Idyllwild, CA. Tucked away in one of the most beautiful and pristine areas of California, the town of Idyllwild is located in an area that was once  simply called, “Strawberry Valley” for the abundance of wild strawberries which border the natural creeks in the area.  Lily Rock, the distinctive granite monolith that looms above the quaint, still unincorporated village has long attracted climbers, hikers and naturalists alike.  Many a climbers have trained on this rock in preparation to ascend some of Yosemite’s most difficult climbs.  But this is not Idyllwild’s only claim to fame. Since the 60’s and 70’s Idyllwild has attracted some of the world’s most talented artists and musicians and has been home to one of the world’s only dedicated music and arts programs for secondary education. This August, Idylwild contiunes its rich tradition of artistic excellence by playing host to the 2nd biennial Tribal Rendezvous Festival.

The festival will feature three days of workshops, vending (shopping), and shows commencing on Friday August 20th at 7pm with a “teaser” at local restaurant and social club Café Aroma.  On Saturday, Mardi Love, assistant director and cheoreographer of The Indigo Dance Company in San Francisco, Myra Krien, founder of Mosaic Dance Company/Pomegranite Studios in Santa Fe, NM and Sabrina Fox, founder and director of Atash Maya Dance Company in San Diego will pool their talents, expertise and distictive styles to offer two full days of instruction and entertainment at The Rainbow Inn.

“Each of these women has had a unique and lasting influence on the world of modern belldance,” notes Rachael Gollub, event producer. “They are in a class of their own and are some of the most sought after talent in the world.”

Mardi Love is assistant director, choreographer, and part time costumier for the internationally-renowned dance company, The Indigo. Brought up in the dance world by Heather Stants, who participated in the Tribal Rendezvous Festival in 2008, Mardi danced with Urban Tribal Dance Company for several years before she went on to tour with the Belly Dance Superstars. Currently, she dances with The Indigo who tours the world-over to entertain and offer workshops.

Myra Krien, a dancer almost as soon as she could walk, is the granddaughter of legendary Zen philospher, Alan Watts. She is known for her elegant and graceful presence as well as her stylistic versatility, from traditional Egyptian to classical tribal and contemporary fusion forms, with a strong emphasis on Flamenco and East Indian dance. A highly sought after workshop instructor and choreographer, her workshops are often described as “profound and inspirational”.

Sabrina fox, daughter to Paris-born mother and Moroccan father who were both dancers with the Parisian cabaret, “Lido”, is, naturally, a lifelong dancer.  She is the founder and director of the San Diego based Tribal Fusion Dance Troupe, Atash Maya Dance Company.  She currently tours internationally with the Bellydance Superstars performing and teaching workshops in Europe, Asia and many other locations worldwide.

The Saturday evening Tribal Rendezvous Gala Show and Soiree will feature performances with the festival’s headliners as well as guest dancers Heather Shoopman, Clamity Sam (from Los Angeles) Edenia (Inland Empire) and guest Musicians Jeremiah Soto (Sacramento) and Danny “Slapjazz” Barber (San Diego) . The show begins at 7:30pm and is open to the public with general admission tickets available for $30, which includes a cocktail buffet of middle eastern foods.

All proceeds from the festival will be leveraged to build a scholarship fund for young Idyllwild women, aged 15-18 to study American Tribal Style bellydance.  The  program, called SEEDs (Self-esteem, Empowerment and Education through Dance), was originally created by dancer/teacher Myra Krien to help young women “blossom” through their adolescent years.  In it’s 9th year, the program has been such a success that in 2007 Krien decided to take the program national.

The mission of SEEDs is to mentor young women to become healthy, strong individuals who are socially and fiscally responsible to themselves and their community. In addition to teaching the girls Tribal Style Belly Dance, the program incorporates talking circles, journaling and presentations by diverse professionals who discuss their work and how they have become what they are. The girls are asked to think and talk about their fears and commitments, and taught how to set and accomplish their goals. This dance program has been a lifesaver for the many teens who have participated and parents see how highly evolved these young women become as a result of their participation in the program.

When I am away from home, I often find myself explaining to loved ones, friends and strangers about the beautiful alpine village of Idyllwild, where I live, work and play.  Admittedly, sometimes I simply say that I am from “Southern California” in order to save the breath of explaining exactly where in the world Idyllwild is.  Although, I have to admit that I feel like a bit of an impostor when I do this, because most peoples’ image of Southern California is sun, beaches, surfing and tanned/toned bodies.  Not that Idyllwild doesn’t have it’s fair share of athletes and beautiful people, but surfing and beaches are not at all what Idyllwild is about.

Tucked away in one of the most beautiful and pristine areas of California, the town of Idyllwild is located in an area that was once  simply called, “Strawberry Valley” for the abundance of wild strawberries which border the natural creeks in the area.  Lily Rock, the distinctive granite monolith that looms above the quaint, still unincorporated village has long attracted climbers, hikers and naturalists alike.  Many a climbers have trained on this rock in preparation to ascend some of Yosemite’s most difficult climbs.

But that is not Idyllwild’s only claim to fame. In the 60′s and 70′s Idyllwild began to attract hippies, musicians and artists, and to some extent, it has remained an artist colony. For a town with a population of less than 5,000 people, the number of people you will meet here who consider themselves artists is staggering.  And, these are some of the most accomplished artists in this country and the world.  On any given evening, you may enjoy a meal out and hear live music from musicians like Paul Carman, an accomplished Jazz saxophonist who once toured with Frank Zappa.

Perhaps it is because of this amazing concentration of artists and musicians that the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts (ISOMATA – now simply called the Idyllwild Arts Academy), was established here in the early 1950′s.  The boarding school, designed for high school students provides intensive training in music, theater, dance, visual art, creative writing, moving pictures and interdisciplinary arts for some 300 students from over 22 countries each year.

Each weekend in Idyllwild is filled with artistic activity. So, it is in this amazing community that I have decided to hold Tribal Rendezvous; a community that I know can fully appreciate and grasp the beauty and breadth of this dance.

Okay, it is a stretch.  I took Spanish, not french.  That is not to say that I am not intrigued with the language.  The gist here is that I want you (vous) to pimp this event.  All of you who had an enchanting and magical experience last Tribal Rendezvous, please let everyone know how much you enjoyed it!  Idyllwild is THE place to be in the hot southern california summer.  Enjoy the fresh air, rest, relaxation and an amazing lineup of dancers and instructors. Think of it as a spa weekend, with Bellydance as the main menu item.

So…connect on our facebook page, on Twitter or right here on this blog.  We want to hear what you have to say.  So show us what you’ve got, pimp the event. Annnd, if you do a particularly amazing job at pimping the event, you may just get a sweet little surprise for your efforts.

If you have recently been inducted to the world of bellydance, you may have only now realized the vastness or diversity of the culture of which you are now a part.  When I started dancing ten years ago, I certainly had no idea of the dichotomy that existed between the Hollywood-ized oriental/cabaret style of bellydance, and the emergent Tribal Style Bellydance. My first teacher, Myra Krien, is a master of both syles, and though I wouldn’t realize this for years to come, this is a rarity in the world of bellydance where most dancers define their dance selves in tight little boxes, you might think that they are talking about their ethnicity or religion, rather than the art form they practice.

With the naivety of a tourist in a foreign culture, I started dancing because I was drawn in by the power and beauty of something that seemed, at once, both familiar and completely exotic.  I was seventeen, an athlete, somewhat of a tomboy, had no intentions with my exploration of the dance, other than to do just that, explore.  I was not there because I had ambitions to perform, I would not even display a simple demonstration for my closest friends.  I am sure it seemed strange to my friends and family that I should be so secretive and shy about something that seems so overtly exhibitionist.  The dance, and those whom I danced with became my own private cocoon, a new family, a place where I could explore a new kind of expression and become a part of a sisterhood I had never imagined.  I fell in love with the dance and with feverish infatuation, I began collecting the music, the costuming and the friendships.  Somewhere along the way, I must have also collected the psyche of a Tribal Style Dancer.  I was re-born…and I choose those words deliberately.  I was a part of the church of the Tribal Dancer, sure that I had chosen the right “way” (read: right form of dance).

Over the past ten years, however, what we used to call “American Tribal Style Bellydance” has evolved  into an entirely different (or should I say many different) dance forms: Tribal Fusion, Gothic, Tribaret, Balkan, even Pirate…heck you name it–all manner of styles have been fused with bellydance.  It has been a frenzied attempt to stay cutting edge and unique at a time when bellydance was sweeping the nation at breakneck speed.

It has been an interesting self discovery for me then, that at the same time my dance sisters have been feverishly seeking out the newest, latest and greatest of avant-garde bellydance I have been focusing more and more on the old, or rather, what new is happening with the old. I have admiringly watched from the sidelines as the ever-popular “Tribal-Fusion” has wowed audiences with its varied costuming, cutting-edge music, and evocative movements and chosen (for reasons I cannot even explain to myself) to instead dedicate my studies and weekly classes to strictly ATS.   And, perhaps even more curious is that I have gained a new found appreciation (and, yes, curiosity) for those “other, older” forms of bellydance. And it is not a simple “I wonder what they do” kind of curiosity, but a profound interest in all of it, the posture, the costumes (oh! the sequins, the glitter and the hair), the traditional music–I mean all of it.  It got me to thinking; What actually defines one dance form as different from the other?  Certainly it is much more than just the costumes, the music and the steps.  And, what  value are the concepts of one style to the practitioner of the other?

Armed with these questions, I turned to my teacher Myra Krien to ask her what she thought about these questions. Being an expert in both styles gives her a unique perspective on these questions.  We have opened a discussion about how to create and provide an offering of key concepts of Oriental dance, for Tribal dancers, including: changes in your posture, attitude, use of space and history.  I like to think that I am not the only person out (t)here with these questions and desire to expand my horizon to become a more complete dancer.  I look forward to using Tribal Rendezvous as a forum for this exploration.

Tribal Rendezvous 2010 is on.  Idyllwild will host the 2nd biennial. tribal bellydance festival August 21st and 22nd 2010.

A lot has happened since we last hosted Tribal Rendezvous.  The success of the event had me riding a wave of bliss in the following months which carried me through to my wedding day in September.  We have our own little dance troupe performing regularly in our little mountain town, and many more budding dancers getting enraptured by this wonderful dance every week.

Perhaps it is my desire to share this amazing dance with the world, or perhaps it is my love of a good party, but whatever the reason Tribal Rendezvous will be back in full glory this summer.  I hope you will join us.