Modern Bellydance Costuming

Just as we wear our own clothes to weddings and parties and dance in them, in the East, they wear their own clothes to dance in, and can’t really understand what all the beads and baubles are about. Imagine going to Cairo and seeing the locals in the local theatre putting on a square dance extravaganza, complete with all the ruffles and cowboy boots, or better yet, think of how strange it would be to walk into a restaurant in Egypt and see a square dancer cruising around the tables and having money stuffed in her belt buckle!!

The Historical Use Of Coins In Oriental Dance Costumes

There is a historical precedent for the use of coins in bellydance costumes, although historically, the coins were not on a bra and belt. The Ghawazee (Egyptian Gypsies) seem to be the first popularly known to use coins in their dress. When a girl was reaching puberty, her mother would make special dresses for her. They were full length with slits up both sides to above the knee. The bodice of the dress would be cut so that the girls breasts were exposed. The girl would then pack her dancing dress and be made to leave her village to go to the nearest large town or city. There she would dance in the café’s and nightclubs for the coins that men would throw at her. She would sew the coins onto the dress after each nights dancing. The sewing was done during the day when the café’s were virtually empty and there were no coins to earn.

These young and often quite beautiful girls had large metal bracelets and armbands with spikes to use as a weapon in case someone tried to mug her for her coins. After her dress was full of coins, she would go back to her family, and the coins she brought would be her dowry. The more coins she came home with, the better the husband she could buy ;-) It would seem strange that she would dance for men in public to earn herself a respectable future. Once married, she would never dance again, except in the privacy of her own home. There were some girls who were such accomplished dancers that they would come home and change their dresses for new ones several times. An exceptional dancer could support a whole village for years.

Here is an excerpt from a letter written to Jamilla Salimpour by her father while in the Sicilian Navy, regarding his first time watching the Ghawazee. I have transcribed the letter exactly as is, with all the spelling errors and missing punctuations.

“The first time I saw an Arabian dancer it was at Alexandria Egypt in 1910 on a corner of a public square on carpet – canvas like carpet. There were 3 players – one on clarinet, a chiton – small type and a little drum I think. The dancer was barefoot, bare arms to the shoulders; bare back down to the curve of the buttocks – there a belt holding a tight fitting instument ending in strips of different colors halfway to the legs. She had a large necklace made out of small disks of white metal probably tin – a row white and one yellow – probably gold gilded – kept together with three chains of the same color. These disks were about the size of a dime on top – distant one another one diameter – a larger size of disks down next row and so on – 7” or 8” long – 2 small cups for brasier that would come up from a garment held up from the belt in front leaving uncovered the front of the stomach – rings on both arms and forearms to the wrist 3 or 4 up and 6 or so below to the wrist – The twistings were to the music and the onlookers would throw money on the canvas. The party would scramble and she would quickly get covered otherwise she would get pinched for it was performed on a public square. The English were there at the time and us sailors would feast our eyes for we liked to look at that type of dancing. When in Tunis or Algers or Orans or Tripoli or Bangasi more or less it was the same.”

* Note Tunis is in Tunisia, Oran(s) and Algiers are both in Algeria, Tripoli is now called Tarabulus and is in Libya, as is (Banghazi) Bangasi.

The North American Use Of Coins In Dance Costumes

Coins are a favorite decoration for North American dancers because of the fact that they are so versatile. You can string them on chains, dangle them from lengths of chain, or sew them onto the fabric of the costume. They can go anywhere on a costume, head to toe. Jamilla Salimpour seems to get most of the credit for starting the coin frenzy in the 1960’s. She put coins on lengths of chain to make belly drapes and used very large coins to make early coin belts. A former student of hers started the store ‘Cost Less Belly Dance Costume Supplies’ in Berkley California and ran with Jamila’s original ideas, and to this day they still make the best (and most expensive) coin belts around. They use the real deal, coins from Africa and the Middle East, while the rest of us use the cheaper version found in craft and dance costume supply shops. The cheaper pressed tin coins sound good and weigh less than half of the real ones although they just don’t have the same look about them.

Tassels And Cholis In Dance Costumes

Again, Jamila Salimpour must be mentioned. In the 1960’s her students used to go to the ‘Renaissance Fairre’, a medieval festival held every year in San Francisco. These students would wow the crowds with their dancing and costumes. Belly dance was not an everyday thing then, and costuming was wildly innovative. These dancers, in an attempt to look more like they belonged there instead of a Greek restaurant, would make costumes with more of an outdoorsy hippie-esh feel to them. Seeing as tassels were seen on camels in all the Hollywood movies, dancers knew they could put them on their costumes and no one in the audience would think anything of it.

These costumes evolved to look very distinctive, and out of this early offshoot, a whole new style of bellydance has evolved. It is called American Tribal, and the costumes are very vibrant and bold. The top is customarily a black choli, which is similar to the small blouse worn by Indian women under the sari. Brightly colored circle skirts with a coin sash or coin belt that accents the hip, and a turban are also worn. With this style of dance, comes bold jewelry and facial tattoos.

Beledi Dress

The Beledi Dress is a staple of any dancers wardrobe. They are a one piece costume that is folkloric and casual. This dress is almost always made from natural fibers. They can be either cut under the bust, or full in the front like all the other dresses. It can have coins, fabric fringe or other trditional forms of decoration. You rarely, if ever, see beaded fringe on Beledi dresses. The Beledi dresses with beaded fringe are saved for very formal performances that have folkloric dances featured.

Bedleh - Cabaret Costume

The word Bedleh simply means suit. We almost always connect the term Bedleh with the standard bra and belt type costume. This is also known as a Cabaret costume. This style of costume started in Cairo in the 1930's and very quickly became the favorite style.

Shebecka

A Shebecka is a body stocking worn with the standard two piece dance costume. It has been law in Egypt since the death of King Farouk that all dancers wear something that covers their stomach. Some dancers find other ways to circumvent the law, but most wear them.

Thobe (Taub)





A Thobe is a dress, pure and simple. It can be pure and simple or as intricate as you can dream. Here is the lovely Noa wearing a beautiful lavendar thobe. They are usually used for formal/folkloric dances