Tribal dance, as far as I understand, is a combination of different styles mostly derived from the tribes of the North African and Middle Eastern cultures, and gypsy cultures (Roma, Sinti, etc.) with some influence by Spanish Flamenco (hence the higher arm carriages). Sometimes Indian dance is incorporated as well. It was started I think by Carolina Nariccio but then made popular by Rachel Brice, Zoe Jakes, Sharon Kihara, Ashley Lopez, and many others during the late 90s to 2000s. It uses darker elements in their clothing (inspired by tribes, Victorian Era, Edwardian Era, circus elements, punk, rock, etc.) and dark dramatic make-up and many dancers tend to have piercings and tattoos. They are known for their serpentine, gooey movements with precise accents and dancing to more 1920's-30's themed music, but they also dance to traditional Middle Eastern songs too.
This is just a brief history of course. Hope it helps!
Commented on Can you learn how to dance online?
27 Jun 07:08
Of course you can! I started bellydancing when I was in my senior year of high-school (about 17-18 years old.) I live in an area that is very rural so there aren't many opportunities to learn this dance form with an in-person teacher. I actually stumbled across Sadie bellydancing on youtube one day. I saw her perform and I fell in love with it and had to learn how to dance like she did. I spent countless hours watching and re-watching her performances, imitating her moves, learning her dance pieces all from the computer. I practiced in my home's window reflections (I did not have a big enough mirror, and you gotta improvise) I spent several years doing this. I took it up again about nine years ago, same methods on the computer but then I bought Sadie's dance DVDs. From there it was a combination of youtube and DVDs up until two years ago when I discovered Raqs Online and Datura Online. I'm 35 now. So, YES! It's a very helpful tool to get you started. Good Luck!!