I have found a variety of different tribes that are dedicated to Metalheads and Goth Metal [new genre for me...but its great to learn new things!]. Though I think i would want to get the honest opinion of Gothic Bellydancers here. Is it alright to use Metal of any sort in a Gothic Bellydance performance. I've seen alot of them on Youtube...and it makes me go "Wow!!!!!!!!!" Especially one that is done to Black No. 1. One of my favorite songs of all time! Would it still be gothic bellydance if it still encompasses all of the drama and story telling that makes Gothic Bellydance what it is? I am really working on a piece...and it keeps changing on me. It reminds me of a painting I did for a class. I had a concept and by the time I was finished with it...it evolved into something entirely different. I've gone through three costume changes and two song changes. Hopefully this one will stick!
I would hardly want to insult the community by seeming like I am mocking it with my performance. Since i am hoping to perform it in July. No more slacking off for me! So any insights, opinions, and comments are welcomed. Even if they are ones that say to change the music again for the third time! Thanks for your time!
I would hardly want to insult the community by seeming like I am mocking it with my performance. Since i am hoping to perform it in July. No more slacking off for me! So any insights, opinions, and comments are welcomed. Even if they are ones that say to change the music again for the third time! Thanks for your time!
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Mon, April 21, 2008 - 9:38 AMI wouldn't worry too much about whether or not dancing to metal is "gothic", as long as it moves you. I see nothing wrong with dancing to metal if you have the right venue for it. :) -
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Mon, April 21, 2008 - 1:51 PMGoth is an attitude as much as the music you dance to, if you have the attitude, you can get away with murder (well almost)
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Mon, April 21, 2008 - 2:59 PMThere's a lot of crossover between goth and certain genres of metal; take this Nightwish video:
www.youtube.com/watch
GAF!
Dreamside is a band that is considered goth, but their origins are more metal.
And then there is Disturbed, whose "Down with the Sickness" would be a great song to dance to.
So many goths I know were metalheads in their younger years, chugga-chugga guitars get their blood pumping still. So I would not worry that metal is not perceived as "goth" enough.
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Mon, April 21, 2008 - 5:50 PMWow! Thanks for the feedback. I was just a little nervous because I don't want to ask if its oki by the organizer of this "gothla" if it was alright that I perform the piece without getting some sort of idea from the community at large. I am hoping to have something for you guys to critique sometime in early May. I'm sooo excited! Thanks!
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Fri, April 25, 2008 - 3:55 PMI'm kind of going against the advice of others here, in a way--to me personally, heavy metal is not goth. Think of it this way--I use mostly Egyptian movement vocabulary in my dancing, but when I'm dancing to non-Arabic music, I don't call my dancing Egyptian style even though it's mostly the same movements. It just wouldn't make sense.
That said, though, you should dance to what moves you artistically in a way that moves you artistically in the costuming that moves you artistically. I personally would just not label it gothic belly dance. It's true that metal and goth share some back history, but if you go to a typical goth club, you're not going to hear much metal beyond the occasional Manson, and honestly I don't think you'd hear much of that outside of fetish events these days. (then again, I'm an old stick in the mud who came to goth through post punk and new wave and electronica, so that's my particular bias. I don't think I'm alone, though.) -
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Fri, April 25, 2008 - 3:57 PMI should also add--go ahead and do your piece at the gothla, because as said above, many goths do enjoy metal. Just be aware that you might lose some of your audience. I suppose though that's a risk with any music choice. I've danced to M.I.A. for a largely goth crowd; some people liked it, some people said WTF. But I was glad that I did it, for the sake of those people who liked it.
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Sat, April 26, 2008 - 12:01 AM"(then again, I'm an old stick in the mud who came to goth through post punk and new wave and electronica, so that's my particular bias. I don't think I'm alone, though.)"
Nope, you're not alone;) Came to goth the same way too. -
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Sat, April 26, 2008 - 7:54 AM*clings to metal cds, looks sad* m'k. well then what would you recommend for us with uumm harder tastes in music? after all i have *looks at calender* 10 months to plan for the next gothla !! -
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Mon, April 28, 2008 - 12:05 AMAw don't be scared of an old fart like me. I just burned out quickly on metal because it was the big thing back in high school.
Go for it.
You could always try some Tool.:)
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Thu, May 1, 2008 - 9:34 AM*clings to metal cds, looks sad*
What?!?!? dont! really, dont . I am very much into metal (death/doom/black) and my sister is into industrial/goth and we both were trained in tribal/tribal fusion so we meshed our styles calling it "Dark Fusion" why because its not just one or the other. We've danced to Black Metal at gothlas and got kick ass feed back from many MANY people. People will always find somehting to bitch about, the purist bitch about tribal, tribal about tribal fusion, all of the above about goth, goth about not being goth enough or too metal, metal about too goth and so on. I say, shut up and enjoy the show dammit!! You might actually learn somehing from someone who's on stage that is not dancing your "style". Watered down is what EVERYONE is. whats that game called where you whisper something into someone's ear and they have to pass it down to the next person and so on and in the end what you said is not what everyone ended up hearing? well its like that, the teacher who your teacher learned from has put in her own touch to her dancing and what she teaches and her teacher did the same as did the teacher before her and so on. Who's to say what we've been handed down to all of us is the way its supposed to be? Cant we all just get along?!?!?!
and I'm not goth nor am I a gothic belly dancer yet I still think Tempest, Ariellah, Sashi, and Neon kick ass!!! dont matter what they dance to. -
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Mon, May 5, 2008 - 9:58 AM"Watered down is what EVERYONE is. "
You can also think of this as having hybrid vigour, with all the mixing resulting in stronger strains rather than perpetuating the existing limitations that exist in "pure" lines ;) -
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Mon, May 5, 2008 - 1:33 PMI like it! I just wanted the "purists" to understand that no one is as pure as they think they are.
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Thu, May 1, 2008 - 12:43 PMI agree with Badriya, metal is definitely not goth. That being said, I dance to lots of things that are not strictly goth, so do what makes you happy and it keeps things interesting, you need to be moved by what you are performing to otherwise it's empty.
It's kind of the conundrum of when i asked if gothic bellydance was strictly limited to goth music or what is generally heard in goth clubs.
if you happen to be in the area badriya and I are in you will hear bjork produced by timbaland at goth clubs so it really becomes a mess.
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Thu, May 1, 2008 - 12:45 PMagh, i hope i didnt come off as sbitchy in that last line. bah who cares, i love my bjorkses.
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Sun, April 27, 2008 - 8:42 AMWhat (if anything) defines the "goth music genre"? I think that would help people choose music no matter what a band is classified as. Just because some clueless booksellers put Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty in the Children's section (yes, I've actually seen it and pointed it out - and been told I was wrong!), and record stores sometimes put P.D.Q. Bach in Classical (instead of humor), does not make them respectively Children's or Classical (although there is a very slight crossover argument for P.D.Q. Bach ;) )
So far in what I've noticed musically about GBD music (Gothic, generally, may cover a larger range) is:
- strong 4/4 beat (the instrument, drum or otherwise, keeping the beat should be much louder on the downbeat than the other 3 beats)
- violins or other drawn (as opposed to plucked or struck) string instruments are usually involved
- key signatures and standard runs of music are drawn from native Eastern European styles.
Is this right? Wrong? What can be added to or subtracted from it so that people can tell if something would fit - even if it's a single track on a CD that's labeled Metal, or, even worse, P.D.Q. Bach? -
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Sun, April 27, 2008 - 11:45 AMI think you can. Remember that at Gothla the people there are a bit more knowledgeable about this particular subculture, and may recognize that metal doesn't always equal GBD. In the general public, people aren't going to know better.
But if you want to do it, go for it. This is a rather experimental sub genre of dance anyways, the rules aren't set in stone.
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Fri, May 2, 2008 - 11:36 AMI dance to Heavy Metal, though not exlusively. I don't call myself a Gothic bellydancer, though I feel that parts of my dance are definatley "gothic". I dance to Industrial as much as I do metal, so I could go either way. I don't think that defining yourself is as important as doing what's inside. If you feel like going one way, then go. If you feel like going both ways, then split yourself in half. lol
Most descriptions, like on myspace and my personal site, sais Metal/Gothic bellydancer becasue I feel I'm somewhere in between. And I also refer to my style as a Dark fusion. I wouldn't quite call myself a Tribal Dancer, though everything I do stems from Tribal Fusion, and I feel like Gothic or Metal fusion is the offspring of Tribal Fusion style. Like I said, I don't think it's that important. Just call yourself a Fusion Dancer till you figure it out. hehehe
It's splitting hairs if you ask me. :)
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Fri, May 2, 2008 - 1:40 PMI dunno... I can think of three Lacuna Coil songs I want to dance to, and they are definitely metal... -
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Fri, May 2, 2008 - 3:18 PMThey're goth metal next to bands like Nightwish and w/in temptation, or theater of tragedy perhaps even The 3rd and the mortal. They are safe if you dont wanna step on anyones toes. Screw it, dance to "My body is not a vessel, nor a temple. It's a repulsive pile of sickness" and have yourself a good time.
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Re: GBD Music Selection : Metal
Fri, May 2, 2008 - 4:58 PMIf it helps with encouragement... I'm currently planning on using music from a progressive metal band with gothic overtones for my performance at Gothla.
Goth music has a weird definition. If you want to say one can only use "goth" music by some of the definitions I'm seeing here, you couldn't use something like EBM (e.g. Assemblage 23), Tribal Fusion music (e.g. Knossos), Industrial (e.g. :wumpscut:, Retrosic), etc, etc, and so forth. I've seen gothic bellydancers dance to the three artists listed before (and others in those genres) and not had people lose interest or walk away.
I'm of the opinion that the drama/storytelling is what makes gothic bellydancing. And that I got from the Gothmutha's talk on the subject in her instructional DVD (Tempest can feel free to correct me if I misinterpreted her).
