Dancing on Bela Lugosi's Grave: The Politics and Aesthetics of Gothic Club Dancing Author(s): Tricia Henry Young

Reviewed work(s): Source: Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Summer, 1999), pp. 75-97 Published by: Edinburgh University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1290878 . Accessed: 12/01/2012 10:49
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DANCING ON BELA LUGOSI'S GRAVE: THE POLITICS AND AESTHETICS OF GOTHIC CLUB DANCING
TriciaHenryYoung

The importance of spectacular subcultures here is not that they represent the whole of 'youth' in some homogenous 'youth culture' but, in their practices of 'winning space' within and against the hegemonic order, they constitute fragile, transient and minority forms, issuing symbolic challenges to the dominant culture and its definitions.'

Originating in Britain in the late 1970s and early 1980s as an offshoot of Punk subculture, Gothic Rock (also referred to as Goth, Death Rock, Death Punk, Dark Wave, Ethereal, and Doom and Gloom) has become one of the longest-enduring post-war youth subcultures. By the early 1980s the archetypal Punk musical style had begun to evolve into what became known as New Wave. New Wave 'was what punk became as influences became more disparate, musicianship improved, bands fragmented, new permutations emerged and record labels realized that punk was unmarketable'.2 Gothic music emerged at this time, influenced by both Punk and New Wave. Some bands, such as Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, and Joy Division, continued to draw on the guitar-based Punk formula. Others, including Soft Cell and The Cure, drew on the synthesiser influence of New Wave. A third type of Gothic music developed which combined the guitar and synthesiser formats; bands such as Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins are examples.3 In the mid 1980s what became known as the 'classic Goth' sound was characterised by a preference for minor keys (often incorporating a descending minor third bass pattern reminiscent of Chopin's Death March); thin, reverberating electric guitars (often referred to by Goths as 'jangly mandolin-style' guitar); heavy use of synthesisers or effects processing; and gloomy lyrics performed by an While the melodic and vocal ranges angst-driven basso-profundo. tended to be constricted, the rhythms were richly varied suggesting a wide range of influences from Latin clave, rhumba and basanova beats to Arabic music to reggae to disco. In general, Gothic music drew from a much broader base of musical resources than did Punk. Although the term Gothic Rock now refers to a rather broad 75

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spectrum of musical styles (and there is often fierce debate among the Goths themselves as to which bands are truly Gothic4), there is general consensus that the 1979 'Bela Lugosi's Dead,' written by Peter Murphy for his band the Bauhaus (1979-1983), is the archetypal Goth song by the archetypal Goth band.5 By 1982 the term Gothic had stuck as a reference to an emerging group of bands and their fans. The Goth scene was first fostered at a London nightclub called the Batcave, in operation from 1982 to 1985, which attracted a crowd that, according to David Turin, writing for the L.A. Weekly,
... had sensibilities more morbid, more on the beauty side of decay, than punk could sustain. The Batcave showed horror films and played glam rock - Gary Glitter, the Sweet - as well as newer bands like Southern Death Cult (later The Cult). The decor was House of Usher. Robert Smith and Siouxie Sioux [of the band Siouxie and the Banshees] were regulars. Gore-obsessed performers like Gado the barbarian introduced the crowd to body mutilation. Like a Disney pirate ship with dancing skeletons, it was delightfully ghastly6

Nik Fiend, of the band Alien Sex Fiend, recalls:

The Batcave really was an alternative to whatever else was happening at the time, an alternative independent. It was the perfect outlet for doing something that made no sense. I was always into Alice Cooper, but I was also into Salvador Dali, so for me it was an opportunity to do something that was visually exciting, to an audience which was equally visually exciting.7

The movement quickly spread and became an international youth culture with scenes throughout Europe, North and South America, and Australia. A recent international Goth club listing also lists clubs in Asia and Africa.8 Many British Goth musicians and fans, like members of other British post-war subcultures, were art school educated and made conscious references to earlier artistic movements, most visibly the neo-Gothic literary movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Although the movement has evolved since the mid 1980s, and has been influenced by a number of other trends, the 'classic' Goths are still a recognisable group. Pale-faced and dressed in black, they value imagery both religious and sacrilegious, consumptive poets, vampires, fetishism, and all things spooky.9 Gothic rock bands sing of transgressive sex and horror film imagery.'1 Gothic subculture is marked by a sense of pessimism, dissatisfaction with society, and a longing to escape to another world. There is a sense that humankind has been aban76

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Goth fans. Uncredited photograph c. 1987. Copyright Mick Mercer.

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doned by positive spiritual powers, and a preoccupation with both mortality and nostalgia for other eras. The crucifix, symbolic of Christ mortally wounded, is a staple Goth accessory. Role playing, evident in the clothing and characters adopted by both musicians and fans, and the interest in role playing games such as 'Masquerade' are expressions of the desire to transcend mainstream sensibilities and the ennui of everyday life. A young Goth recently told me that:
To most present day Goths [the term Gothic] means a lifestyle, not just one night of dancing at a club. These people ... find beauty in the darker side of life, they believe that there is nothing wrong in a little misery and drama. 'Depressed' has often been used to describe the Gothic people, but this is not quite right. Because reveling in dismay is not the norm in society, does not mean that they are ultimately sad, just that they are fascinated by the feelings and action that it can bring.1

Gothic subculture also expresses a deep ambivalence about technology. The music often features computer-generated and 'Industrial' sounds.2 This emphasises what is perceived as the receding power of humans to that of machines, while at the same time explores the aesthetic possibilities of the new technology. One ironic manifestation of this ambivalence is the creation of digitally produced feedback on sound recordings and digitally produced scratches on videos to produce a nostalgic illusion of low-tech production. The fact that Goths are an extremely engaged presence on the internet,13 creating home pages that often depict spooky, candlelit atmospheres, also underlines this ambivalence and gives this particular incarnation of the Goth aesthetic a distinctly camp quality. Gothic subculture draws on a wide range of sources in creating its dramatic, highly coded style. Drawing on such disparate sources as Punk, horror movies, Gothic novels, comic books, and Christian imagery Goths juxtapose familiar items in unconventional ways, changing meaning by shifting context. At once elegant and ghastly, earnest and parodic, this conflation embodies the paradoxical and dichotomous nature of the Goth mindset. Black clothing, hair, lipstick, nail polish and blackened eyes and whitened faces are both visually compelling and repulsive. While Goth fashion is striking and often very beautiful, it intentionally rejects and parodies mainstream ideals of beauty and good taste. Favourite fashion themes at clubs include the subverted 'undead' bride or prom queen 78

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(shredded gown worn with combat boots, deathly makeup, etc.). Conventional vampire imagery is also big: fangs worn with little rivulets of blood dripping from the corner of the mouth, crucifixes, velvet capes, lots of lace. Some Goths have found dentists willing to file their teeth to create permanent fangs; customised dental prostheses are widely advertised in Goth publications. There are also certain optometrists who fashion special contact lenses which bestow the wearer with eerily effective yellow cat, snake, or lizard eyes, or other mutant effects. In an article entitled 'Makeup Tips for the Bleak' in the Goth fanzine Ghastly,the author laments the predictability of Gothic fashions and suggests variations on the theme:
For those doing vintage looks, realise that both the eighteenth century and the Victorian era have been done to death. The Twenties, Thirties, and Forties are largely untapped by Goths and have great potential. One could dress as an emaciated, opium-addicted flapper from the Aleister Crowley set or pose as the Black Dahlia, a would-be actress from the Forties whose gimmick was that she dyed her hair black and would wear only black clothing; her ghastly mutilation and murder remain unresolved to this day.'4

The article goes on, in a kind of dark self-parody, to say that

If you have scars on your wrists from suicide attempts, by all means display them proudly The same goes for bruises, cuts, and track marks. Abscesses, however, should always be coyly veiled in filmy black fabric.'5

Christian imagery is among the most controversial elements of Gothic subcultural style. Crucifixes, rosaries, crosses, angels, and images of Christ are juxtaposed with gargoyles, demons, vampires and satanic images to high affect. Likewise nun's habits and monk's robes may be worn with fishnets and garters, dog collars, chains, and heavy leathers. Though mainstream culture has often taken this imagery at face value and believed Goths to be Satanists, this is not the case. Blasphemy is used as a symbol of rebellion in much the same way that fascist imagery, such as the swastika, was used by the Punks. As forbidden, culturally maligned images they serve to shock, to identify the wearer with dangerous, powerful forces, and as a kind of cultural mirror - as if to say that what society fears and despises most is in fact the essence of itself. Like the omnipresent cross over the grave of the betrayed, 'undead' Giselle in the Romantic (Gothic) ballet of the same name, the ironic reference is 'a lot of good Christianity did her'. The following quotation from

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Advertisement for 1996 Gothic calendar. Propaganda magazine No. 23, Fall 1996.

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the 'uk.gothic.people Frequently Asked Questions' database, considered by Gothic subculture to be a primary source for information on all things Goth, addresses this issue:
Are goths involved with Satanism or Paganism? I'm black/fat/old/gay/ disabled/conservative, can I still be a goth? Goth is not a religious, political, racial, sexual nor occult movement, and there are goths of all faiths, races, beliefs and orientations. If you want to be a goth, be one. ... Religious imagery, particularly that of Christian Catholic (crucifixes), Ancient Egyptian (Ankhs) and Pagan (Pentacles) is popular, as it conveys the 'darkly powerful' feeling associated with goth music.l6

Vampire imagery is also closely associated with Gothic subculture and, like religious references, is most often used figuratively. Most Goths agree that:
Vampires are used as and make excelent (sic) allegories for all that some of us see as evil in the world, for example corporate greed, dictatorship and fascism.17

As Dick Hebdige explains, subcultures are 'intrigued by the most mundane objects ... which ... take on a symbolic dimension, becoming a form of stigmata, tokens of self-imposed exile'.18 These stylistic choices serve to present Goths as 'Other'. The drug addicted, the victimised, the suicidal, the undead, the predator, the blasphemist, the iconoclast, indeed simply youth itself all symbolise outsider status and as such serve to express the Goth feeling of estrangement from mainstream culture. According to Turin:
... try being a guy and wearing a dress and white pancake makeup and a corset and black lipstick to school. ... Then you really are an outcast. Your alienation is wonderfully confirmed. The group bond is fortified. The entire outside world, life itself, is a common enemy. Somewhere in the collective mind of the Goth kids is the belief that death is depth. Morbidness and intelligence go hand in hand. Personal attrition - that's the spirit. Tragic, poetic things are cool. Play dead and the serious world seems less serious. At least its rapid encroachment doesn't seem so threatening. You're removed.'9

Like the early Germanic invaders after whom it takes its name, the Gothic brings with it the threat of the destruction of culture. Although these subversive practices may 'be conducted at a level beneath the consciousness of the individual members of a spectacular subculture ... the subculture is still, at another level, an intentional communication'.20 Although there is no specific name for the kind of dancing done at Goth clubs, it displays recurring traits that mirror the politics 8i

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and aesthetics of Gothic subculture. Constituting a sort of danse macabre,it is flamboyant and theatrical, generally presenting a deadpan-serious figure who resembles the tormented or dying. A signature Gothic move is executed with the dancer bent forward from the waist with hands held behind the back in an expression of bondage. Convulsive movements are also common, suggesting that the dancer is crying, in severe pain, or in the last throes of death. Dancers often bring to mind images of Frankenstein awakening, condemned prisoners being electrocuted, or victims of electroshock treatment. Alternately limp and rigidly erect, they jerk their torsos and limbs as if convulsed with high voltage. Other dancers suggest guillotine victims, their hair cut severely short in back and flopping over in front (so as to insure a quick, clean slice.)21 They bend slowly forward, then stagger and lurch, flinging their heads wildly and slamming their hair on the floor or swinging it in the air in time with a driving beat. The following accounts of dancing at Helter Skelter, a Gothic event at the Probe club in Hollywood, California, also describe representative movement styles:
Those on the dance floor stand stock-still, clutching at themselves and staring down at the floor as if they were standing at a grave looking down upon a loved one. As the song begins to pick up, a few start to glide about the floor swinging their arms slowly and grandly, reaching out for something that seems to be just beyond their grasp. The others fall slowly to the floor, kneeling or crouching silently while clutching themselves even tighter. ... Several other dancers have taken to the floor. The music moves faster and harder, the lights begin to flash and swirl. Now there are a hundred or more people on the dance floor, arms swinging and moving about faster, their faces plastered with looks of utter pain. Some, dressed in spiked heels and bondage-gear grope greedily at themselves and those around them, while others collapse violently to their knees, only to spring up again a moment later, and still others bend backwards, stretching their arms to the ceiling, invoking God's forgiveness or damnation. Gothic dance ... is at once a beautifully enchanting and an evilly repulsive sight.22 Goth kids move like jittery corpses, lifting their arms slowly, with the jaded naivete of the dead reawakened to a hostile world. They do the classic Gothic 'penny drop' - falling almost to the floor, scooping with their hands. They waltz like ghosts in an old hotel.23

According to Mick Mercer the 'gothically correct taffy-pulling dance' was culled from the film version of Edgar Allen Poe's 'Masque of the Red Death' starring Vincent Price.24 Some Goths admit that their dancing has as much to do with showing off their clothes and exhibiting the requisite 'Goth attitude' as with mastering particular moves. The Goth attitude is
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most often described by Goths themselves as dramatic and pretentious. Goth dancing often involves simply standing in place and striking melodramatic poses; projecting an anguished, tortured, somewhat bored persona. Add to this the predilection of Goth clubs for fog machines, and props such as coffins, cages, and large crucifixes and the scene is so camp that it appears to often take pleasure in being a parody of itself. According to Peter Stone, host of a San Francisco Goth event known as the House of Usher at club DV8:
Most pretentious is the Goth way of dancing ... you could say it's a cross between emotional, depressed, ethereal, ballroom, solo dancing. ... It's choreographed with moves you can make fun of.25

The affectation of broodiness and boredom, and the ostentatious shunning of all things non-Goth, or not-Goth-enough, is part of the Goth equation. Goths are well known for leaving the dance floor if they dislike the band, the song a DJ plays, even other dancers on the floor. A dance floor may be cleared in a matter of seconds if anything meets with the disapproval of the group. They move to the fringes of the space and 'sulk' - a favourite diversion. In fact, a number of Goths have told me that they often rank a club by how good a place it is to 'hang out and sulk'. Gender roles are both established and equalised by Gothic dancing and clothing. Though the dancing is sometimes genderspecific (men often use more forceful movements and changes of level; women tend to move more lyrically), dancers are not usually paired and superior social status and technical ability is not attributed to either gender. Clothing, in the early years (and still in regional locations) tended to follow predictable gender patterns. Men usually wore trousers, or sometimes long skirts or robes, evocative of the grim reaper or of religious figures such as monks or priests, and big black leather boots. The preferred dress of women included long flowing gowns and the same big black boots. This simultaneously defined their femininity and (literally) their equal footing with men. As one dancer told me, the women's clothing defines their femininity yet leaves them 'ready to stomp down any foes'.26A popular joke among Goths is that their mating call is 'nice boots'! In keeping with the self-described Goth lifestyle of 'living in darkness' few Goth clubs get going before midnight, and many stay open until dawn. According to the 'NYCGoth' web site: 84

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The heart of the ... Gothic ... communities are the dance clubs and concert halls. ... Most are architecturally anonymous, cramped, unsanitary, poorly ventilated, and evoke afilm noirambiance which glorifies the very decrepitude which plagues it.27

Goth subculture has also developed a highly recognisable, though eclectic, graphic aesthetic. Influenced by the Punk highcontrast, black and white format, and by comic books, religious and sacrilegious imagery and the staples of popular culture Gothic and medieval imagery (everything from vampires, Gothic typefaces, gargoyles, shadowy landscapes, ruined castles, dragons, any words containing umlauts) Goth fanzines, videos, web sites, posters, clothing catalogues, and record sleeves comprise an important part of the visual sensibility. Fanzines (both hard copy and electronic versions) and web sites also provide a vital communication network, particularly for a subculture whose members are widely dispersed. They are also great reading with everything from music reviews, club listings, dance moves, instructions on how to grow a night-blooming garden, 'Gothic Martha Stewart' home decorating advice, articles about things like how to make your Volvo look like a hearse, and the aforementioned fashion commentary and make-up tips for the bleak. There is a rapid turnover in the scene today. High school kids and kids in their twenties become part of the scene, usually drift away from it by their late twenties, and then a new generation of the faithful take their place. In the United States a nationwide college Goth scene is supported by college radio and campus entertainment events. Once they graduate from college these Goths largely move out of the scene. Turin explains that
For a short time they are part of it, they take the rites very seriously. Not that the scene doesn't mutate. Slowly, cautiously, it does. At its inception in the early 1980s, it was in to be straight, in to button up to the hilt in layers of clothing, no matter what the temperature. Then, a few years later, it became cool to be bisexual and wear almost no clothing, to wear corsets. Pretty anorexic girls with dyed hair was the norm.28

Because the ranks of the Goths have dwindled in recent years, there is rarely a large enough scene, even in Goth Meccas like London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, to support full time Goth-oriented venues. Therefore the usual practice is for a club to have a Goth 'event' once a week. The events have their own names, like Black Atmosphere, Savage Garden, The Asylum, 85

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Sanctuary, Stigmata, Heresy, Death by Apathy, Slimelight, and Purgatory. DJs become known on the Goth club circuit and often develop faithful followings. According to some observers certain Goths identify with the early 1980s 'classic' Goth sensibility and are resistant to new influences.
Change is grouchy on the scene. Novelty is unacceptable. Fashion is turgid. Memory is collective. Goth kids want the classics, the ones they don't remember. ... It's a very stuffy scene. If the DJ plays anything too strange or too new or not dramatic enough, the Goth kids leave the dance floor. ... Goth remains today what it was created to be a decade ago - the private sanctuary of a few tortured souls.29

Others disagree:
Cristoph, vocalist with one of the new wave of modern goth bands, Seattle's Black Atmosphere [states] 'I myself don't think it's at all true about musical stagnation. I think there's a helluva lot of goth bands who are coming up, who have a whole new perspective on goth, mixing the punk or the industrial edge. I think there's a lot of talented goth musicians and people involved in the scene, they just haven't been recognized yet.' Mick Mercer [author of several books on Gothic rock] shares his optimism. 'Normally, no underground scene goes on developing after its first few years, but goth has. ... Goth will get a few good years, then a couple of fallow years, and that's what keeps it interesting.'30

In recent years Gothic subculture has begun to overlap, or at least share performance space, with other popular music and performance genres. Industrial, mentioned earlier, is one such area. Performance artists like Diamanda Galas, vampire clubs, and medieval culture enthusiasts, for example, all have features which appeal to elements of Goth culture. At a recent Goth night known as Albion at a New York City night club called The Bank, the DJ played a wide variety of music from Bauhaus to Rocky Horror Picture Show's 'Time Warp' to Lou Reed to Talking Heads. Staple Goth fashions were side by side or mixed with 1970s style Punk heavy leathers and neon mohawks; a beautifully crossdressed voguer in six inch platform hightops and see-through vinyl skirt posed around the edge of the dance floor. Dancers mixed Goth style with a tame kind of bumper-car moshing. A small, separate room however, called the crypt, had a DJ who played only 'classic' Goth and attracted the purists in the crowd who stuck 86

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Advertisement for custom-made fangs from 'Second Skin', a Leeds company specialising in Goth dental prosthetics.

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to predictable Goth fashions and dancing - a kind of time warp where the current generation of young Goths preserve the traditional Goth codes. The current British scene seems to be enjoying a new period of popularity, with more clubs (such as London's Slimelight, Electrowerkz, and Gossips) offering Goth nights on a more frequent basis. Even more spectacularly flamboyant in their fashions than the present US Goths I have observed (e.g., more extensive body piercing, tattooing, and bigger, more colourful hair), they also appear to have both the 'classic' and more eclectic varieties of Goths. And Goth is beginning to witness mainstream interest in and appropriation of its fashions sensibilities. A 1997 cover story in the London Sunday Times Style magazine entitled 'The Lady's a Vamp: Jasmine Guinness Goes Gothic'31 featured aristocrat-model Guinness wearing Goth-inspired high fashions with five figure price tags. Twentieth century Gothic subculture shares many characteristics with the neo-Gothic literary movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries including a preoccupation with death and dying, transgressive sex, the spectral figure, the eerie and supernatural, the estrangement of everyday life, and an ambivalence toward technology. A key element of the Gothic sensibility is the idea of what Freud termed, in his famous 1919 essay of the same name, 'The Uncanny'.32 The uncanny is a particular kind of unsettling anxiety or fear. Freud defines the uncanny as a phenomenon which can be traced to the late eighteenth century (the period when the neo-Gothic literary movement came into being) and the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment, which attempted to define the world in secular terms, prided itself in bringing the age of reason to Western culture, and in providing scientific and rational explanations for natural phenomena. Prior to the Enlightenment there was widespread belief, even among the educated classes, in the supernatural; belief in the existence of ghosts, phantoms, and otherworldly experiences was not uncommon. Such experiences, while they may have been frightening, were often considered simply a fact of life. With the Enlightenment, however, came the assertion that otherworldly experiences were simply the illusions of superstitious minds. Therefore when a person experienced events that seemed supernatural or extraordinary, this experience clashed with the 'rational' mind, creating a kind of cognitive and emotional dissonance. This produced 88

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the peculiarly Gothic feeling of uncanniness. An example of the uncanny from Freud's essay is the experience of watching an automaton. These were mechanical figures which became popular during the 18th century, made possible by the development of clockmaking technology. Automatons were often created in the form of human figures occupied with daily tasks such as a man sitting at a desk writing a letter, or a person dancing. Such figures often produced an uncanny response in the viewer because, although they were machines, they were extraordinarily lifelike (particularly to audiences in an era when such technological marvels seemed nothing less than miraculous). It was as if a doll had come to life, or had a soul, causing a conflict between the rational mind and the sensation of a supernatural occurrence.33 This simultaneous experience of two seemingly irreconcilable phenomena produces the eerie, unsettling state of intellectual impasse known as the uncanny. This phenomenon is also closely related to the idea of the estrangement, or supernaturalisation, of the everyday. Uncanny things don't only happen, for instance, in ruined castles in remote, foreign locations. They also occur right in the heart of hearth and home, in the most domestic of spaces while sitting at your kitchen table in the middle of the afternoon. Gothic subculture has a pronounced fondness for the uncanny, evident in its attraction to Gothic literature and expressed in many other aspects of its culture and aesthetic preferences. For example, the estrangement from mainstream culture of which Goths so often complain is manifested in their deliberate dissociation from 'normal' everyday behaviour. The sense of not belonging to mainstream society and the longing to escape from it is asserted through a cultivated nostalgia for other eras and places. Asserting that any place and any time, including symbolically the grave, is better than the here and now, they 'make a funeral of everyday life' (as Goths are fond of saying) presenting themselves as the walking dead, society's dispossessed. From their automaton-like dancing at nightclubs to their sensational appearance on city streets and in suburban shopping malls they intentionally invoke the uncanny and estrange everyday experience. Recent work in a number of fields, including concert dance, theatre, film, literature, and the visual arts, is showing a marked interest in the Gothic sensibility. Though the Gothic has maintained a compelling presence in the arts for the past two hundred 89

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years, there appears to be a particularly strong affinity for it at the fin de siecle.A pronounced anxiety, self questioning and insecurity about the future are often expressed at these times and embodied (in dance, quite literally) by the Gothic. The late eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries share important characteristics which appear to have a great influence in producing these similar bodies of work, including the rise of a puritanical middle class (the English response to the French Revolution, the Victorian era, and the religious right respectively), epidemics (syphilis, tuberculosis, and AIDS respectively), and technological revolutions (the industrial revolutions and the electronic revolution respectively). The fact that we are now faced not only with the end of the century, but the end of the millennium as well, seems to be an important factor in the recent fervent resurgence of interest in the Gothic sensibility. Perhaps we are witnessing work that is part of a continuum which had its origins in the Enlightenment and is still grappling with common issues facing modern Western culture. Since the late eighteenth century the Gothic has surfaced continuously in one form or another, first on the fringes of 'respectable' art and culture and then often appropriated and adapted for more mainstream tastes. From neo-Gothic literature and architecture to the Romantic ballet the Gothic sensibility has been continuously evident in the last two centuries. And the Gothic is very much at home in the twentieth century. From horror films to bluegrass music lyrics34 to Goth subculture to what David Gere has termed AIDS Gothic concert dance35 to Dracula Ballets36to David Lynch films and the television Gothic of shows like Twin Peaks and the X-Files the Gothic is alive and well. At a time when such technological advances as cloning and genetic engineering have outdistanced our ability to comprehend or deal with their moral implications (which is, after all, what Frankenstein was all about), and when traditional models of religion are not inclusive enough for a highly diversified culture (for instance, new alternatives like New Age are becoming more attractive to many) it comes as no surprise that the estrangement of the everyday which the Gothic embraces rings a collective bell. And that the current vogue for gargoyles, angels, Ann Rice novels, and vampires runs the gamut from Goth subculture to Neiman Marcus catalogues. The consistent and persistent expression of particular anxieties and questions characteristic of the large body of work with Gothic 9'

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traits is clearly present in Goth subculture and the dancing associated with it. Yet Goth subculture also appears to serve a regenerative function. As a highly codified, extremely powerful tool of expression it provides a forum for communication, a sense of group identity, and, perhaps most important of all, a pressure valve for disillusioned youth. As the central unifying experience and expression of Gothic subculture, dancing is vital to this process. For as even the most ostentatiously sulky Goths will tell you, they go to the clubs and dance to have fun.37

NOTES McGuigan, 96. Heylin, xii. 3 Beswick. 4 Debate concerningwhich bandscan be considered is partof Gothic subculture a favourite pastimeof membersof internetGoth discussiongroups.Some humorousexamplesof such dialoguewere posted in October 1998. A querywas posted askingif the albumDarkSideof the Moon(1973)by the band PinkFloyd could be consideredGoth. Among the many replies was the following: Let'ssee ... 1) Crucifixtionreference 2) Guilt complex 3) 'TV is bad' reference 4) More guilt 6) Morose phraseology 7) Teen suicide. Yep, Pink Floyd'sat least a forerunnerof Goth. Another posting in the same threadread: I'm sure someone'salreadymentioned that Sistersof Mercy covered [PinkFloyd's 1980 Numb' and it soundedperfectlyand appropriately Goth. Yeah,yeah, song] 'Comfortably [singerAndrew] Eldritchsays he's not Goth, but what does he know?(alt.gothicNewsgroup, 27 October 1998). 5 'Bela Lugosi'sDead' is reputed to have been written Peter by Murphy as a tongue-incheek responseto an art school assignment.It was featuredin the 1983 film TheHungerand subsequentlyseized by Goth subcultureas the definingGoth anthem. The lyricsfollow: white on white translucentblackcapes back on the back bela lugosi'sdead the bats have left the bell tower the victimshave been bled red velvet lines the blackbox bela lugosi'sdead undead undead undead the virginalbridesfile past his tomb bereftin deathlybloom alone in a darkenedroom
2

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oh bela bela'sundead 6 Turin. 7 Alternative 42. Press, 8 InternationalClub Listing. 9 Daly and Wice, 94. '0 Forexample,the 1982 Bauhausalbum 'Ziggy Stardust'includesa humoroustracktitled 'Partyof the FirstPart'which containswhat soundslike Faustianfilm dialogueover instrumental backing. I Hamilton, 1. 12In the 1990s a music genre and related subculture known as 'Industrial' began to influence the Gothic sensibility.The term Industrialrefers to an interdisciplinary movement that was labeled when confrontationalnoisemakersThrobbing Gristlefounded the Industrialrecordslabel in Englandin 1976. Industrialmusic explored ... factoriesand machinesas musicalinstruments, atmospheresand performanceart.... [They included] found sound, the use of junk, and particularlythe use of heavy machineryand scrap metal in performanceand compositionof music. ... Due to these experimentsthey were inventing their own samplersand keyboardsin the late 1970s before digitalsamplingbecame common in either synthesizedpop musicor in rap music (Dodson). AccordingtoJohn Savage: In the gap caused by the failureof punk rock'sapocalypticrhetoric,'industrial' seemed like a good idea. Punk'simplicitconcentration,in its purestform, on situationisttheory - the 'boredom'of everydaylife, and the images that filled fanzinesand sleeve graphics - graffiti, 'cut-upsof fiftiesconsumergoods and the councilblockdeathfactoriesin South London' - had left the door open for an even more comprehensiveinvestigationof capitalism's decay. ... the new styles ... were alwaysintendedto be part of a full meeting of pop and what is called, in a phrase,usuallydenotinglackof access culturalimpotence,'avant-garde' and (Savage,4). from 1969-1976 Accordingto ThrobbingGristlemember Genesis P-Orridge(co-director of Coum Transmissions performanceart group): There's an irony in the word 'industrial'because there's the music industry. And then there's the joke we often used to make in interviewsabout churning out recordslike motorcars- thatsense of industrial. [The term 'industrial']was cynical and ironic, and also accurate.And we liked the imageryof factories... we just thoughttherewas a whole untappedarea of imageryand noise which was suggestedwhen we thought of 'industrial' (Savage,9). Other bandssuch as CabaretVoltaire, performanceartistsincludingMonte Cazazza, and MarkPauline,Non, andJohanna Went were associatedwith the originalIndustrialmovement. These performersexperimentedwith 'noise' music, found sounds, 'cut-up' theory, and extreme lyrical or visual content. They were influencedby earliertwentiethcentury such as the Italian Futurists,the Dadaists,John Cage, Brion Gysin, and experimentalists WilliamBurroughs.In the 1990s Industrial-influenced bands such as Nine Inch Nails have been embracedby Goth subculture. Dance and performingartsgroupssuch as Stomp and Tap Dogs appearto be a commercialised1990sadaptationof Industrial culture;in the postindustrial computerage industrial imageryhas begun to seem quaintand nostalgic.Indeed, the Gothic tastefor nostalgiais extremelyeclectic,embracingeverythingfromGothic architectureto neo-Gothic literatureto punk to Industrialimagery.

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13 There is in fact an entire sub-subculture of 'net.goths'whomaintain remarkably a extensive and complexpresenceon the internet.In additionto personalweb pages,fanzines,and databasesthey are also highly active (themost dedicatedat least on a daily basis)on several and newsgroups,includingalt.gothic,uk.people.gothic, alt.gothic.fashion, alt.gothic.music. For the past five years an internationalgroup of net.goths have held annual meetings in cities in the UK and the US. Accordingto a posting on the alt.gothicnewsgroup: Goths congregatein groupscalled 'Convergences,' usuallyonly once a year.... Theories have been advanced stating that the Convergenceshave some major importance in bringing together an otherwise emphaticallysolitary species into some sort of social cohesion. ... Convergenceshave somethingto do with mating ritualsand seems (sic)to be the only migratorybehavior that they exhibit with any regularity. Their mating call translatesto somethinglike 'Nice boots!'(26 October 1998). The 'uk.people.gothic Asked Questions'databaserecentlyposted the following Frequently explanationof the importanceof the internetto Gothic subculture: This is where the internetcomes into its own. There are no editorsto decide what's'cool' and what'snot. You don't need the approvalof a recordcompanyboss to advertiseyour album. No one can censor the letterspage. A thousandfellow fans can be contactedfor less than the price of one stamp.The internetrepresentsmedia democracy(31 October 1998). 14Star. '5 Ibid. 16 'uk.gothic.people Asked Questions.' Frequently 7 Ibid. 8 Hebdige, 2. 9 Turin. 20 Hebdige, 105. 21 Meijaand Angel. 22 Beswick. 23 Turin. 24 Mercer, 1. 25 Friend. 26 Hamilton, 2. 27 'NYCGoth.' 28 Turin.
29

Ibid.

43. Press, Cooke, 14. 32 Freud,218. 33 Furtherexaminationof the Gothic influenceson such balletsas Coppelia (1870), Giselle (1841), Robert le Diable (1831), and Petrushka (1911) could prove most interesting. 34See Teresa Goddu's article, 'Bloody The Gothic Daggers and Lonesome Graveyards: and Country Music' in TheSouth Atlantic for Quarterly, a discussionof Gothic elements in CountryMusic. 35 David Gere coined the term AIDS Gothic' to describe a body of concert dance and performanceart workcreatedduringthe past severalyears that has been informedby the AIDS epidemic. The AIDS Gothic genre shares defining characteristicswith the neoGothic literarymovementof the late eighteenthand earlynineteenthcenturies.References to Gere'swritingson this topic may be found in the bibliography. 36Over the past few years ballet productionsbased on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula have become increasinglypopular.Recent stagings of the story have been mounted by numerousgroups,rangingfrominternationally acclaimedballetcompaniesto civic troupes. A sample of recent ballets titled Dracula includesproductionsby Northern Ballet Theatre
31

30 Alternative

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(Leeds, England, 1996); Houston Ballet (1997); PittsburgBallet (1997); Nevada Dance Theatre (1997); and Alabama Ballet (Birmingham, 1997). LouisvilleBallet performed a version of the story titled Lucy theCount: Bat Ballet(1991). These productionshave and The provedpopular with local Goths, many of whom attended their first dance performance ever dressed in full Goth regalia. Publicityfor many of these events has been unconventional, including communityblood drivesand vampire theme partiesheld in conjunction with productions,and sale of such commemorativesouvenirsas garlicbulbs. 37 As this article goes to press, the tragic killingsat Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on 20 April 1999 have attractedthe attention of the internationalmedia and focusedunprecedentedattentionon Gothic subculture. EricHarrisand Dylan Klebold, the two teenage boys responsiblefor killingtwelveof theirclassmates, teacher,and themselves a with an arsenal of explosives and firearms have repeatedly been reported in the press to have connections with Gothic subculture.The fact that they wore black clothing and listened to Marilyn Manson's music is most often cited as evidence of this association. the Althoughthey may haveborrowedcertainiconographyfromGoth subculture, resulting publicity has served to misrepresentthe movement by associating it with Harris' and Klebold's fascinationwith Hitler, racism and violence. For instance, TheJew York Times statedthat 'Both [gunmen]favoredthe all-blackattireassociatedwith Goth, the fashionof the mock-Gothicmusical subcultureknown for a fascinationwith death' (22 April 1999, A-28). Time magazine quoted GOP strategistMike Murphyas saying,'I thinkwe have gun control. I'm coming down now for Goth control' (Time,10 May 1999, p. 19). As Goths across the country sought to distance themselvesfrom the tragedy,many of the generally reclusive group came forward to denounce the murders and defend their culture. For example, Time publishedan articletitled 'We'reGoths not Monsters'(3 May 1999, p. 45); TheNew York ran 'Goths:Those Loonies Aren'twith Us' (22 April 1999, p. 6). Public Post statementsby Goths continue to appear,at the grassrootslevel as well as in major press coverage.Forinstance,in the smallcollege town where I live, Gothsheld a memorialservice for the Colorado victims at the state capital building.Similarevents have been staged by Goth groupsin local communitiesthroughoutthe nation. and Among the most articulatepublic statementsregardingGoth subculturespecifically youth culturein general, in regardto the Littletonincident,was the testimonyof Professor Instituteof Technologybeforethe United StatesSenate HenryJenkinsof the Massachusetts Commerce Committee Hearingson 4 May.An immediateand unlikelycelebrityin Goth circles,now widelyreferredto as 'The Goth Defender',his testimonyreadsin part:'Popular culturehas become one of the centralbattlegrounds throughwhich teens stakeout a claim to their own autonomy from their parents. Adolescent symbols from zoot suits to goth amulets define the boundaries between generations.The intentionallycryptic nature of these symbolsoften means adultsinvestthem with all of our worstfears,includingour fear that our childrenare breakingawayfromus. But that doesn'tmean that these symbolscarry all of these same meanings for our children. However spooky looking they may seem to adults, goths aren't monsters. They are a peaceful subculturecommitted to tolerance of when GOP strategistMike Murphy diversity.... It is, however,monstrouslyinappropriate advocates"gothcontrol"not "guncontrol".In thispolarisedclimate,it becomes impossible for youngpeople to explainto us what theirpopularculturemeans to them. We are pushing this culture further and further underground and thus further and further from our understanding.Listen to our children. Don't fear them' (alt.gothicNewsgroup, 10 May 1999).

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

'alt.gothic Frequently Asked Questions.' Database online. Available from October 1998. http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/Text/gothic~faq.html. alt.gothic Newsgroup. An Early History of Goth.' Database online. Available from http://www.scathe. demon.co.uk/histgoth.htm. October 1998. Beswick, J. 'Helter Skelter.' Database on-line. Available from alt.gothic June 1997. newsgroup.http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/Text/anthro.html. Bexton, William. 'Spatial Boundaries, Etiquette and Interpersonal Interactions at a Gothic Club.' Database online. Available from http://www.vamp.org. 1997. Gothic/Text/anthropaper.html.June Castle, Terry. The Female Thermometer: EighteenthCenturyand the Inventionof the Uncanny.New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Cooke, Rachel. 'The Lady's a Vamp:Jasmine Guinness Goes Gothic.' The Sunday TimesStyle,3 August 1997, sec. 10, p. 14. New York: Harper Perennial, 1995. Daly, Steven and Wice, Nathanial. alt.culture. Dodson, David. 'Scraping the Surface of Industrial Music and Culture.' Database online. Available from http://www.amazings.com/articles/ article001 3.html.June 1997. on and Edmundson, Mark. Nightmare Main Street: Angels,Sadomasochism, the Culture of the Gothic. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1997. Freud, Sigmund. 'The Uncanny' (1919). The StandardEdition of the Complete Works SigmundFreud,Vol. 17. Ed. James Strachey. London: The Psychological of Hogarth Press, 1959, pp. 218-52. Friend, Tim. 'Hip Children of the Dark.' USA Today, 10 November 1994. Database on-line. Available from http://www.xmission.com/-gothics/ subculture/hip.html. October 1998. the Gere, David. AIDS Gothic: Spectral Bodies inJoe Goode's Remembering Pool at the Best Western.' Unpublished manuscript of paper delivered at Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) conference. Greensboro, North Carolina. November 1996. 'Choreographing AIDS Gothic: Sylphs and Specters in Joe Goode's the Lecture delivered for FloridaStateUniversit Remembering Poolat theBest Western.' Department of Dance Lecture Series, Tallahassee, Florida. January 1997. Goddu, Teresa. 'Bloody Daggers and Lonesome Graveyards: The Gothic and Country Music.' The SouthAtlanticQuarterly, no. 1 (winter 1995), pp. 57-80. 94, 'Gothic Rock: Bring Out Your Undead!' Alternative Press,No. 76, November 1994, pp. 41-51. of Grunenberg, Christoph (ed.), Gothic: Transmutations Horror in Late Twentieth Art. Century Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1997. In Haggerty, George E. Gothicism. Summers, ClaudeJ. (ed.), The Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage.New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1995. Hamilton, Kelly. Unpublished manuscript. Research paper for History and Philosophy of Dance course (DAN 3113), Florida State University. Tallahassee, Florida. October 1996. at Hurley, Kelly. The GothicBody: Sexualiy, Materialism,and Degeneration the Fin de Siecle.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

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The Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: Meaningof Syle. London: Methuen & Co., 1980.

A to for History a Post-Punk Heylin, Clinton. Fromthe Velvets the Voidoids: Pre-Punk
World. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. International Gothic Club Listing. Database on-line. Available from February 1999. http://www.vamp.org/Goth/clublist.html. Ledwon, Lenora. 'Twin Peaks and the Television Gothic.' Literature/Film Quarterly, 1993, volume 21, number 4, pp. 260-70. Dance Teacher Now. October Leigh, Merrill. 'Dracula:Is This the Next Nutcracker?' 1997,pp. 82-92. McGuigan,Jim. Cultural Populism.London: Routledge, 1992. Meija, Victor and Angel,Johnny. 'Return of the Vampires.' New TimesLosAngeles. 29 October to 4 November 1998. Database on-line. Available from 1-1.html. October 1998. http://www.newtimesla.com/1998/102998/feature Mercer, Mick. Goth Box. (CD compilation). Sleeve notes. Los Angeles: Cleopatra Records, 1996. - Gothic RockBlackBook.London: Omnibus Press, 1988. - Gothic Rock.Los Angeles: Cleopatra Books, 1994. - Gothic RockBook. Los Angeles: Cleopatra Books, 1995. - Hex Files: The GothBible.Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 1996. 'NYCGoth'. Database on-line. Available from http://www.NYCGoth.com nos. 6/7, 1983. Savage,John. 'Industrial Culture Handbook.' Re-Search, Star, Lord Damien. 'Makeup Tips for the Bleak.' Ghastly,Issue 3. Database online. Available from http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/Text/makeup.html. June 1997. A Study of Gothic Subculture: An Inside Look for Outsiders.' Database on-line. Available from http://www.xmission.com/-gothics/subculture/index.html. October 1998. Turin, David. 'Why Death Rock Won't Die.' L.A. Weeky, 14-20January 1994, pp. 35-6. Database on-line. Available from http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/ Text/hsreport.html. June 1997. 'uk.people.gothic Frequently Asked Questions.' Database on-line. Available from 1997. http://www.cimmerii.demon.co.uk/misc/upgfaq.txt.June uk.people.gothic Newsgroup. 'uk.people.gothic Newsgroup Frequently Asked Questions.' Database online. Available from http://www.darkwave.org.uk/faq/ukpg/index.txt. October 1998.

and Willier, Stephen Ace. EarlyNineteenth Century Opera theImpact the Gothic. of
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Iowa, 1987.

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