Tribal thoughts #2: traditional and "pure" art

Ouled nail dancer

Hahbi 'Ru Dance Ensemble

I was just thinking about that: so many "traditional" dancers don't like Tribal & Fusion dance, since it is not considered a "pure" art form.
The most frequent criticism that I have heard is something like "Tribal/Fusion is more like a western/american fad that will soon go out of fashion".

Bal-Anat (early 70's)

What about considering dance history and all its contaminations? And above all, what is "pure art"?
I would like to quote an old interview with Rachel Brice (2005):

"Yeah, a lot of people don't feel that it's bellydance. But that's OK. If people need to fiercely defend the tradition of the art form, that's OK. People like to talk about what's Tribal and what's not, what's bellydance and what's not. But when you study dance ethnology, and you see where the intersections are, they're fuzzy. Everything is influenced by everything else, especially when you follow the Gypsies that start in one place and travel around, just picking things up and throwing things out. There is no "pure dance," really. So it's given me a lot of tolerance."

Ultra Gypsy members: Jill Parker, Rose Harden, Rachel Brice

Fat Chance Bellydance