Terms & Conditions

Gothic Belly Dance is well on its way to developing its own vocabulary as the interest group grows, and more minds join the scene. For example, modified moves are getting names as they're developed. Personally, I've come up with some names for moves that are totally tongue-in-cheek because it helps students remember, and well, it's damn fun!

Gothla: a Gothic Hafla! Credit for this one goes to Zan of Chovexani. The first gothla was held in NYC on December 11th, 2005, following a workshop by Tempest.

GBD: the quick and dirty abbreviation for Gothic Belly Dance. A GBDer is a Gothic Belly Dancer.

The Gothfia - spawned by a discussion on the origin of gothla, in which Tempest said, "Gothic Belly Dancers - just like the mafia, only hotter" and from there, all sanity was lost. The Gothfia are the keepers of the artform, but in a cheesegoth sort of way.

Cheesegoth - another Tempest-term. Can describe the classic Gothic stereotype, usually fang-in-cheek. Most Goths embrace the cheese-factor, especially as they age---it's the point where Eldergoths can laugh at the silly things they did in their younger days, meanwhile rolling their eyes at the Emos.

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