Djoumahna puts on the festival each year with her husband, Chuck Lehnhard. It covers five days and includes dozens of instructional workshops and three days of performances from dancers as far away as Kazakhstan, Belarus, Australia and India. The performances continue through the weekend, beginning today at 11 a.m. and running through Sunday evening.
"This is a very special festival," said Bex, a dancer and teacher who would only give her stage name. The 33-year-old journeyed to Tribal Fest from Birmingham, England and has studied under Djoumahna. "If you're a tribal or fusion dancer, you have to come here."
On Friday, the festival stage featured a parade of brightly colored dancers sporting folk and modern-style clothes, some with tattoos, piercings and jangling jewelry, flowing robes and even a few who were scantily clad. But the shiny sequins which practitioners say is more suited for the traditional Middle Eastern belly dancers, is verboten.
"We don't have a lot of rules but no sequins is one of them," said Djoumahna. "The really traditional belly dancers don't all like what we do. But we're about bringing different styles together in a positive, creative way."
It's belly dancing, and so much more.
A fact for which dancer Leon Mancilla especially appreciates. While there are male belly dancers, he said, they are not common. The 25-year-old, wearing an outfit that recalled traditional American Indian dress, brought down the house with his Friday performance, a style that incorporates South African and his native Latin influences.
"There's nothing but love here," said Mancilla, who came to perform from Los Angeles, where he teaches dancing to kids at a nonprofit.
It's the nontraditional that seems to rule the festival, from the performers to the attendees.
"It's kind of a whole culture in itself," said Khadima Chaddock, of Santa Rosa, who grew up Rohnert Park and was introduced to the dance form by her mother who attended the festival with her. "It's a pairing of traditional, folk and modern forms of dance to create our own style."
Chaddock and her friend, Luna Moon, 34, also a stage name, performed Friday with the Santa Rosa dance group Joweh R.A.W., which stands for Random American World for all the different styles it embodies. They said Tribal Fest helps people see belly dancing as an artform.
"It's definitely stigmatized a bit," said Moon of Santa Rosa. "It's a lot more than what people think it is."
Terri Anne Gutierrez, Joweh's founder who teaches Tribal and fusion at Yoga One in Santa Rosa, said performing at Tribal Fest gives there group a chance to push the boundaries.
"We really get to do choreography that we can't really do anywhere else," she said. "This is our safe place."
(You can reach Staff Writer Elizabeth M. Cosin at 521-5276 or elizabeth.cosin@pressdemocrat.com.)
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