meddevi
New member
My poor overworked brain, trying not to get deeply into semantics at the moment...if I was just to edit it as a stand-alone, I would put:
"Gothic Bellydance is an evolving style of fusion bellydance that has its roots in the 90's, featuring bellydance blended with the aesthetic, music, and attitude of Goth. Goth is a mindset, a subculture, that I have read came from punk culture. Wherever it originated it has a very distinctive feel to it and dark imagery appeals to many of them. The best way to describe Goth is a quote from the Van Helsing movie, "we try to look on the brighter side of death." It is finding beauty in what would normally be considered the more morbid and moribund aspects of life. Gothic bellydance is an expression of this whether performed with a cabaret and/or tribal foundation. It is not about what style you dance in but how you express yourself while dancing. Costuming tends toward black but isn't restricted by it either. It's more about stark contracts and a white goth is something to behold."
Particularly as a professional designer, I don't have an issue with the word style being applied to GBD(see Style | Define Style at Dictionary.com) - I think that describes what it is. It's not just costuming. You can't just put on heavy eyeliner and a black costume to make something Goth. It has to have application of style, augmenting movement and expression - and that takes technique and intellectual consideration. While the Gothic culture is diverse (Romantic, Old School, Cyber, Steampunk, Industrial, etc), there are still very clear guidelines and values for those many elements that take research and careful thinking to apply. Not that everything done in the name of GBD is successful and evident of that process, but that's what I teach and endorse.
On the other side of things, when I consider Tribal Fusion as it is now and how it's developed over the last 5-6 years, there are no set guidelines, it really is such a catch-all. It's supposed to be Tribal + ? = Tribal Fusion. So Tribal + Hip Hop + Ballet + Indian Classical + Jazz + Goth + Whatever. And then are we talking Indigo TF or Urban Tribal or Unmata or Sera Solstice or a mix of all of the above? While that can allow for a lot of creativity, unless there is a clear sign of what is being fused, it's so hard to hold a ruler up to it and define it. And so much of what is being presented right now really isn't being clearly defined/described, it's just the "well, it's Tribal Fusion." Nor does it help that there are so many new teachers on the block who don't have a foundation in either Tribal or the Fusion aspect, and are just teaching that to new students who have no idea really what they're learning, and so it gets watered down and confused even more. It hurts my brain.
And I just rambled on far longer than planned..back to Gothla US work...
"Gothic Bellydance is an evolving style of fusion bellydance that has its roots in the 90's, featuring bellydance blended with the aesthetic, music, and attitude of Goth. Goth is a mindset, a subculture, that I have read came from punk culture. Wherever it originated it has a very distinctive feel to it and dark imagery appeals to many of them. The best way to describe Goth is a quote from the Van Helsing movie, "we try to look on the brighter side of death." It is finding beauty in what would normally be considered the more morbid and moribund aspects of life. Gothic bellydance is an expression of this whether performed with a cabaret and/or tribal foundation. It is not about what style you dance in but how you express yourself while dancing. Costuming tends toward black but isn't restricted by it either. It's more about stark contracts and a white goth is something to behold."
Particularly as a professional designer, I don't have an issue with the word style being applied to GBD(see Style | Define Style at Dictionary.com) - I think that describes what it is. It's not just costuming. You can't just put on heavy eyeliner and a black costume to make something Goth. It has to have application of style, augmenting movement and expression - and that takes technique and intellectual consideration. While the Gothic culture is diverse (Romantic, Old School, Cyber, Steampunk, Industrial, etc), there are still very clear guidelines and values for those many elements that take research and careful thinking to apply. Not that everything done in the name of GBD is successful and evident of that process, but that's what I teach and endorse.
On the other side of things, when I consider Tribal Fusion as it is now and how it's developed over the last 5-6 years, there are no set guidelines, it really is such a catch-all. It's supposed to be Tribal + ? = Tribal Fusion. So Tribal + Hip Hop + Ballet + Indian Classical + Jazz + Goth + Whatever. And then are we talking Indigo TF or Urban Tribal or Unmata or Sera Solstice or a mix of all of the above? While that can allow for a lot of creativity, unless there is a clear sign of what is being fused, it's so hard to hold a ruler up to it and define it. And so much of what is being presented right now really isn't being clearly defined/described, it's just the "well, it's Tribal Fusion." Nor does it help that there are so many new teachers on the block who don't have a foundation in either Tribal or the Fusion aspect, and are just teaching that to new students who have no idea really what they're learning, and so it gets watered down and confused even more. It hurts my brain.
And I just rambled on far longer than planned..back to Gothla US work...
