There really couldn't be anyone better to teach Dance artistry than Ariellah. While I am not particularily interested in Goth Fusion, Ariellah's talent and beauty transcends genre and is breathtakingly expressed as she teaches and dances. If you have not had the pleasure to see her perform live, you are missing out. Video cannot possibly capture the exchange of soul that occurs between an audience and dancer.
With the delightful exception of Tania Wee and Ariellah, I've always thought goth belly dance to be super emo and way too intense (similarily to priestess worship belly dance). It reminds me of being a teenager writing twisted poems about night and roses and being misunderstood. However, Ariellah is far from emo. Her costume and music choices are more industrial, but as she translates the music through movement as if making the unacknowledged seem understandable.
What Ariellah possesses is a beautifully intense strength and vulnerability. At one moment the stage is furiously beaten by her feet, the next, her arms fold in to reveal a tender spirit looking for acceptance. When Ariellah dances, she tells a story. A beautiful and melodic story that has a beginning, a conflict, a climax and a conclusion....like a conversation.
So who better to communicate the art of artistry in dance? Too often, myself included, I see dancers too caught up in themselves and the movement to truly express and communicate with the audience. When we have a conversation, do we plaster on a big fake smile and proclaim we are hip-happy to be there while our partner in conversation is mourning the loss of their beloved pet rabbit?
Conversations don't work like that. And neither should performance. In music, there are many terms for change in mood; "dimuendo, crescendo" are just a couple of those moods. The art in artistry is creating a conversation and making a statement or having intention in the thing we are doing. So next time you perform, think about having a conversation with your audience. Allow them to respond to you. I know that's what I intend to do.
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