do ATS. In orderto do this I knew I would have to teachothers what I did know as no one else(to my knowledge) was doing ATS inAustralia, except Alaine Haddon-Casseyin Western Australia.

I asked Kaiya’s permission to teach,and I was still dancing with Kaiya whenI started to teach in 2000. I was teachinga combination of her style, which wasvery Suraya Hilal based, and what I’dlearned from FatChanceBellyDance. Itwas very organic, and it evolved fromthere.

Kerry: Was teaching a real challenge,or did the fact that you’d already taughtpiano make you more comfortable?

Devi: I was really nervous the firsttime; I’m quite a shy one-on-one person.I was comfortable with the teaching side,and breaking things down, but it’s verydifferent teaching classical piano to oneperson and teaching a large group ofpeople to dance. Once I got my headaround that I was okay. It took me a couple of years to come up with a classstructure and format. I got better atteaching as my own technique got better.I still went to Kaiya for classes until shestopped teaching (a couple of years afterI began teaching).

Kerry: Were you using ATS as a structurefor your own teaching at that stage?

Devi: Yes, I was teaching the movementsI felt comfortable with and which Ithought were relevant at the beginnerstage, and a lot of technique, which I’ddone with Kaiya. What I really wanted to ‘get’, and focused on in terms of

ATS, was the upper body and the arms.Classes grew and soon we were performing as a troupe. We chose thename Ghawazi Caravan as homage toKaiya, who loved the Egyptian style ofdance and to the Egyptian ghawazi,known for being free spirits, using zills,dancing with props on their heads andin general for entertaining and shockingtheir audience.

In 2002, there was a shift for me.What we were doing as a group wasn’tlooking right. Carolena was so far wayand I felt it was too easy for me to getdistracted and lose what I was trying todevelop in my own muscle memory. I sponsored Karen Gehrman (thenAssistant Director, FCBD) to give workshops in Australia. Her workshopswere fantastic and I made a decision toabandon all other dance styles until mybody had fully absorbed ATS. We didonly ATS for two years. In 2004 I feltwe’d “got it” into our muscle memoriesand could begin to “play” while stillkeeping the posture and body alignmentof ATS.

Kerry: You have a real desire to bechallenged and to strive for perfection!

Devi: Yes I do, but I enjoy the journey.I don’t worry that it takes years. The relationship with Carolena is somethingthat happened naturally over manyyears. In 2004 nine of us in GhawaziCaravan went to the US to work withCarolena as a troupe. Since then she’scome over to us in Australia every year,stayed with me and given workshops.We’ve done a lot of private classestogether and become friends. When Ifirst started with her she wasn’t doingmuch teacher training, so I’d videomyself teaching the moves and send thatto her for a critique to make sure theywere right. If they weren’t right I’d haveto do them again and again until theywere right. I loved that she was tough onme. I like to know that what I am doingis correct and if it is not correct I want toknow how to rectify that.

Kerry: At what point did you thinkyou wanted to go beyond dancing ATSsteps as created by FCBD and developyour own steps and moves?

Devi: I always wanted to develop myown steps and moves but I still use thebody aesthetics of ATS when I’m doingmy own thing. Even if I’m doing anIndian fusion, or an oriental/tribal fusionor a flamenco thing, I’m still using theATS body aesthetic. I call ATS the‘Audrey Hepburn of bellydance’; it’s soclassical and elegant, no matter whatage or shape you are. That couple ofyears doing only ATS was worthwhile,and now my muscles naturally go intothat way of holding the body.

Kerry: You have also studied classicalIndian dance (Odissi style) and taken flamenco classes and said that these areyou favourite influences.

Devi: I am inspired by many differentstyles and have taken classes in a varietyof styles. All of our Ghawazi Caravanchoreographies have an ATS base, butmay be influenced by flamenco,Classical Indian, Classical Egyptian, contemporary dance or even ballet. I really feel that for Ghawazi Caravanhaving a strong ATS base has helped uscreate beautiful lines in our body andmovement, no matter what we are playing with. It has given us the freedomto explore other dance styles and toincorporate them into our ATS format.

Kerry: Would you recommend thatdancers learn bellydance before theymove into tribal style dance, or aredancers now starting and staying withtribal style dance?

Devi: That’s a really difficult questionand I think it depends on the dancer. I’mreally glad that I had the background ofother styles of bellydance, it’s helped mewith shimmies and hipwork and alsohelped me to “play” with the music on amore emotive level.

Then again, I’ve seen great dancerswho’ve gone straight into tribal dance.Whether you’ve started in ATS, or cometo it later, I think you should always goout and try other styles of dance andexercise to challenge yourself. Usingweights has really helped me to executestrong arm movements, and yoga hashelped me with my flexibility and suppleness, all of which are importantaspects of ATS.

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There are some dancers who havestarted with Tribal fusion before learningor even knowing about ATS. As withmany things, when the pendulum swingstoo far away from the centre, it is only amatter of time before it comes backagain. Lately I have seen more Fusiondancers studying ATS, or even Orientalstyles and traditional folkloric styles. Ithink this is great, for whether you are atraditionalist or are into fusion youalways need to know where “home” is.Regardless of our differences in dance, itis nice to share and the regular TribalStudent soirees in NSW in the past severalyears have solidified our community,improved the performance skills of ourdancers and been a tool to share eachother’s varied influences.

Kerry: You’ve said that there are veryfew solos in ATS because ‘the beauty ofATS largely falls on the synchronicity ofthe group as a whole’, but I notice thatyou dance solos as well as perform as agroup. Do you use solos, like your performance last night at the WAMEDGala Concert, Tapestry, to explore otherstyles of dance?

Devi: That particular dance ‘Cleo theFish’ happened because I love the 1940smovie Fantasia, and when I saw the fans,I thought “they could be the fish” and Icould dance with them to Tchaikovsky’sArabian Dance!

I now travel a fair bit without thetroupe and am often asked to perform,which means I am forced to dance solo.A fifteen or twenty minute ATS solo justdoesn’t work, so I experiment with different ideas (like Cleo the Fish) for thesekinds of occasions. These experiments areusually a lot of fun artistically and caneven challenge me into creating newsteps, but dancing solo can also be a little bit lonely for someone like me whoenjoys the connection of group dance.

I really like the group stuff, I like collaborating, and I believe thatGhawazi Caravan at the moment is thebest it’s ever been. We get along welland bounce off each other. Sometimestheir ideas are better than mine! We’redoing a show 'Intertwine' where we’reworking with fantastic musicians anddancers of other genres. We’re having

such a good time doing it that I want tocontinue that idea as a project and puton more shows together. I like workingwith a group. I like solos within thegroup, but I learn and grow within thegroup.(5)

Kerry: Is the theatricality of yourstage performances something you’veworked hard on, or is it something thathas developed out of Ghawazi Caravanas a troupe?

Devi: This has happened naturallyover time. I think it stems from having alarge troupe and not wanting to see allthe dancers dancing all together for thewhole show. I like to see smaller groupscome out and do something for a shorttime and then a different group comeout. This meant that the dancers whowere in the background still had to fillthe space naturally without taking awayfrom what the dancer(s) were doing inthe middle. I like to use the whole stage.I like seeing odd numbers of dancers and Ilike it best when things are asymmetrical.So we work on the shapes with that inmind, taking into account how manydancers we have for any given performanceand who needs to get where.

On a deeper artistic level, I choreographbest when I have fallen in love with apiece of music. In fact, it is a never-endingquest for me to find the perfect piece. Ifthere is no music there is no choreography.I have no ideas in a vacuum. Once Ihave found the perfect piece and I startthe choreography, I often have oldmovies running through my head. This isnot a choice, it just happens, and it actually helps me to create the steps andshapes of the choreography. I have alsobeen inspired by statues, by architectureand even by the decor of GhawaziCaravan’s costume-maker’s bedroom!

Kerry: With tribal style dance is therea tension between the inwardness of the relationship in the group and withputting on a performance to entertain an audience?

Devi: We have talked about thatmany times within Ghawazi Caravan. I think that what works for us is, whenthe group comes together in the centre,we need to “say hello” to each other,and from then on we face out to the

audience and acknowledge the audience.Whenever we change the wheel, wehave a quick bit of interaction. The audience love the interaction but don’tlike to be ignored, or they get bored. Ifyou don’t have the interaction it justlooks like a group of girls ‘doing a choreography’. Our dynamic is to do a lot of turns in when we smile andinteract and have that friendly stuff, butkeep it interesting for the audience.

Kerry: Is there any dissonancebetween group improvisation and performing? Carolena Nericcio talkedabout “planned improv” when she washere in 2005 (6), but can you explain howyou rehearse and perform as a group if what you are doing is mainly improvisational?

Devi: It’s called ‘improvisational choreography’. We use a lot of choreography and I like choreographyjust as much as I like improvisation.When we are doing ‘improvised choreography’, the steps are highly choreographed and structured, so thatmeans that when the arm comes up, you are going to do a specific move. It’s a language, and if you know that language, you know what to do.

The other thing we do is to choreograph the structure, such that“Devi and so and so are going to start,then be joined by…” The key is to knowthe movements so well you don’t have tothink about them, and leave room forwhat is going to happen on stage. It’sexciting!

Even with straight choreographies westill work on the rule of “the person thatcan’t see the others is by default the leader”.This means in a straight choreography if theperson in front falls off the choreography“wagon” then we all fall off with her!That way we always look synchronised.

Kerry: You have a long standing association with Jrisi Jusakos and theHathor Dance Studio and this year youand Hilary Cinis taught a workshoptogether called ‘Interactive Duet’ for theSydney Middle Eastern Dance Festival.You are teaching workshops in NewZealand and Belgium in 2010. What doyou see ahead for yourself? What goalsdo you have to fulfil?

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Devi: O.K, here is JUST the dancinglist. I want to work on my technique. Ihave plans for creating my own DVDand to create FCBD’s vol 8 New MovesDVD with Carolena and Megha.

I want to do a duet with my daughterand have my son drum for us. I want tohave more concerts for my students sothey have more of an opportunity to perform if they so desire. I also want totravel more with Ghawazi Caravan toperform and teach.

I will continue to collaborate withgreat dancers, musician and artists suchas the ones from Intertwine, but alsoextend to others I have not yet workedwith. I feel that I learn so much fromthese experiences...and its fun!

We are already in the process ofworking on the next instalment ofIntertwine. Jrisi and I and both ourtroupes are also working on a series ofshows called El Mirage which showcasesboth tribal and oriental styles.

But the MOST IMPORTANT goal forme is to continue dancing and workingwith like-minded people, artists who aremasters in their field, who are fun to bewith and whom I enjoy working with.This is when you create your best work.•

Footnotes (1) www.australiandancefestival.com.au (2) For more information on ATS, see the regular Tribal Corner articles inBellydance Oasis magazines,www.fcbd.com or email Devi for a copyof her notes for Café Ashra: WAMED 2009(3) www.tribalandtrancefest.com(4) Jill Parker and Rina Orellan Rall,principal dancer FCBD, (1988-1998).(5) 'The Intertwine Project's first performance was on Saturday 13 June 09,in Katoomba, with encore performancesat the Wentworth Falls School of Arts inAugust, 2009. The project will continueusing the collaborations already in place(6) Stewart, Kerry Interview CarolenaNericcio Bellydance Oasis Magazine

References:Cinis, Hilary Tribal Chit Chat with DeviPalace magazine, Issue 39, May 2006Haddon-Casey, Alaine An interview withDevi Mamak and Susan Brown Tribal

Corner Bellydance Oasis Magazine Issue9, July - September 2002 Mamak, Devi Intoduction to TribalCorner and Bellydance Oasis BDO magazine Issue 28, April-June 2007

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Ghawazi Caravan

Ghawazi Caravan on stage at the Sydney Middle Eastern Dance festival 2009, Photo Alma Sarhan

Devi with her mum afterthey performed at the

Sydney Middle EasternDance Festival 2007

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