| The Official, Unabridged, Long Awaited �shirasaya�s Favorite Belly Dance Sites� Yes, that�s right, you don�t have to waste half your life poring over arcane meta search engines for the best online shopping sites when you�re hunting down that leopard skin velvet choli or that mirror belt dripping with the crystal fringe and multi colored paillets. Why? Because I did, I have the hacker's tan to prove it, and here are the fruits of my labors. Disclaimer: Sites come and go, and if you wait too long, some of these sites may disappear into the ether never to return. This is in no way, shape or form a complete listing of costume sites. For a semi complete listing, hit the source lists Ive provided here. Some of these vendors Ive tried, some I havent. I havent had a bad time with any of them, and have been very impressed with one or two. Please note, urls are often case sensitive, so if theres a cap in the url listing, be sure you put the cap in when you copy it. Cut and pasting is probably the fastest and easiest way to get from here to there. Please note I receive nothing for my endorsement of any site, I�m just a satisfied customer. Ditto for my troupe mates. Basic costume info: American nightclub: Usually a bedleh - padded pushup bra with glass bead fringe, rhinestones, sequins, anything that sparkles, a skirt that can be either panelled, straight, or full circle, but is almost always slit up to at least the top of the thigh to show lots of leg, a belt that has glass bead fringe and lots of rhinestones, sequins, and bead work. You do NOT want to do the beading by yourself unless you�re really into A) sewing B) losing your eyesight. Often these costumes will have gauntlets and a crown or tiara that matches the rest of the costume. These costumes are very Hollywood and very glitzy. When most people think of belly dance, this is what theyre thinking of. Egyptian cabaret: Usually a bedleh, although in traditional Egyptian dance, the dancer will change her costume at least once in her performance, often from a bedleh to a beledi dress (basically an evening gown) - very few American dancers do this. In Egypt it iscurrently ILLEGAL for a dancer to show her midriff, and it is only low class types who dance for money in public anyways, so dancers wear a fishnet and sometimes sparkly midriff cover. If you want one (and they can look really sexy) you can find them in some online stores and catalogs. One of my troupe sisters dances an Egyptian number and she wears a black straight skirt slit all the way up one side, a beaded black irridescent bra with tons of bead fringe, a midriff cover in black fishnet with irridescent sparklies on it (woven right into the fishnet) and long black satin gloves. Sexy as hell, but also elegant. Tribal: Think barbaric splendor as opposed to glitz. Tribal costumes are NOT historically authentic reproductions and are not meant to be. They incorporate items from India, Turkey, Egypt, and North Africa for a unique look. See the Fat Chance Belly Dance site (www.fcbd.com) for a look at the original American Tribal troupe. Fabrics used for tribal costumes are most often natural. A tribal costume usually consists of very full harem pants, a full circle skirt without slits, a choli top and often a coin bra cover over the choli. There�s always some kind of head covering, either a dupatta (think of the statues of the Virgin Mary with the traditional draped scarf over her head), a turban, or a little pill box hat with or without a veil pinned to it. The turbans are usually decorated with accent scarves and pieces of Kuchi jewelry, and tribal dancers layer on as much Kuchi jewelry as possible - rings on every finger, anklets, cuff bracelets and bangles on top of that, pendants everywhere and the ubiquitous Kuchi choker with dangling coin and glass beads. Tribal dancers often wear henna designs on their hands and feet and facial tattoos, which were common in North African tribes. |
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