Gothic Bellydance - The 21st Century

The 21st Century

As a modern and versatile world dance genre, belly dance has yielded an array of interpretive dance sub-styles compatible with modern music and imagery. Dancers performing Gothic belly dance usually retain their preferred technique — mostly modern cabaret and tribal fusion belly dance — but also bring new emphasis to the dramatic and theatrical features of their dance to match the intensity and vibe of Goth music.

Gothic belly dance discussion groups hosted by tribe.net, MySpace, and other online community sites connected dancers from around the world, making possible workshops and tours, and helping this new genre to solidify and gain recognition within the larger dance community. In addition, the rapidly expanding global access to free online video resources at YouTube and similar sites has allowed artists to unify and combine their efforts in promoting and developing their genre — unconstrained by national borders, scarcity of funds, or lack of support from their local communities.

In 2007 Southern California-based dancers and instructors, Tempest and Sashi, launched the annual Gothla, described by the L.A. Weekly as "a 'gothic hafla' that combines weekend-long workshops with a Saturday festival featuring twelve hours of performances and merchant booths where dancers can find costumes and accessories." Gothla US 2009 took place March 6–8 at Cal Poly Pomona.

Gothla UK was also first held in 2007 in Leicester, England and is now a highly successful festival covering three days, usually in July. International teachers are joined by UK teachers such as Her Royal Hellness Lucretia (Christine Emery), Fulya (Lynn Chapman), and Akasha (Heike Humphreys) to offer a range of themes not often covered by general belly dance events from Steampunk and 1920s to Zombie and Vampire Belly Dance.