Recently gothic bellydance and myself came under fire on yahoo group Bellydance Australia. Here is my response which you may find interesting as an overveiw of Gothic bellydance.


Ahem.... I have read through these posts and quite frankly most of you have the wrong end of the stick. Belyssa I am greatly offended by some of your comments and tone. I can tell you are looking down your nose at me and my dance form and can only suggest you research before you misjudge my danceform which I hold dear.
Firstly Gothic bellydance is a fusion of bellydance - whether that is oriental or tribal - fused with elements from the gothic subculture. No we are not freaks! and the dvd you are refering too - Bellydance for beautiful freaks - is a tongue in cheek humerous title. It reflects that most of the bellydance community veiw tattooed and pierced gothic girls as freaks - especially when we start dancing "darkly". No we dont dance with "chicken arms" or not smiling! You will find lots of youtube videos of what is tagged - gothic bellydance- fall short of what the dance form actually is. Most are an attempt from main stream bellydancers with little or no understanding of the gothic subculture - to gothic bellydance. I humourlessly dub them doom cookies.
You see some of this Doom cookie dance on the Gothic dvds. Sadly only a handful of the girls on these dvds are actually goth, so there is maybe only 3 -4 (if that) dances on there I would label as true gothic bellydance.
No, a good gothic dancer does not always dance with a scowl. This is most likely a doom cookies misguided perception of the gothic subculture. Gothic bellydance is extremely theatrical and dramatic - My dances range from passionate gothic Victorian, to impish double sword through to eartly goddess and temple dance .. and then there is the strength of Animae, the silver screen style of Gothic Nuveou and the pop and locking of cyber goth. Then theres the cheeky gothic Belly Burlesque ( before you all get your bloomers in a twist over Burlesque, I suggest you research the history of that too - wikipedia is a great resource for burlesque history)
We take inspiration from gothic literature such as Mary Shelly, Edgar Allen Poe, Anne Rice - from artists such as Salvadore Dali, Van gogh - from gothic music ( no not always heavy metal either) - From classic gothic silver screen films. A side note you may find interesting on the music front, there is alot of gothic middle eastern music being released I suggest you check out Strange flesh or Serpent Rouge.
I also suggest you check out my videos on my website or youtube for a clearer picture.
Bellydance is not a launching pad for anything and everything. And dark does not equate to evil or santanic. I suggest those of you with little understanding of the term "dark" to reserch gothic history. Take a look at gothic architecture and the thinking behind it. Research gothic artists and writers and read about their lives not just look at their art or read their poetry or stories. One turn of the century poet - Edith Sitwell - insisted on wearing black permanently because she was in mourning for the world. Read about the Visigoths of the 3rd century who did not want to become apart of the Roman political Structure and so lived on the fringes of society and were dubbed as heathens because of their pagan practises and seemingly "uncivilised" lifestyle.
Throughout history til todays gothic subculture - we are fringe dwellers because we do not wish to be apart of mainstream society which tends to be shallow and materialistic. We are not always accepted because of our alternate way of thinking and lifestyle. The gothic subculture is multidimensional, with many layers. We are very deep, intelligent, educated thinkers and artists with a fascination for the darker genres of literature, music, art, film and dance. Gothic is not the shallow thinking of teenage "kinder goths" experiementing with lifestyles and fashion - its is far deeper than that.
The way gothic bellydance came about is typical of subcultures - it started when the first little goth girl turned up to bellydance class. More and more gothic girls took lessons in bellydance and because they were different, creative and artistic. began to experiment. The term " Gothic Bellydance" came about quite recently because mainstream thinking needs to box things neatly and give it a name. And again Gothic bellydance true to the subculture is multi dimensional and layered.
The reason behind my workshops is not to use bellydance as a launching pad for a shallow halloween style tacky fusion. It is to create an awareness so those non goths wanting to dabble with the artform because it attracts them. Within Brisbane there is a huge interest in Gothic Fusion and on many occasion I have been asked to teach my style of gothic fusion. I am aiming to give interested dancers the tools and knowledge so that they understand what gothic bellydance is and is not, so they do not create a montrous traversty that only serves to inflame incorrect preconceived ideas. I see some appalling attempts at gothic fusion on youtube and so I have decided to educate other dancers. For the record, my last workshop uncovered some beautiful emotive dancing that I never see onstage.
Might I also add too that in order for dance to grow throughout history in all genres it has taken experiementation of ideas and a tolerance towards other artists for dance to become what it is today. I must also add that I am very passionate about keeping dance forms pure but that there is room for creativity and fusions.
Regards
Rayvn