Tempest for the Gilded Serpent

The Gilded Serpent presents
Tempest

Laura Schmidt, known more commonly as Tempest to the belly dance community and beyond, resides in the San Francisco Bay Area of California with her Sound Guy husband Keith and their cat Mischief. Together they are MedDevi Ink, and offer fine art, design, dance, musical arrangement and sound engineering, as well as shiny things. More information on their products, services, and show schedule can be found at

http://www.meddevi.com

Although she enjoys what tradition has to offer, Tempest loves exploring the dance through unusual music and creative costuming, pulling on her visual arts background to "paint a picture" with the dance. By working (playing) outside of the box, Tempest engages the audience through dramatic embodied storytelling, passionate expression, and sensuous, mesmerizing movement. She particularly enjoys performing Raks Gothique, also known as Gothic Belly Dance, and sacred-fusion forms of belly dance. Her dance and artistic influences reach back to Ruth St. Denis, Mata Hari, and Theda Bara, while celebrating modern-day dance goddesses as well.

Articles on Gilded Serpent by Tempest
10-25-04 "The First Tribal Cafe"
It was the first all tribal belly dance event sponsored by MECDA IE and took place on August 21st, 2004 in Montclair, California.

5-24-04 "Dancing Darkly" The Phenomenon of Gothic Belly Dance
This may come as a shock to many, but Gothic Belly Dance isn’t really a new phenomenon, and it’s not just centered in California. First of all, it’s simply a merger of two entities that go well together, like peanut butter and chocolate.

5-31-02 "The Art of Tempest"
The first image, "Dance," is inspired by the Minoan priestesses and is a monotype/mixed media