Edana

I have no idea if anyone’s done this yet, but I put it together while I was working on a fic. It was too much fun not to share.

Do Cardassians dance? Seems unlikely? It doesn’t bring glory to the state or whatever. Well, they don’t dance for fun - at least not in public. Too gauche.

They dance as members of an orchestra. They use their feet as percussive instruments when people are playing together.

‘Mel!’ I hear you preparing to type in the comments, ‘This is tap dance. You are describing tap dance. That seems out of character for your average Cardassian!’ and you would be right, because Tain had murdered for less.

It’s not tap the way you’re probably thinking of (which I’m assuming is La La Land or something similar). They don’t lift their feet the way dancers do in white western tap. Too showy with leg movements and too much emphasis on the individual. And they don’t wear metal shoes. Too loud to walk around in and they probably need the material for war or something. Their feet sound like they’re Flatfooting (traditional dance of the US South), and have a sneak-up-on you speed the way you can see it here:

But obviously with different musical vibes, and likely a bit slower. Cardassians put energy into this, but not so much as to appear enthusiastic.

But what does the dance look like? Cardassians dance with the staccato movement, the general sillhouette and probably the footwork rhythm that you’ll find in Lezginka dance (traditional dance out of Caucasus). If you look this up, you’ll see that there’s a lot of styles that fall under this umbrella, but I’m thinking specifically of something that looks like this:

So an amount of energy, but more powerful than frenetic.

I don’t think of the presentation of dance as varying much by gender, because they aren’t dancing, they’re playing musical instruments.

But if shoes are instruments, how do they speak to other instruments? How is that aurally? Not even a little bit chill. Not a whisper of jazz in there.

It’s a little bit like the way the shoes and the piano talk to each other in this:

Or the shoes and the orchestra talk to each other in this:

(Both of these audio clips are from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, composed by Joby Talbot, tap choreography by Christopher Wheeldon & Steve McRea)

I like big butts and I cannot lie ©

a dragon seeking warmth

It's not like Dukat was going to ever do it.

(bonus:)

Do you think he listens to it while angrily reading Bashirs literature suggestions and mentally composing a list of grievances? A list specifically compiled with the specific intention of what he thinks will piss Bashir off the most. Thinking passionately of the hot flush that fills that golden, alien flesh and dreaming of tasting that heat beneath his tongue. Do you think he daydreams and thinks the taste a symphony of sensation more addictive than the wire?

Do you think the music gets stuck in his head and he hums to himself while thinking Strategy and mindlessly sewing? A thousand lines of code running in His head, twisting and turning like a dancer to a song. Like the justifications he gives himself, the lies he tells himself to live with himself.

Do you think he sings his music softly to Bashir when he sleeps fitfully? For war weighs heaviest of all in the mind of healers and the terrible decisions made to save lives do not always rest easy in the darkest hours. Do you think he sings to calm the nightmares and guilt that he sees clearly painted across a soft, alien visage? The songs only for when he thinks him fully asleep.

Do you think garak sings to himself as he picks through the rubble and dead, the music as much a reminder to Breathe as it is anything else? Old songs littering His mind, now poisoned with memories of dust and blood and wreckage.

Do you think he helped pick the new anthem for Cardassia, arguing vehemently against the traditional choices for what they représent? Do you think he tried to stand back but more and more found he couldn't as traditionalists rose louder and louder? Men like Dukat. Men like his father.

What do you think tain thought of His sons tastes, in his frequent and inescapable monitoring of all aspects of Garak's life? Do you think Garak deliberately used to pick music to listen to based on Tain's tastes?

Do you think Garak likes music? Or do you think its not so simple? With the simple concept of aesthetics too primitive to describe his preferences when he has had to determine so much via utility and survival.

Do you think Garak likes music? Do you think he knows what he likes at all?