Gothic Bellydance Music

The 2011 New York Theatrical Bellydance Conference Held

The Near East is the cradle of civilization, and also the cradle of dance. Some ancient Near Eastern dance forms are still practiced today, most widely is oriental dance, raqs sharqi, or it's most common name, bellydance.

Bellydance can be as simple and superficial as a nightclub entertainment but it is so much more than just that. Gifted and well-trained practitioners of this primal dance have always made it into an expressive, theatrical art form that transcends mere entertainment.

To that end, dancers across the country and around the world are packing their bags this summer for the New York Theatrical Bellydance Conference, an event that will combine 4 days of intensive instruction with 3 curated stage productions at the Dance New Amsterdam theater, all happening in downtown Manhattan July 6-10. Curated stage performances will feature a diverse away of professional bellydance artists. The conference is co-directed by Ranya Renée and Anasma, internationally known bellydance teachers and performers.

Over the course of 4 days of intensive instruction, students will participate in workshops with 20 teachers whose styles run the gamut of the bellydance genre, from modern Egyptian to Hip-Hop Bellydance fusion and Gothic. A description of all workshops and full conference schedule is available here: http://theatricalbellydance.com .

Artisans and costume vendors will be selling gorgeous bellydance stagewear, gifts and accessories during the conference as well.

"A growing number of shows in the bellydance community present the dance as a theater art, and our conference seeks to highlight this movement," notes Ranya. Adds Anasma, "Ranya and I share the belief that theater techniques facilitate dancers' capacity to be connected to themselves and to their audience."

In addition to the co-directors, the conference's dance instructor lineup also includes several instructors returning by popular demand from last years conference, plus an exciting lineup of new instructors: Fayzah, Ayshe, Yael Becker, Autumn Ward, Zoe Anwar, DaVid of Scandinavia, Lena Helt, Dalia Carella, Wendy Buonaventura, and the legendary Elena Lentini. For more information on instructors and featured performers, please visit the conference's bios page.

Ranya Renée earned her theater degree at Yale, and has been a fixture on the New York Middle Eastern dance scene for 18 years, including performances at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival and Central Park Summerstage. Her style is characterized by musicality, cultural integrity and humor in interpreting traditional and modern Egyptian music. Anasma, based in New York and Paris, is known for her innovative fusion of bellydance with theater, mime, hip hop, salsa, martial arts and other dance arts. Anasma started performing Middle Eastern dance in 1997. Since 2006, she has toured in 20 countries, and been featured in 8 DVDs and CDs. Recently, she was nominated for the Unique Arts Awards. Anasma and Ranya have both taught and performed extensively in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Gothic Bellydance

A while ago I talked about the boom of the academies and belly dance dancers in the West, today I want to tell you more about one of the most beautiful belly dance waves, which was born from cultural mixture and different artistic styles, the Gothic Belly dance.

Without being an expert on the subject, I would say that this exquisite mixture between oriental dance and dark gothic performance music formed bands with a more ethnic style; post-punk movement in the late 70′s, Dead can Dance. Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry formed a musical and artistic project different from other bands of the early Darkwave of the 80s. With a more anthropological approach to music, they created one of the most successful and exquisite musical groups linked to the dark movement, Dead Can Dance.

During the late 80′s, many dancers began to be interested in the fusion of music and gothic aesthetic with dance, which is called “Tribal Belly Dance”, one of the largest styles is gothic belly dance. It is in the 90′s when the first featured dancer in the style began talking about a new way to experience the oriental dance.

One of the bands that has popularized the Gothic Belly Dance is Faith and the muse, which today includes in its performance two dancers called “Serpentines”, it is a band that also plays gothic music with ethnic sounds, especially from East and Asia. In addition to the mentioned bands, there is a movement within the gothic based on this mixture, in which the dance feeds the darker feelings, emotions and sensual instincts. One of the most famous exponents of Gothic Belly Dance is Rachel Brice, whose body technique is famous worldwide.

TDR.

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