Tag: dancing

What are your headcanons about Dwarven dance forms? I always imagine a sort of loud, stompy belly dance, boots on and thundering against the dance floor, jewellery jingling, earthy and graceful and absolutely in love with gravity. Axe dancers with blades spinning (I imagine Gimli might be good at that), beards swishing over rippling bellies… but then, you might just as easily see ballroom dancing or polka. What do you picture?

Ohhh gosh, I have answered this before! Here it is, Nonnie!

(You can also check my dancing tag for more!)

TL:DR – basically, I envision Western Dwarven dancing to be a show of control, strength, virtuosity and skill. And enthusiasm! Ukrainian, Polish and Moldovian dancing is as close as I think of for a real world equivalent. Check these out – particularly THIS (start at 2:00 in) and THIS ONE HERE omg it is totally Dwarves all over. My fave is the guy who does the whole thing with a pipe in his mouth, lol.

There would be different sorts of dances: slow controlled ones, with lots of high kicks and crouching. Fast ones with heaps of stamping and jumping and Dwarves throwing themselves and each other into the air! One-upmanship competitions for the most impressive move! Who can last the longest? Loser buys the beer!

I think Broadbeams would have perfected something very like Jewish Bottle Dancing 🙂

Firebeards are renowned for Axe-dancing, a very difficult spinning dance in which axes are thrown end-over-end and caught again in a display of staggering dexterity, timing and precision (and woe betide the Dwarf who misses, lol). Haban is an expert Axe-dancer: she can spin four blades at once! Gimli’s not too bad either – he’s up to three!!

Maybe Dwalin spends several years after BOTFA just -not dancing- because there are too many sad associations with Thorin, Fili, & Kili. But he does dance a bit with Orla – mostly quiet ones (by dwarf standards). And he’ll occasionally let his kids drag him into a faster one. Though couple’s/group dancing is a Big Thing for dwarves.

*falls over and wibbles a bit*

I bet Dwalin and Orla make people a bit apprehensive at first when they go out onto the square – and then they’re so gentle and quiet with each other, it’d be a bit off-putting, hee. 

(GIMIZH TRYING HIS DANGEST TO DO THE SPINNING KICKS AND FALLING OVER THO)

d’you think Thorin is a good dancer? I mean as a prince he might’ve been taught a bit before the dragon but I’d imagine he might not really dance much in the years afterwards. I kinda bet Frerin would like dancing, or at least the quick and cheerful hobbit kind of dancing (I kinda imagine him just having the time of his life with it and it makes my heart ache a bit)

OKAY so I have ideas about Dwarven dancing!

I think Dwarves would make dancing into a virtuoso display of incredible endurance, strength, showmanship and control. I don’t think Dwarven dancing is staid or courtly at all. 

I think Thorin would have been very very good at the slow, controlled type of dance, full of dragging kicks and slow stamping  – the ones that need thigh muscles of freakin granite. I think he would have made a point of competition with Dwalin to last longer than him (and the loser has to buy the drinks). 

I think Gloin would have been the best at the spinning dances. Firebeards do spinning REALLY well – bc axe-dancing! (reminder that in Sansukh Haban, Gloin and Oin’s mum, is a famous axe-dancer)

I think Frerin would have been gifted at the fast dances. Light and fast and speedy with lots of stamping and fast footwork, hells to the yeah! (Fili would also have been good at these, imo).

I would like to imagine that the Iron Hills specialise in spectacular jumps 🙂

DANCING. 

I’ve answered a similar thing before – but bc I LOVE these and they need to be seen by everyone who loves Dwarves, check out these Ukrainian dances. They are similar to how I envision Dwarven dancing. 

Seeeeeriously. Check these out (start the first one at about 2:00 mins in):

DEM THIGHS.

DEM BUNS.