New Dancer Tips: Costuming Resources for Practice and Performance
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Every Middle Eastern dance performance is filled with energy, hip-shaking rhythms and plenty of glitter. But what the dancer wears also plays an important role in how movements are accentuated and it should complement the music and setting. You don’t want to wear a glitzy Turkish Romany’s inspired costume with big skirts when dancing to Moroccan chaabi music, or try to showcase your hipwork wearing a loose, flowing kaftan that hides your movements.
A common question is: what should a belly dancer wear? The answer is: it depends.
Whatever you wear, it should be comfortable and well-fitting. A dancer worried about their costume can’t dance their best, because they are too concerned about a bra strap hanging on for dear life with a single closed safety pin, or that too-big belt that might slide right off at the next drum-intensive part. If you’re worried about your costume coming apart, your audience will soon too!
Classwear should be comfortable and show your line. You don’t need to show your stomach, a t-shirt or cami top will do, and some students may choose to wear a mesh belly cover.
What to wear for class
For class, wearing leggings or yoga pants and top that allows you to see your line can help you see how different movements look on your body and identify areas where a change in posture and alignment can improve expression of movement. Shimmy-resistant supportive undergarments are also a must, in both practice and on stage.
For class, some people like to wear something wrapped around their hips, although this isn’t a requirement, but it can be a hipscarf, which is often covered with coins or beads and tied over one hip. There are also hipscarves that are just fabric or fringe that don’t make noise that may also be preferred by some dancers. Here are a few options from Amazon, which run $12-32 per scarf, depending on design (images linked below):
You will get what you pay for in quality of costume pieces, so a very cheap hipscarf may come in limited sizes and easily drop coins or beads, which can be a potential injury in class with other barefoot dancers nearby. Higher quality hipscarves can also be found at Dahlal from about $25-75 each and will last nearly forever:
Can hipscarves be worn outside of class and in dance performances? Generally, no, hipscarves designed for class aren’t usually worn for stage or very elaborate performances because they are not part of a full costume, but some fancier hipscarves may be incorporated into troupe costumes for group dance numbers or in low-key settings such as student shows or haflas (dance parties).
What to wear on feet for class? Usually Middle Eastern or belly dance class is taught and performed barefoot, but sometimes people may need extra support for their feet. Good options are jazz shoes, soft sole ballet slippers or non-marking dance sneakers, all of which can be bought from reputable dancewear stores such as Discount Dance, Dancewear Solutions or from well-known brands on Amazon, such as Capezio or Bloch.
Want more?
Princess Farhana has an oldie-but-goodie blog post running down different shoes options for rehearsal and performance for belly dancers.
Look for comfortable, non-marking jazz shoes with low or no heel.
Fancier shoes including sandals and heels are used for professional performances or on surfaces where there may be hazards for bare feet.
What to wear for performance
There are entire books and websites dedicated to Middle Eastern dance costuming, so these observations are designed to provide an introduction to key concepts and link to resources for the newbie to the art form.
First, there are different types of costumes depending on the culture, country, musical tradition, venue and audience that you may be performing for. For example, a street parade where you will be in the hot sun and walking (dancing?) 20,000 steps and are part of a group of 12 dancers performing with your finger cymbals to a range of dance tunes and styles in several different sets will have different costuming requirements than if you’re opening someone’s wedding reception with an Egyptian-style zeffa and balancing a shamadan with candles on fire on your head where you have a dedicated stage to dance on; oh, and the bride wants you to wear gold.
Rule of thumb: the fancier the performance venue or event, the more elaborate (and expensive) the costume. Professional costumes usually don’t exist off-the-rack (brick-and-mortar stores specializing in belly dancers as clients are very few and far in between outside of Cairo and Istanbul) and need to be custom-ordered by designers, traded or bought with other dancers (your used costumes can retain their value, especially if well cared for and from a prominent dance designer), or you go old-school and make them yourself.
You know you have reached the next level of dance obsession if you contemplate a shopping trip to Cairo or Istanbul to directly shop in designers’ ateliers.
But before going further, it is important to note what makes up a belly dance costume.
Glitzy costumes designed for performance on stage or in venues (also known as Oriental or cabaret style) will usually consist of a bra, belt and skirt. Usually the belt and skirt are integrated into one piece, although bra and belt sets are sometimes sold and are useful to the dancer who may want to swap out skirts for multiple looks. The costumes styles are different for women and men, who may elect to go with dance pants and go bare-chested or wear a bolero vest or glittery mesh or beaded top.
Folkloric costumes may be kaftans, dresses, or include top, pants, and robe, or in combination with skirts—it all depends on the culture and dance style used in those costumes.
Fusion or transnational dance forms that incorporate Middle Eastern music, movements and cultural elements also usually have a bra, belt, pants or skirt, but costuming can vary widely and may incorporate elements from other geographies and cultures, such as choli tops from India or shell elements from North Africa.
Where to source costumes for brand new dancers just starting out?
Many beginner-level costumes that may be used in small student recitals can be pulled together from items readily found on Amazon (but remember that cheaper = more likely to fall apart quickly or have limited size availability), but there are several reliable belly dance vendors you can look to for additional components, including Miss Belly Dance, Bellydance.com, Tribe Nawaar and Dahlal.
There are also a few designers that specialize in practicewear, including a wider range of sizes, at Val BellydanceShop, Raqs Yoga Life, and Melody Movement Boutique.
Below are examples of beginner-type costumes that can be assembled of top/bra, belt, skirt and how they may work for different body types and dance styles.
Things to avoid:
Choosing a costume without advice from your teacher—they are a resource for you and can help recommend appropriate costumes for the specific dance performance you are preparing for.
Any Halloween or “I Dream of Jeanie” or similar type of stereotypical costumes, which are not meant for dance performance and aren’t remotely accurate — completely avoid for obvious reasons.
Any “airport special” costumes, meaning that they are poorly made and tend to be very cheap. In the Middle East, such caliber materials are actually sold as “sexy bedtime wear” and certainly not for professional performance. You should be automatically suspicious of anyone selling a “professional” belly dance costume that costs less than $200. Telltale signs include synthetic materials, loose threads, see-through skirts, skimpy straps, no linings, no or cheap bra bases, poorly beaded sequins so that they quickly fall off and tassels in really unfortunate places (e.g. on tip of bra cup, in middle of belt where it would hang over one’s groin). These costumes are clearly marketed to people who don’t know any better, and your audience knows it too.
Dancing in unaltered costumes: rarely do costumes fit properly straight out of the box, so be prepared to make adjustments such as adding elastic or reinforcing a seam or changing a strap. It can be helpful to practice dancing in the costume pieces to see how they do and make alterations as needed. A professional seamstress can help lower or shorten hemlines for skirts or make a poorly fitting bra top fit better.
Want more?
Additional great advice when shopping for your first costume is available from Ahlam Academy.
Fanoos magazine also published an article by veteran dancer Nizana El Rassan with tips on what to consider when prepping a costume for performance.
Helen blogs about 12 tips for when making good costume investments when shopping for your first costume, including avoiding the “cinderella syndrome”
Oooh, shiny.
Glass and acrylic crystals are a common element in Turkish and Egyptian Oriental/cabaret-style costumes and are used in addition to sequins, beading and glass fringe on dance bras and belts to reflect light and accentuate movement. Recent costume trends are moving toward more crystals and less intricate beading and long fringe, making costumes lighter to dance in.
How do I make my own costumes?
You can also get crafty and learn how to make your own costumes. There are plenty of tutorials and websites dedicated to belly dance costuming making but I highly recommend Sparkly Belly for easy step-by-step tutorials. On Facebook, there are several thriving belly dance costuming groups. Just do a search!
Do note that if you use any patterns for making dance costumes, use those intended for dancing in and not for Halloween or costume play.
For fabric, Spandex World has the best stretch fabric at reasonable prices and you can easily find sequined notions and crystals on Ebay or Amazon. For high quality Egyptian beaded glass fringe, Dahlal and Turquoise International are good sources.
Want more?
Dawn Devine Brown has written several books on Middle Eastern and belly dance costuming and her advice is indispensable. Read for free about the silhouettes and styles of costumes for different expressions of Middle Eastern dance and its offshoots.
Dancer Jensuya wrote a blog post about costuming tips for different bodies, personalities and styles with great examples from her own students and performance experiences.
Khan el-Khalili is paradise for dancers in Cairo.
This ancient outdoor market is chockful of shops, including many tailoring to belly dancers, where you can shop to your heart’s content.
Where to get professional dance costumes?
Professional Middle Eastern and belly dance costumes can be bought from a variety of sources, but you can expect to pay from anywhere from $250 to basic costumes to over $1000 for elaborate costumes from top designers. Higher priced costumes tend to retain their value for resale, especially from well-known designers, if they are well cared for.
Below are costume sources and some designers, though not an exhaustive list. Many designers may only be stocked on retail websites or are difficult to contact online and you’ll need to go to their store in person in Cairo or Istanbul to buy.
The best way to find a costume you’ll love is ask a dancer whose costume you like where they got it from. Soon, you will be able to identify specific designers at a glance.
Many designers tend to have more updates and be more responsive on their social media pages than their official websites, so I linked to those where possible.
Direct from designer:
The most cabaret or Oriental dance-style costume designers are based in Cairo (Pharaonix of Egypt, Eman Zaki, Mamdouh Morise) or Istanbul (Dogan Gok, Bella), but some are also scattered across the world (Aida, Sufel Boutique, Cristtiano Ferreira, Eshta Amar, Anja Designs, Amalia Design, Da’Muse, Amera’s Palace).
For fusion costumes, because there is a smaller market for them, there are only a handful of well-established designers, many of them US-based (Melodia Designs, Dark Fusion Boutique, Snake Church).
Do note that most designers tend to custom make costumes which can take months to make and ship to your door, so plan ahead!
From belly dance retail stores: Many of these online stores carry full costumes from several designers but also separates such as skirts, folkloric costumes, beledi dresses, tops, body stockings, shoes and props such as canes, Isis wings, veils, candle trays, swords, shamadans and finger cymbals (zills or sagats). For professional costumes, I recommend Dahlal, Bellydancestore.com, Turquoise International and Joharah International.
From other dancers: There are many different Facebook groups dedicated to sales and swaps of dance costumes, some specific to country or geography, dance style, body type (tall, petite, goddess-size, for DD+ cups) or designer, which can help narrow your search. They can be a reliable method of finding a costume that is a good deal and will fit you relatively quickly. Good options include Belly Dance Costume SWAP, Belly Dance Costumes-REASONABLY PRICED-nothing over $250, New & Used BellyDance Costumes for sale - NO SPAM!, Turkish Costume Resale - Dogan / Saban / SIM / SaneilModa, Belly dance costumes sale and exchange and Tribal & Fusion Bellydance Swap & Sell.
What information should be disclosed about costumes? Costumes posted for sale should include information about the condition of the costume, basic measurements (it helps to know your own measurements) such as skirt length, hip width, underbust, vertical and horizontal cup measurement, and provide information about its designer or history (was it a workhorse costume in a hookah lounge for years, or worn once for a photoshoot for 20 minutes?). On-the-body pix can help you see whether it would work wall for your body type and video can help you see how the costume looks in motion. Sometimes costumes will also be posted on Facebook Marketplace or Ebay, but it can be tough to weed out the low quality listings. You can also buy a costume offline, such as at local belly dance yard sales or swaps, or ask your teacher if they know of anyone selling their costumes.Pro tip: If you attend any big dance workshops or festivals, it’s likely that they will have a “souk” area where many of the designers and retail vendors listed above will be offering “off the rack” costumes for sale, which you can see up close and try on. It’s worth saving up for it if you know you’re attending one soon!
As a bonus, I recommend Akai Silks for veils and Belly Stockings for body stockings
Want more?
Get a sneak peek into the history of the world famed Eman Zaki design studio in Cairo in this Los Angeles Times article.
Outi of Cairo has a helpful article about where to find dance costumes and information on contacting designers in Cairo.
All professional Middle Eastern and belly dance costumes are handmade.
Therefore, they should never go directly into the washer, and you should always check for anything that broke or loose beading and fringe after washing. Be sure to completely dry costume before storing to avoid smells.
How to care for costumes?
Wherever you get your costumes from, be sure to check them carefully for any rips, loose threads or beading, stained liner that needs to be replaced, elastic that needs to be added, or hooks and eyes that need to be moved or have become rust and need to be replaced. In fact, after every time you dance in a costume, examining it for damage and fixing it before putting it away reduces chances of future costume malfunctions.
If the costume is very stinky or stained, you can usually carefully bathe it in lukewarm water with Woolite or similar in a bathtub with enough water for the costumes to have space to float, swish it around for a few minutes, let sit for 20 minutes, drain, rinse with cool clean water and repeat the rinse. Afterward you can dry by rolling the costume in clean towels and gently squeeze out the water, then unroll and carefully lay on a flat surface—don’t hang! Then carefully check costumes all over for any loose beading or other issues that need to be addressed before storing costume.
A good preventative hack for reducing future costume stinkiness is to make a spray bottle of 1 part vodka and 1 part water and spritz inside of costumes liberally after wearing them and let them fully dry for 24 hours before storing away. You can also use fabric freshener or small bags of odor neutralizing carbon designed for closets and dressers.
For storage, some people will hang their costumes on heavy duty metal hangers, and others may store costumes in bags. I prefer to store them in zipped canvas storage bags with a plastic see-through top so I know that the costumes can breathe and I can see what’s in them. This makes it easy to move from a dresser or storage and easily toss into a suitcase for travel or to go to a gig.