FEATURE ARTICLE—September 2001
TATTOOED BELLY DANCERS: IN SEARCH OF A CONNECTION
Words and photos by Tim Coleman
The lights go down in Cafe Amira—and the conversation stops. From the shadows
emerge three strikingly beautiful women dressed in exotic tribal costumes, their exposed, tattooed midriffs gyrating gracefully to the pulsing beat of Moroccan music. The decor is Middle Eastern, as is the food. But this isn't
Cairo or Casablanca. This is San Francisco, and the women are Fat Chance, California's most famous belly-dance troupe.
Fat Chance's celebrity in the American dance world has been justly earned on the basis of their
considerable talent, but they are also famous for something equally remarkable: Most of the members are heavily tattooed. The sight of so much exquisitely decorated flesh undulating to Middle Eastern rhythms is enough to send
audiences into a frenzy. The fusion of a dance form that for many is inherently erotic, combined with the primal energy of tattoos, is an explosive one. It is also unique. Fat Chance is the only belly-dance troupe in the world
with a majority of its members heavily tattooed. They have single-handedly pioneered a powerful new image for women dancers, and the fashion for getting tattoos appears to be slowly spreading.
As the dancers come
gracefully to the end of their performance, the audience erupts with applause. Carolena Nericcio, the troupe's founder, pauses to wipe perspiration from her brow before explaining to me how she dreamt up their curious name. "I
have been dancing for 26 years. When I was younger, people would ask me what I did for a living, and when I said, 'Belly dance,' out would come the usual sexual innuendoes like, 'Well, how about a private show then?' My reply
was always the same, 'Fat chance!' I wanted a name that made it clear that just because we are belly dancers doesn't mean we are prostitutes."
Associations of belly dance and sex are often linked together in the mind of
the general public. This is partly because of the nature of the dance and its emphasis on the provocative movements of the lower body, but also because of a number of complex historical reasons. The most important involved the
dance becoming detached from its original folkloric roots and placed in the context of the Western cabaret tradition and the even sleazier burlesque shows. Here, sexual titillation completely usurped the original artistry of
the dance form.
In Egypt, a country where belly dance is revered both for its folkloric roots and as a nationally acclaimed art form, the associations between belly dance and prostitution are even more firmly connected.
This is again due to the way the dance developed historically. For centuries, a particular tribe of "public dancing girls" called the ghawazee used to entertain people at events like weddings and other family celebrations. In the 1850s, the British Orientalist E.W. Lane was amazed to discover these beautiful women dancing in the streets of Cairo dressed in clothes usually reserved for the harem. Lane's prim Victorian sensibilities were rocked when he discovered these women supplemented their incomes by being prostitutes. To an Arab, today, the word ghawazee
means both dancer and prostitute. Ironically Carolena has the word ghawazee tattooed in Arabic script across her back. "I was fully aware of its duel meaning when I had it done," she insists. "I don't care if it's misinterpreted. To me, it perfectly signifies what I was doing in terms of dance and dance alone!"
Carolena has chosen to express other aspects of Middle Eastern symbolism in her tattoos. "The five blue diamonds on my lower back were tattooed by Bill Salmon. The pattern is borrowed from designs found on amulets used
by the Tuareg, a North African tribe. This, along with the hand of Fatima which surrounds them, is universally considered in Arab culture to protect against the evil eye. The image of the phoenix is not Arabic but comes from a
book of Chinese fairy tales for children and was tattooed by Vyvyn Lazonga."
Like tattooing, belly dance has gone through a period of transformation which might be called a renaissance. In Europe and especially America,
it has attracted a new generation of women who are keen to invert the lewd associations of the past and overlay the art form with a modern feminist perspective, using the dance as a vehicle that both empowers and creates a
world independent of male influence and control.
The fact that belly dance is an individual art form only practiced by women explains much of its appeal. "When I was a teenager," explains Carolena, "I was frustrated that
dance always required a partner. I was a wallflower. No one ever asked me to dance. So the solo aspect of belly dance really appealed to me." Another attraction was the opportunity to work in a tightly knit group of women. "Fat
Chance is like an extended family. It's a tribe and an amazing support system. Most people look for a group to join. I looked for one to join me. It goes back to childhood and all those feelings of being hurt by people who
were always so competitive. In Fat Chance we try not to do that. It is the opposite of what goes on in the majority of society." In this sense, the group operates in a similar way to many of the social dynamics found in the
hardcore tattoo community. They both share an intrinsic tribal quality. In Fat Chance the intimate bonds of friendship that are forged between its members are its lifeblood. "For me, the spirituality comes from this tribal or
group bonding. It's all about the empowerment we get from each other. If we don't work together, the tribe dies."
Fat Chance originally grew out of the San Francisco underground, and its development paralleled the development of the
tattoo renaissance and the emergence of the Modern Primitive movement in the late 1980s. When the group officially formed in 1989, all of its original members were already tattooed. When they met as a troupe for the first time,
they were shocked to discover that most of their tattoos had come from the same artist, Vyvyn Lazonga. "It's strange but I think the tattoos helped to bring us all together," states Carolena. "We found this coincidence really
extraordinary and exciting." During this period, Fat Chance provided an alternative refuge for women who experimented with a more radical appearance and who didn't fit in anywhere else. "Tattooed people are always a little
ostracized, just like belly dancers. So I think the classes I originally set up attracted people who were already weird. With us, it was a safe place to be a freak."
In the late-'80s, Fat Chance was a familiar sight at
various underground venues, parties, art galleries and street fairs. They were also intimately connected to well-known San Francisco clubs like DNA which hosted the first Modern Primitive shows. These would feature people like
Fakir Musavar, the godfather of the Modern Primitive movement, and the heavily tattooed sword swallower and fire eater, Captain Don Leslie. At that point, the sight of Musavar suspended from hooks that went through piercings in
his chest had rarely been experienced in public and, quite naturally, created a major shock. When Fat Chance first hit the belly-dance scene, they too provoked shock and amazement. "People freaked out when they saw our
tattoos," states Carolena. "No one had seen the combination of belly dance and tattooing, and it blew them away." Today, Fat Chance, having capitalized on this visually explosive combination, are much in demand as the only
fully tattooed belly-dance troupe in America.
Given the success of Fat Chance, it seems strange that the idea of combining tattooing with belly dance or other dance forms has not spread more rapidly. So far, only one
other belly-dance troupe has a heavily tattooed member. Jill Parker was originally with Fat Chance and left several years ago to form her own company, Ultra Gypsy. So far, Jill is the only member to get heavily tattooed. Jill,
no doubt, adopts the same attitude to other members of the troupe as Carolena, who jokes about one of the myths that surround Fat Chance. "People think I'm this tyrant who forces my members into the tattoo chair. That is
complete nonsense. The women spontaneously decide to get tattooed. It just happens because they see how beautiful the combination is, not because of pressure from me."
April Nino is another woman who
studies Middle Eastern dance and is tattooed. She was briefly involved with Fat Chance. Today, she focuses her attention more on creating and teaching art. "I love tattooing," she explains. "I see belly dance and tattooing as
physical expressions of my spiritual life. As an artist I am interested in the study of beauty, and there is no greater commitment to art and beauty than to express it with your body."
Despite my search for deeper
meaning, the main connection between belly dance and tattooing appears to be purely aesthetic. There is nothing new in the desire for women to ornament themselves and look more beautiful. This connection is neatly illustrated
when you consider that the earliest known evidence for tattooing comes from ancient Egyptian figurines of dancing girls who were also tattooed. In addition, dance historians estimate that Egyptian belly dancing or raqus
sharqui probably originated with dance forms developed 3,000 years ago in pharaonic times and is probably far older than this.
"Historical connections are interesting" states Carolena, "but they play little part in the
motivation behind members of Fat Chance getting tattooed. Some of the women who come to the dance classes are not comfortable showing their bodies. They may have issues about being overweight or have scars and don't want to
show that area of the body publicly. What happens is, they start accepting their bodies and become more comfortable with them. The more comfortable they get, the more likely they are to display them. Once you can accept your
body, you can begin to celebrate it."
This is certainly a process that Grace Murphy underwent. She is the only member to have tattoos on her stomach; all others have work on their backs. "The flowers tattooed on my belly
were a great cover-up for a nasty appendicitis scar. Both the tattoos and the dance form work together in the process of accepting your body that we all have to go through."
Back in Cafe Amira, the music surges, and
once again the members of Fat Chance begin to glide elegantly across the stage. Watching the women dance, the audience is seduced by the hypnotic combination of music, movement and costume. As sweat begins to add an erotic
sheen to their tattooed flesh, the designs begin to take on a life of their own, coiling around their undulating waists like some rare and exotic serpent. Suddenly the music stops, and the women's twisting, turning bodies
elegantly come to a halt. The show may be over, but the primal energy these women create when they dance remains; hanging thick and heavy in the San Francisco night.