Not another dance?!

[galadhir]

End of term for Elizabeth's class and she let slip that next term she would be expecting us to write another solo.

One of the other ladies suggested to me that perhaps--as we both grew up being into Heavy Metal Rock--we could do a dance together to Khepri - Fangs of Apep

I could definitely put together an outfit for a heavy metal bellydance, with a black lace skirt and chains and a cropped band t-shirt. It would be nice to revisit my heavy rocker phase, and I do have the hair for it these days. It would also be really nice to dance with someone else. It's great just to be asked :)

But... just in case she is ill or changes her mind, I think I'm also going to work on a solo dance - if I don't use it then, I'll still use it later.

Today I was practicing Louise's veil choreography and my Fos solo for the hafla on the 11th, and you know I've been turning over the thought of using Ya Baba for something for a while now. Then this morning I woke up and looked at my sword and thought, "it would be nice to do another sword dance."

But I had been missing the thing that would bring everything together and give me the inspiration and excitement to actually start anything.

Well, it arrived today while practicing something else.

Obviously what I wanted was to do a sword dance inspired by the scene in the Fire Palace when Meng Yao is torturing Nie Mingjue for Wen Ruohan's entertainment.

• Nie Mingjue is a clan leader who rescued Meng Yao from bullying soldiers and made him his favourite, but Meng Yao killed one of his men. Almost immediately afterward MY saved NMJ's life by taking a sword thrust that was meant for him.
• So with streaming tears on both sides NMJ exiled Meng Yao, who went off to serve NMJ's enemy (and actually to spy for the good guys.) NMJ then got captured and MY had to torture him enough to make Wen Ruohan distracted, so that WRH would let his guard down and MY could stab him and win the war.
• This succeeded in winning the war, but meant that MY and NMJ's relationship never recovered and they became bitter enemies, eventually killing each other and being buried in the same coffin.

I have a lot of problems with doing the whole sexy & playful part of belly dancing, but Meng Yao is going full ham in that scene, being the most homme fatale a spurned favourite could possibly be while dressed in immaculate robes and eyeliner, and fondling another man's sword.

This is absolutely ideal for a belly dance! I'm sure I can do scheming villainous homoeroticism with a sword!

I was like 'I bet that would work with Ya Baba.' But now I have come home and looked up the lyrics, and it turns out they could have been written for that scene:

The wound My beloved (Oh Father) is on two sides
And I swear by God (Oh Father)
I have never loved anyone but him
We are not being lifted up (We are not being lifted up)
And the fire is in my heart (And the fire is in my heart)
It burns my veins, it burns my veins

So yes. I'm going to do that one regardless, even if I do a fun heavy metal one first :)

Comments

[starandrea]

I am going to start watching The Untamed right now. What in the world happened in that show! :D

[mistressofmuses]

A heavy metal bellydance sounds very fun.

But ooh, I do love when the lyrics come together so well for a scene in something! Even if I'm not familiar with that canon, it sounds perfect, and like a delightful idea!

[galadhir]

LOL! I think they knew they couldn't get away with too much homoeroticism with the main pairing, (and I think the producers were in two minds about going for a Wei Ying/Wen Qing ending.) So they poured all the BL in their souls into Meng Yao and his two love/obsession interests.

(I went into it sure I was going to be a WWX/LWJ shipper but came out absolutely obsessed with Meng Yao and his lack of choices. If I liked doomed obsessive loves that made everything worse, I would absolutely have fixated over MY/NMJ, but since what I actually like are loves that make things better, I am actually a MY/LXC shipper with a side order of 'they could have made it work if not for the rest of the world.')

I'm glad you're watching it now :) It took me three watches just to remember who everyone was, but you have a head start on that at least. It is hugely entertaining if nothing else :)

[galadhir]

I'm really so narrative-driven that it's a problem. That first sword dance I did was not inspired by anything and I felt throughout that it was a joyless exercise in assembling blocks of movements that didn't mean anything. Then everything improved when I realized that I could hook up the dancing with a little story element. It will be nice to do a sword dance that has some kind of emotional resonance even if it's obscure :)

I can recommend The Untamed if you are looking for something new to watch. It takes a few episodes to get into, and it can be confusing remembering who is who and what is going on, but it's always very beautiful and frequently very gripping too.

[kazzy_cee]

Sounds amazing! :D

[ranalore]

That would be an awesome basis for a sword dance!

[mistressofmuses]

I can definitely see the allure and the enjoyment of a more narrative-driven piece, so I'm very glad that's something you can work in to your routines!

I've heard a ton of good stuff about The Untamed. I probably will eventually try to give it a shot, though I haven't been doing much TV-watching lately. The gif sets I've seen from it have been beautiful!

[greetingsfrommaars]

scheming villainous homoeroticisim with a sword! ooh this sounds like an incredible representation of meng yao! i'll have to check out the song. it sounds very fitting.

[galadhir]

Thank you! I will do my best to make it so :)

[galadhir]

I know, right?! I'm very excited at the thought, though not hugely confident in my ability to do it justice. I'm going to try though :)

[galadhir]

LOL! I have been thinking of having an extra dagger I can pull even with the sword on my head. A surprise weapon is always a fun time :)

[galadhir]

I definitely found Fos easier to dance to once I had a backstory to what was going on. Now I must come up with something for Fangs of Apep too, as we are definitely doing that as well.

I really liked the fact with The Untamed that you often didn't know what was going on because it broke the Western narrative conventions that we're used to. That was refreshing. But I did have to watch it twice before I finally figured out who was who and what was happening. I think it's worth it though, and at the very least it is very beautiful throughout.

[mistressofmuses]

I've heard a lot of people mention the same thing when it comes to The Untamed or other C-Dramas. The different narrative structures and conventions make it feel very different from Western stories, in a way that's really surprising and refreshing.