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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 8h

The film seems to be a play on the well-rehearsed theme of death and the maiden. As with any lost film, details are hard to verify and so, we must use our imagination to fill in the details. The beautiful posters help.

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 8h

Named 'Totentanz' in the original German, the Beautiful Dancer seduces men, luring them to their death, under the control of a cruel master. She falls in love with one of them, also a murderer, who must win his freedom through a labyrinth hidden beneath the master's house.

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 8h

Day 14 of #31DaysofMacabreDanse, and we turn to a lost a film, 'The Dance of Death' (1919). Written by Fritz Lang, and directed by Otto Ripert, this silent horror film centres on a dangerous dancing woman (Sascha Gura).

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 1d

A one-act ballet, the story follows the Treginnis family, cursed to die in the haunted ballroom. Their deaths are preceded by a ghostly. The heir of Treginnis dies dancing with three ghostly women, leaving his son, young Treginnis, played by 15 yr old Margot Fonteyn in her debut.

Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 1d

Day 13 of #31DaysofMacabreDanse and it's unlucky for some. In this case, the Treginnis family in 'The Haunted Ballroom', first performed in 1934 with music and libretto by Geoffrey Toye and choreography by Ninette de Valois. Image: Alicia Markova and Robert Helpmann

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 2d

The video for 'Living Dead Girl' draws on the silent film genre with a heavy dose of German Expressionism a la 'The Cabinet or Dr Caligari' The dead girl in question uses gothic movement to highlight the effect. youtu.be/BvsMPOfblfg?...

Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl

YouTube video by RobZombieVEVO

youtu.be

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 2d

Day 12 of #31DaysOfMacabreDanse brings a Dancing Dead Girl from the mind of Rob Zombie. Loving Dead Girl (1998) was the second single from Zombie's Hellbilly Deluxe album and features Sheri Moon as the titular Dean Girl.

they pray for the living dead girl is written on a blackboard

ALT: they pray for the living dead girl is written on a blackboard

media.tenor.com

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 3d

The Maiden may be unaware of Death's proximity in some depictions, but artists also explore the moment that the Maiden sees Death coming.

Death and the Maiden painting by Marianne Stokes circa 1908

Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 3d

In these depictions, Death is personified as a skeleton, sometimes cloaked but often unclothed and carrying an hourglass. Alternatively, Death carries a mirror. Both objects symbolise the fleeting nature of youth and beauty that the Maiden represents.

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 3d

Day 11 of #31DaysOfMacabreDanse is a recurrent motif in art and media. Death and the Madien evolved from the Danse Macabre (yes, where we took the inspiration for our name) and became popular first during the Renaisance and later revived in the Romantic era.

Sebald Beham: Die Dame und der Tod, 1541

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 4d

Join our very own Dancing Dead Girls Lauren, Mary, Kaja and Karen as they take us through all things gothic ballet and body horror.

Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 4d

Day 10 of #31DaysOfMacabreDanse and for your Friday night feast we bring you a colab between 2/3 of Danse Macabre and The Ghoul Guides Association youtu.be/R6n5TGVfb6o?...

Gothic Dance | Ghoul Guides Association

YouTube video by The Ghoul Guides

youtu.be

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 5d

The heartbeat rhythm of the song lends itself well to the zombie like choreography that animates the dancers in both examples, and a tune to add to the Halloween playlist!

Still from Royal Dance performance, where the central dancer holds a bloody heart aloft in a spotlight, as the ensemble looks up at it

Still from Royal Dance performance holding a bloody heart aloft with the ensemble gyrating around the central spotlighed dancer

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 5d

Roísín Murphy (also known as one half of pop duo Moloko) performs this song on stage with halting staggering movements. The line "unzip my body, take my heart out" was deliciously interpreted by Royal Dance in 2024 (choreo by Arita Kukovasa)

youtu.be/3_CIjX7YrNI?...

Rosin Murphy - Ramalama (Bang Bang) - Halloween dance

YouTube video by Royal Dance

youtu.be

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 5d

Choreographed by Wade Robson (of Britney and N*Sync fame), the Dance Hall-esque costumes and exaggerated zombified movements earned him a prime time Emmy win for Outstanding Choreography in 2007. The girls move like the living dead, but done with style

youtu.be/CV-mxsPZdGE?...

Top 10 | Wade Robson - Pop-Jazz - Ramalama (Bang Bang) | SYTYCD S2 [HD]

YouTube video by SYTYCD Favorite Performances

youtu.be

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 5d

Day 9 of #31DaysOfMacabreDanse, and our dancing dead girls are stitching a seam across the eye. Season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance in 2006 gave us a zombie group number to Ramalama (Bang Bang) by Roísín Murphy

Still of the female dancers from season two of So You Think You Can Dance, dressed in zombie makeup and dance hall style costumes

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 6d

It ends in tragedy, as it so often does, as the poet lies stabbed and unconscious by the end of the ballet. Though only to be welcomed to the land of dreamers by his love. It can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKXN...

La Sonnambula

YouTube video by TheBalletTapes

www.youtube.com

Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 6d

A love story between a poet and sleepwalker, the narrative blurs the line between sleep and death, as the sonnambula appears ghost-like in a Gothic white dress.

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 6d

Day 8 of #31DaysofMacabreDanse and we wonder 'to sleep, perchance to dream' (Hamlet, 3:1) with 'La Sonnambula'. Premiering in 1946, at the City Center of Music and Drama, New York, it was created by George Balanchine.

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Reposted by Macabre Danse

Maria J Pérez Cuervo @mjpcuervo.bsky.social · 8d

Alice in Wonderland (Jonathan Miller, 1966), my favourite adaptation.

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Reposted by Macabre Danse

Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social · 7d

I'm delighted to be delivering a talk on 23 Oct 2025 btwn 5–6.30pm (BST) for @gothicauob.bsky.social

My talk is titled: ‘Battling Satan in Your Underpants: Censoring Capcom’s Ghosts ‘n Goblins Videogame during the Age of American Satanic Panic’

Details 👇
uobgothica.wordpress.com/2025/10/06/s...

Session Thirty Seven: Video Game Gothic

We are especially excited to announce that our first Gothica session of the 2025/26 academic year will be Video Game Gothic with our special guest speaker Dr Efram Sera-Shriar on Zoom on Thursday 2…

uobgothica.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Macabre Danse

Dr Emily Vincent @dremilyvincent.bsky.social · 7d

Register & sign up below for 2 exciting #Halloween season #Gothic events! ⬇️🎃

Dr Emily Vincent @dremilyvincent.bsky.social · 13d

The #Gothic haunting season is upon us! Free online events⬇️

👾👹 Thurs 23rd Oct (5-6.30pm, UK) @gothicauob.bsky.social with @dreframss.bsky.social - email Gothica for link.

🎥📖 Fri 31st Oct, Halloween (10.45-5pm, CET) @cncsi.bsky.social Nineteenth-Century Gothic Afterlives: cn-csi.com/event/hallow...

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 7d

You can fine a recording of the full production here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsw8...

La Bayadère

YouTube video by ALTEA MEDIA / I LOVE TV

www.youtube.com

Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 7d

A tragedy, the narrative follows the titular bayadère, or temple dancer, Nikiya who is killed by snake in an act of revenge by a jealous love rival. She dances in the Kingdom of the Shades surrounded by other spirits, where she is reunited with her lover, the warrior Solor.

The Kingdom of the Shades taken from Petipa's final revival in 1900.

The Kingdom of the Shades from Rudolf Nureyev's 1991 production, when he was artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet. It was his last production before he died of HIV/AIDS.

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Macabre Danse @macabredanse.bsky.social · 7d

Day 7 of #31DaysofMacabreDanse and we move to the past once more with 'La Bayadère' (1877). Consisting of four acts and seven tableaux, the original choreography was by Marius Petipa, music by Ludwig Minky and libretto by Sergei Khudekov.

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