Carolena Nericcio is an American belly dancer who is best known for founding the dance style known as American Tribal Style (ATS). She was born in 1952 in California and began studying belly dance in the 1970s.
In the early 1980s, Carolena Nericcio founded her own belly dance troupe, Fat Chance Belly Dance, which eventually evolved into the ATS style of belly dance. ATS is characterized by its improvisational nature and the use of synchronized group movements, as well as its incorporation of elements of various traditional folk dances from around the world.
Carolena Nericcio has taught workshops and performed at festivals and events around the world, and has trained many of the leading belly dancers in the ATS style. In addition to her work as a dancer and instructor, she has also written several books on belly dance technique and history, including “The Art of Belly Dance” and “Fat Chance Belly Dance: Tribal Basics”.
Overall, Carolena Nericcio is widely considered to be one of the most influential figures in the world of belly dance, and her creation of the ATS style has had a major impact on the development and evolution of modern belly dance.