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Author Topic: Performance dances in the Empires  (Read 4241 times)

Saikoyu

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Performance dances in the Empires
« on: 21 Jul 2010, 17:00 »

I am wondering, has anyone though up dances, specifically dance performances, that they do in the different cultures in New Eden?  My personal ramblings on the subject are below, but they are mostly focused on the Amarrian side of things, since that is where most of my back story needs were at the time I started thinking this up.  So I present this for tearing up, tearing down, and gluing back together if anyone wishes. 

Amarr:

I was actually following a more Arabic idea with the Amarr on this, since I know real world Arabic taboos a little bit and they seem to fit better with what is already in game, with Exotic Dancers being illegal.  Also, I went with an already old dance form since the Amarrians all seem like the most historically rooted of the empires.  My idea was that Amarrian dances fit a more Arabic/Eastern culture, and in modern times would be mostly of a folk dance style.  As a note, this is not the popular view of belly dancing with skimpy costumes etc, but is performed by both men and women, usually wearing some sort of traditional dress.  One example would be sword dances, which would probably be performed by men, though in the real world there are female sword dances, most of which evolved out of women making fun of the men's dances.

Having said all that, there would probably be an underground/illegal trade in Amarrian space for the more western idea of belly dancing.  As a note, in the real Arab countries, belly dancing is usually looked down upon at best and illegal at worst.  That said, there can be very famous belly dancers, but they are usually on a level with courtesans/prostitutes. 

Ni-Kunni:

With them being such an old client race, I would imagine that they would have adopted most of the Amarrian customs, including dance.  And I haven't seen anything else about their culture to base a reasonable parallel on.

Khanid:

Again, there is not much, but one might get away with a blend of Arabic and Chinese dances. 

Brutor:

I would say that African style tribal dances would fit in here, which might be an un-inspired choice.  From what I know, old style tribal dancing has a lot of feet pounding and chest pops.  However, given that this is so far in the future, one could probably use more modern dance styles that are "tribal."  Something like mosh pits, crowd surfing, or something else that is a modern "tribal dance" might have been sufficiently imbedded in the culture to stick.  Might be interesting to think up what head banging would become.

Sebiestor:

I didn't have too many ideas for them; however, given the "sneakiness" factor, I could see something like Capoeira, since that was originally developed as way to practice fighting under the slave owners noses.

Vherokior:

Again, not much.  But since they are nomads, I could imagine that they have adapted several dance forms from other cultures.

Gallente:

As with France in the 19th century, I can see the Gallente trying just about any kind of dance, the more out there the better.  I can also see them taking an interest in other cultures dances and then amping them up.  So you would see Amarrian belly dancing, or Brutor tribal dancing, but gone beyond anything the original has, or perhaps different styles would be mixed.

Intaki:

Not a clue really, I don't know the race.  Perhaps tribal style dances that tell stories.

Jin-Mei:

Given the caste system, I could see something Indian fitting here, but I don't know much about Indian dances.

Civire/Deteis/Achura:

I am unsure about these, since I have not looked at the Caldari much.  I could see very Japanese traditional dances with what other people have written, but I am not sure which culture it could go under. 
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Ken

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Re: Performance dances in the Empires
« Reply #1 on: 21 Jul 2010, 17:05 »

Gallente?  My thoughts upon launching the EVE client for the first time after seeing that show (skill queue must be kept current even when in Vegas) were basically, "Man, that was really Gallente."

...and perhaps this is more akin to Gallente dance from before the Gal-Cal War.  You can see why the Caldari wanted to get away.
« Last Edit: 21 Jul 2010, 22:01 by Ken »
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Vieve

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Re: Performance dances in the Empires
« Reply #2 on: 22 Jul 2010, 05:06 »

Gallente:

As with France in the 19th century, I can see the Gallente trying just about any kind of dance, the more out there the better.  I can also see them taking an interest in other cultures dances and then amping them up.  So you would see Amarrian belly dancing, or Brutor tribal dancing, but gone beyond anything the original has, or perhaps different styles would be mixed.

I've played with 'Gallente classical performance dance' as being acrobatic ballet, with dances from other cultures grafted onto that core (think Cirque du Soleil).

Vieve was training to be a ballerina until an unfortunate recital accident with a defective fire-globe. :P
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Zag

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Re: Performance dances in the Empires
« Reply #3 on: 22 Jul 2010, 06:27 »

...and perhaps this is more akin to Gallente dance from before the Gal-Cal War.  You can see why the Caldari wanted to get away.

What the... I think I need to book myself in for a mindwipe.

As for the Gallente, I do see them having some classical forms sure. Although I somehow suspect it's devolved to nothing more than drunken dirty dancing and bump n grind for use in seedy bars.

Intaki? Well if they generally have a subcontinent theme then there's always bollywood style dancing for them, no?
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Ken

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Re: Performance dances in the Empires
« Reply #4 on: 22 Jul 2010, 06:44 »

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Seriphyn

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Re: Performance dances in the Empires
« Reply #5 on: 22 Jul 2010, 09:42 »

Jin-Mei would be Chinese stuff, effectively China-in-space, for most of it. I don't know anything about Chinese dance.
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Laerise [PIE]

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Re: Performance dances in the Empires
« Reply #6 on: 22 Jul 2010, 09:54 »

What everyone seems to be missing in this kind of discussion is how the empires are composed of multiple (possibly hundreds) of inhabited planets and environments.

If you, for just a moment, you take into account how diverse our own, singular, inhabited planet is... and if you then consider how many different kinds of cultures we actually have - exactly, at least fictionally there's a place for everything anywhere.  ;)

Before you all start clamouring about the bloodlines etc - we have something aking to bloodlines irl as well, its called different culture / cultural groups.

From the top of my head I could classify the worlds population into, say, four distinct groups, which I'm not going to bother to write down, since thatd derail this thrad even further than I do.
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Ken

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Re: Performance dances in the Empires
« Reply #7 on: 22 Jul 2010, 10:13 »

Jin-Mei?

What everyone seems to be missing in this kind of discussion is how the empires are composed of multiple (possibly hundreds) of inhabited planets and environments.

That's a very legitimate point.  As Silver Night has emphasized, it's a big cluster.  These are just broad strokes at best.

We have to accept that any IC/IG generalization is just that, and the scale of the generalization is multiplied several times over in the EVE universe than it would be in our world.  I personally think it's silly for words like "Caldari" or "Gallente" to have any real meaning.  These identities refer to hundreds of billions (trillions?) of people living in hundreds of very different cultures on just as many different planets and colonies.  Even the most culturally homogenous empire, the Amarr, ought to be so far from a uniform, cohesive cultural entity that we wouldn't describe it as such from our present real world perspective.  FTL communication and travel and various other elements like mind control and social engineering certainly help to bind the empires of New Eden together, but as you and Silver have pointed out there is simply too much space in EVE for a cornucopia of cultural variations to not exist.

In this context of this discussion, the closest analogy I can think of might be using the word "Eastern" to describe something that is fact particularly Japanese or particularly of one town on Okinawa.  That is what we're doing when we say something is "Caldari" or "Minmatar".
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Casiella

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Re: Performance dances in the Empires
« Reply #8 on: 22 Jul 2010, 10:43 »

Seri, please stop categorizing everything as "X in space". I mean, if it works for you as a broad guideline for your own stuff, great. But neither CCP nor most of us with an interest in EVE fiction really regard the Jin-Mei as "space Chinese" any more than we all regard the Vherokior as "space Koreans" or the Brutor as "space Africans" or the Amarr as "space Catholics".

As for dance: I seem to recall TEA having a dance club scene with that Gallente Navy capsuleer, didn't it? Did it have something specific about the dancing and music?
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lallara zhuul

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Re: Performance dances in the Empires
« Reply #9 on: 22 Jul 2010, 15:37 »

Ni-Kunni are polygamous folk from a desert planet, I would think that the arabic dance thing would be more prevalent among them.

Also the Coptic Christians have dance as a part of their religious celebrations, spinning dervishes have religious motivations to what they do... they would probably be closer to Amarrian than your belly dancing because the culture of the Amarrians.

The problem for me with the the stereotyping of the different Empires and their dance types is the fact that your cultural references seem to be a bit off.

Brutor = Hawaiian/Maori
Sebiestor = Slavic nomadic in origin

Laerises point was quite accurate as well.

I doubt that the city folk spend time doing folk dances because of the nature of the cities, rural people with unique folk traditions come to the cities where they mix with other traditions where they mesh with the other traditions creating a tradition of their own in the city. Of course there are different areas in cities where people from similar cultural background like to gather but still there will be some 'generalization' going on.

When you start to go to a scale of a planet, a solar system, a Region, an Empire.
Then you are talking of a completely different beast.

Also you would have to take into account the nature of the society of the Empire in question as well.

In a hierarchical society like the Amarr, you would have the local folk dances for local events, then something that has been introduced into the system of dances from the top, like in the monarchies of Europe, where the lesser nobles show their pursuit for the emulation of the upper echelons of the society by imitating aspects of their entertainment.
Keywords: Medieval, local, ruling elite

In the Federation the whole thing would be a mish mash where the fashionable dances would be introduced by the regime, or special interests within the regime, that want the middle class to emulate the fashionable elite created by the media so that they will spend their time not thinking for themselves but consuming things and emulating something that has no real value. The lower tiers of the society would stick to their own cultural oddities in dancing so that they have something that unites them since they have no real power.
Keywords: distraction, ever changing, connected to consumerism

Caldari would probably range from strict ritual dances to commemorate certain great cultural influences in the past that would enable the whole nation to strive for perfecting those dances thereby celebrating the virtues of those influences, to constantly changing scene of different fashions of self-expression to celebrate the individual and relieve the stress of living in such a culturally constricting society.
Keywords: pride in the past, private release

Minnies... you get the train of thought I am heading for from the previous examples.
I better get some sleep...
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Seriphyn

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Re: Performance dances in the Empires
« Reply #10 on: 26 Jul 2010, 06:12 »

Seri, please stop categorizing everything as "X in space". I mean, if it works for you as a broad guideline for your own stuff, great. But neither CCP nor most of us with an interest in EVE fiction really regard the Jin-Mei as "space Chinese" any more than we all regard the Vherokior as "space Koreans" or the Brutor as "space Africans" or the Amarr as "space Catholics".

Jin-Mei look Chinese and have Chinese aesthetic. No, they're not Chinese-in-space, but that's there foundation.

There is plenty of French in chrons, for example
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