Hello Dancers,
Since we are getting ready for our at-home class haflas on Nov 16th (Beginners) and Nov 18th (Intermediate/Advanced), I wanted to give newer dancers some costuming inspiration.
We do not have to spend money to dress it up a little from regular classwear. We all have things in our closet that will work just fine. I don’t know about you, but I have probably been wearing the same 2% of my clothes since the quarantine began - who even knows what’s in the closet at this point?! Now is as good a time as any to take a look and see what forgotten treasures might be in there.
Belly Dance Costuming Examples
Below are a couple video clips with costuming ideas that we can pull from our closets. I chose video so you could see how the clothes and movement go together. This first clip is the Egyptian dancer Dina. She’s known for really outrageous costumes but here she is in a simple black dress. If you want to emulate this look, it doesn't have to be this short. of course.
The next clip is Fifi Abdo, and here she is wearing a loose galabeya with a hip scarf. You could use any loose fitting caftan type dress to emulate this performance look.
Here is another clip of Dina where she has a dress/biker short combination on.
You can also use two pieces. The following example is me! I really love this style so you can poke around my YouTube channel for more examples of this look- and please subscribe while you are there :).
Any tops and skirts in these shapes will work. I bet if you look through your closet you will find you have something that will look great!
Other bellydance costuming ideas:
Any fancy dress with a hip scarf
A hip scarf can be any piece of fabric that ties around your hips!
You can sew or glue rhinestones or sequins onto any top you have to add some sparkle
Any sparkly costume jewelry you have at home, like rhinestone necklaces or dangly earrings, will look great
Makeup adds a lot and can put you in a great mood to perform! You can search for “Arabic eye” or “smokey eye” makeup on YouTube and you will see lots of fun ideas. You don’t need to buy any makeup, just use what you have to create the look. If you do want to buy something new, drugstore makeup works very well, you do not need designer makeup
Don’t feel like doing eye makeup? Red lipstick is a quick way to add glamour and feel dressed up
Nail polish is also a quick and fun way to feel more glamourous for performing- I love red or something bright! I always do my own nails, you do not need a professional manicure
These are all just ideas if you want to dress up a bit for our last night of class, there is no pressure on anyone to do anything if you don’t want to or are too busy. But costuming can be just as expressive of your personality as dancing, and it can also put you in the right frame of mind for performing, so I encourage everyone to think about it a bit.
Please add something below in the comments if you have more ideas or any questions!
In the coming months I may transition to blogging less frequently so I can concentrate on my Newsletter and other writing projects. Please subscribe to my Newsletter if you’d like to stay up-to-date!
Take care, everyone.