Alumni Dance at the Design ~n~ Dance 2013 Event
Eighty-four people packed the venue to honor the art of Gorean dance. The even was well organized by Hayden Cerise, who pulled together writers, musicians, performers, builders, artists, organizers, DJs, judges, photographers and sponsors to bring the community together for one of the key events of the year. You can read more at design-n-dance.weebly.com.Gorean dance is special because it combines writing, music, animation to create a powerful image. It may follow formal patterns from the books such as the chain dance, or placatory dance. Some events are based around judged competition, and some are simply exhibition for celebration of the art at performers.
This event included both. It opened with a group dance performed by the competitors from last year's event. What makes the "DnD" event special is it's combination of custom wardrobe with the performances. In this case, the dancers wore colorful 'silks' designed for high performance when rendered on crowded servers.
Snow, one of the group dancers, won a specially designed seating area for choosing the theme of this year's event - "Absolute Obedience". I was fortunate to somehow be invited to sit in that perch which afforded me a fine view for my sketches.
The main event came next with well known dancers competing in turn. While competition can spoil art, it does help to provide vet best practices in how to develop dances. Many sponsors contributed money and time to reward the competitors. Don't be misled. They are all winners through virtue of preparing and taking the sands. The performed in sequence, starting with Taema, and continuing with Angel, Tabi, Maddy, Aqila, Domi Maia, and Deb. While the judges performed the impossible job of selecting 3 winners, the audience was treated to an exhibition performance by Ebony, winner of last year's event, and also Lani, a girl chosen as this year's new and upcoming dancer. Even the DJ handling the music, Giani, is well known in the dance circles.A future post will detail more about those excellent performances. But for now, I wanted to praise the structure and organization of the event that makes it possible to appreciate the art of so many all year round.
Honor and Steel, Koardan of Port Haifa.
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| Ebony performs an Exhibition Dance |
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| Lani Performs her exhibition dance |
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| Lani in the sands |
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| Ebony, winner of last year's competition closes with an exhibition dance in Schendi style |
About
The setting for our performance is a science fiction world called 'Gor' based on the novels by John Norman. It features diverse cultures, honor, and fantasy slavery. Do not watch if that is not to your taste.Gorean dance represents a combination of many art forms, including music, animation, story, technology, sponsorship, judging, event organization, culture, writing, and photography. Artists from many nations and
languages strive to choose music, animation, and a thousand words to stir an emotional image for you.
Be it competition or exhibition, formal pattern or simple story, the community is united by love of the art.
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Notes:
Dance written and performed by the 2012 Design n Dance Alumni- babypea choreographer
Second Life(R) is a trademark of Linden Research, Inc.
The setting is based on the fiction by John Norman.