Disclaimer: After reading through this several times I realise I'm just ranting and this is possibly not true for every country. I'm currently faced with the task of making several pieces and outfits for my upcoming trips (30 days till Purple Belly Bus), and the stress is getting to me. I will be meeting many of South Africa's belly dancers I have never met before and want to be taken seriously. It's hard standing there chatting to a lovely lady in a gorgeous professional outfit about your business plan and aim to rise in status, while you are wearing something you sat sewing and crying over while beading at 2am and it still looks ... amateur at best.
We always say that belly dance is for every woman no matter their size, shape, height, etc... But is that really true?
The dance itself does NOT discriminate. Anyone can dance. There are however peripheral factors that do.
Firstly, let's look at shimmy belts. I'm talking about the beginners coin belts that come in a variety of different colours with 2-3 layers of crocheted on coins.
Every beginner wants one. They put it on and they feel transformed into a belly dancer. But these are a 1 size fits all and that size is what I would refer to as a medium hip. I've watched beginners look very disappointed that they can barely get the belt to tie across their hips, tie it in the smallest part of their waist, or just put it down and slink to the back of the class embarrassed they it doesn't fit.
I've also seen other ladies have to tie it with the coins inside the knot. They do have children's belts if they want to have something smaller (there's a bit of sarcasm in my voice). My aunt sent me a gift a few months ago. She ordered me a black adult belt. It turned out to be a child's belt and it fits my 4 year old perfectly. Again, nothing for kids who are between adult and preschooler size.
So from the beginning, larger ladies are getting the message that there isn't enough space for their hips. Slight ladies are thinking their hips aren't enough. (And if you think I'm overreacting - I've had students tell me this)
These are cheap belts though, so let's look at the more expensive coin belts and beaded hip scarves.
These do come in different sizes. Small and medium. I have a beautiful gold coin belt that I bought when I was in Melbourne in 2010. It was bigger than most and fitted around my hips nicely. After having babies it just gets round my hips, leaving a large space "uncoined". This makes your hips look even bigger. Some of our other ladies have bought 2 small belts and join them together to get around their hips.
I saw a beautiful soft gold beaded hip scarf online. I enquired as to the size of it ... and let's just say I wouldn't be able to tie it. I've found this to be problem with nearly all the hip scarves and coin belts I've seen. There is a variety of sizes but not for larger women.
Let's move on to costumes...
I have 1 professionally made costume. It's a baladi dress bought for me in Egypt. I sent the money to a dancer who was going to Cairo and asked for a large dress in blue, red or purple. She came back with black. The only dress she could find (and she knows Cairo well and visits every year, visiting multiple dress makers) in a large was black. There were a huge variety in extra-small, small and medium, but apparently larger girls only wear black. I then noticed while watching YouTube videos that most of the plus sized dancers are wearing black.
I have bought 1 second hand bra and belt. By the looks of it, it was made by a semi-professional. It looks great, but I can tell the difference. This bra is not the perfect fit for me, but it's the best I come across. I'm a 36G and this is a 40E. I've had to adjust the back, making it tighter so my breasts don't fall out. Luckily the belt is the perfect size for me, but this is rare.
I often see costumes for sale from local retailers and the size of bra is generally B - D cup and the hips are size 28 - 34 (South African sizes). This only caters for a certain size, obviously. A lady with G breasts and large hip size cannot buy professionally made outfits. Neither it seems can a lady with AA breasts (unless they buy those butterfly tops).
I've heard of local dancers who have bought beautiful costumes, which are not their size, only for their breasts to pop out during a performance.
So what do we wear?
Our "country-bumpkin" home-made outfits. Does wearing a home-made outfit make us lesser dancers? No. Do we get judged for these costumes? Yes. Do the general public think we are lesser dancers because we aren't wearing professional outfits? Yes.
We are getting better and better at making them, but I'm not a professional and as I said before ... you can tell.
I have a tickle gap between the body suit and the bra (face palm).
If you are short, the costumes are generally too long. If they are beaded around the bottom then you cannot take them up. I think it's the black dresses in the picture further up which is the one Mel has fold around her hips to stop it from lying on the floor. This is why her slit is so much higher than mine. Mel has this problem all the time. I've also heard of taller ladies who end up with all their fancy beaded skirts and dresses at mid-calf.
So my point is this:
While belly dance is for everyone, the wear and costumes are only for certain sizes. It's so hard to convince your students that their size doesn't matter without having problems with costuming. There's enough problems with finding exercise clothes that fit properly and now the added shame of not being able to fit a shimmy belt or nice hip scarf, and having to wear homemade costumes that are subpar to the professional ones.
Okay, rant over.
Header Image: This picture is of me before I had twins. I used this picture because I'm wearing an outfit I made myself. Yes, I see that I'm doing a lobotomy face. My excuse is that the dancers who were supposed to dance with me refused to do improvisation like our teacher asked, so I had to do it all. I was exhausted at this point having danced 10 - 15 mins sets with a 20 min break between for about 3 hrs. Also there is a creepy guy in the background. Hopefully I'll get to that topic soon.