My inspiration for this project was the Ouled Naïl Tribe. They are a group of people belonging to a confederation of Arabian tribes living in the Ouled Naïl Mountains, which are located in Algeria. There’s an estimated 2,300,000 nomadic peoples in this tribe. Interestingly enough, even in this modern day and age, the members of this tribe still dress very traditionally and lead relatively simple lives of rearing cattle and farming.
The women of the tribe are especially known for their unique dancing style; belly dancing, as most people know it, was actually a dance form taken from the Ouled Naïl dancing style. Although their primary roles in society are connected to animal farming, most women are trained in the art of dance and song since childhood. Their dances and music tell stories from hundreds of years ago and are passed on from generation to generation.