By: Amy McCain, intro by Chris Stead
As the Gothic community grows and evolves new elements get introduced. Originally an offshoot of the Punk scene from the late seventies and early eighties, the Goth subculture has developed into a much more rich and diverse scene than its progenitor. As this evolution occurred, Gothic Belly Dance and Tribal Dance was introduced. Asherra wrote an article about this several months ago and Tempest left a comment which added further information about the topic. We have managed to track down one of the founding members of Desert Sin, a Gothic Belly Dance troupe from the Los Angeles area. They have performed at many venues least of which is Labyrinth of Jareth and have generated a reputation for themselves.
Gothic Angst Webzine (GAW): Where did Desert Sin get it’s start? Was there a general idea that you
all just ran with or did it take prudent planning and lots and lots of
elbow grease?
Desert Sin (DS):
Desert Sin came to be in 1999. Myself and Tatianna were looking to do
something new within this dance medium. We loved the movement, but we both
needed something that helped free our spirit as well. I guess our spirits
were living in some rather dark places. We started by taking American
BellyDance and putting it in a gothic club, which is where I had been
dancing for many years already. We changed the clothes, the music, and the
tone. Our first gig was at Club Sin-A-Matic and very soon after that we
were performing at most of the gothic clubs in Los Angeles. There were only
three of us in the beginning, myself, Tatianna, and Linda. Within a year
Linda had dropped out and sweet, mezmerizing Cassandra stepped in. At this
point, Desert Sin was still not fully realized as our stories were very
loose. It was more about costume, music, and attitude. It wasn’t until the
following year, that Tatianna and I started weaving more complicated stories
into our performances, and by 2001 I was officially pushing Desert Sin into
a much more theatrical, story-telling style. I had finally found a way to
mesh all my experience into one company. Elayssa officially joined us in
2002, and she and I have been going strong ever since. There is something
about the two of us that is just magical when it comes to creation. It’s
like we finally found the other half of our brain.
GAW: Describe to us your first show concept, can you tell us where you got
the inspiration from?
DS:
Hmm…Well, our first gig at Sin-A-Matic came from a true melding of what
Tatianna and I had been doing for traditional Middle Eastern Dance and the
general feel of Sin-A-Matic, which at the time, had an S&M room in the back.
Everything from that first show seems so incredibly basic to me now, but at
the time it was a big deal. Our costumes were styled off of BellyDance and
what you were seeing in the clubs at the time…so, the basic split-skirts
and halter tops from Bellydance, but then make them all black, see-thru,
chains, painted latex, etc. One part of the dance involved a traditional
Middle Eastern candle dance, only Tatianna and I made it much more sensual
and ritualistic. It became a scene between two lovers almost, and involved
me pouring the hot wax over Tatianna in the end.
Our first real “Performance”, in which a true story was involved, was
inspired by many things. When Tatianna and I were coming up with the
concept I remember comparing parts of our dance to the movies “Legend”,
“Bladerunner”, and “Alien”. It was a sort of cyber fairytale simply titled
“Love Story”.
GAW: Is there a place where you do shows regularly?
DS:
Not really. Outside of the annual events that we are lucky enough to be
involved in, such as LOJ and EEMED, we pretty much just follow our gypsy
hearts wherever they lead us. We have talked about settling down into our
own venue, but it hasn’t happened yet.
GAW: We know that you will, once again, favor us with a performance at this
year’s Labyrinth of Jareth Masquarade Ball, is there any chance we might
get a teaser of the theme for this year?
DS:
Ah, this year we are quite excited about our dance. It is about BabaYaga,
the Russian witch. For those who saw our “Sita’s Fire” performance, in
which we first tested this character out, I can guarantee you will be
surprised at where it has gone. It promises to leave everyone wanting more,
except perhaps the 8 performers who will likely be gasping for air by the
end. I can also tell you that the Mystery Bird Puppet Show, responsible for
the puppets in “Musee”, will be present in this dance as well…and on the
same scale as their last giants.
GAW: How many years have you performed at LOJ now? And what were your past
themes?
DS:
I think this is our 5th year, and I continue to feel so lucky that Strider
of Sypher Studios let’s us be a part of it. The LOJ event is very involved
with the themes of light and dark, as are most fairytales. Most of our
themes have revolved around this in one way or another. We have done the
Fairy Court infiltration by goblins, the Phoenix death and rebirth,
mermaids, and the story of the lone human that finds herself in a fairy
ring.
GAW: What are your plans for the future?
DS:
Nothing much…a couple more shows in Los Angeles and New York and then a
world tour.
GAW: Can you describe your style of dance?
DS:
Not really. We’ve taken to calling it “Theatrical Dance”.
GAW: Do all the dancers contribute to choreography or is there one person
in particular that leads the others?
DS:
All our dancers contribute in one way or another. Elayssa and I pretty much
run the gamit, but we certainly could never finish anything without the help
of our beautiful, talented dancers.
GAW: Could you introuduce yourselves?
DS:
We are Djahari and Elayssa, co-directors of Desert Sin. Lovers of dance,
family, and creation. Not always in the order.
Check out Desert Sin at:
