Anatomy of a Costume: LVBDI 2015 Edition

September 16, 2015September 15, 2015Sophia Ravenna

Green green green green.

It’s time once again for Anatomy of a Costume! If you’re new to my blog, this is a series where I discuss the inspiration, planning, and sometimes actual creation of a costume for a specific dance performance. It’s also my chance to give a shout-out to the artists who make the pieces that I didn’t make myself (which this time around is everything).

I put this costume together at pretty much the last minute. The inspiration was simple: I wanted something that would look nice with my fan veils, look great against the pink backdrop that LVBDI always uses for the community stage, and that didn’t need any repairs or modifications. Oh yes, and it had to fit into a rolling carry-on along with 3 days worth of workshops clothes and party clothes.

Somehow this resulted in me wearing nothing but recycled saris! I took the beautiful bra and belt that I wore for Tribal Fest and pairing them with my Madelene skirt. I was worried that the belt and skirt would either clash or blend too much into each other, but the row of buttons along the bottom of the belt serves as a good break between the two greens and it actually resulted in a very harmonious deep emerald green and gold costume. The deep greens really set off my complexion and hair, while also standing out beautifully against the pink backdrop.

Accessories are simple: the same two necklaces I wore for TF, a tiny rhinestone memory wire bracelet, a bead and rhinestone headband, and a bindi that happens to be made out of scraps from my costume, plus two little eye accent bindis.

Not seen but still important: the Madelene skirt has a high slit in the front. I usually wear it over pantaloons or a 25 yard skirt, but I wanted to show my legs this time, so I purchased a pair of dance shorts to wear under it. That way I could spin as much as I want, without worrying that the combination of slit skirt and raised stage would let the audience see more than I wanted to show. The skirt flares out beautifully when I spin, which made it a great choice for this fan veil performance.

Vendors!

Bra and belt: Medina Maitreya Designs

Skirt: The Verdant Muse

Necklace: Furious Fancies

Pendant: Owlkeyme

Bindi: Hi-Beam Bindis

Eye Accents: Kuhl Jewels

Fan Veils: Silkdancer

Professional Ambitions: Dress the Part

August 26, 2015Sophia Ravenna

Dress for the job you want. I want to be an Art Nouveau faerie princess.

Welcome to part five of my ongoing series about becoming a professional belly dancer. My standard disclaimer is that I am not promoting myself as an expert here, this is more of a “learn alongside me” than a definite how-to and is largely based on my opinions and my own personal experience. Your mileage may vary, etc etc.

A big part of being considered a professional in any career is dressing the part. You wouldn’t expect a CEO to show up to a meeting in jean shorts and you’d be surprised if your surgeon wore an evening gown. Being a belly dancer is no different. There are certain expectations on how we dress. ATS has its set of costuming, restaurant patrons expect a sparkly beaded costume, and folkloric (or fauxloric) dances have their own special ethnic dress. Part of being seen as a pro is knowing how to dress according to the needs of the style of dance and the venue, and being able to meet those expectations — or knowing when and how you can get away with breaking the rules.

So this post isn’t going to be about the importance of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on professional-level costuming. I mean, you’ll want to do that once you’re ready to start taking paid gigs, but there’s no need to invest in a custom-made stage-worthy costume while you’re still doing semi-annual student showcases. Instead, this is about dressing like you give a damn.

How to Dress Like a Professional (while you’re still an amateur):

1. Adhere to whatever costuming guidelines your teacher or troupe director gives you. That means when you’re told to wear black pants, you don’t show up in black and white striped pants, you show up in black.

2. Buy the nicest version you can afford. When it comes to basic costuming items, your options usually run the range from dirt cheap to top-of-the-line custom made. Now, early on in your dance journey you probably won’t be able to afford custom-made costumes, and honestly, early on you’re going to be wearing a lot of simple stuff that doesn’t need to be really tailored, so you’ll generally be fine buying off the rack (although I do know that people who are extra tiny or extra curvy often have to order custom or modify things a lot, and you have my sympathy). But just because you don’t need couture doesn’t mean that you should get the Made in China eBay cheapies. Unless you’re buying for a themed performance for the holidays or something, you will probably wear your student and amateur level costumes over and over again, especially certain staple items like skirts, pantaloons, choli tops, belts and tribal bras… wait, that’s basically everything. If you buy good quality at the start, and take good care of things, some of your baby dancer costuming may even carry over into your professional level gigs, layered under fancier accessories.

3. And that brings me to my next point. Take good care of your costuming! Keep it clean, make repairs as needed, store it nicely. If a piece of costuming doesn’t come with care instructions, Google it or ask a more experienced dancer. Believe me, most of us have learned the hard way how not to wash a 25 yard skirt! The benefit of caring for your pieces is that not only will you look better on stage and get more use out of them, but when you’re done with them, you should be able to pass them on to another dancer instead of having to throw them away.

4. Only wear what fits you. I think we all have at least one thing in our dance closet that doesn’t really fit right, but we love it so we refuse to get rid of it, and sometimes we insist on wearing it. Maybe we wear it a lot, because it’s the only *whatever* we have and we don’t want to spend the money to buy a new one. I’m here to tell you that you need to either modify or get rid of everything that doesn’t fit you, especially bras. Ill-fitting bras are unflattering, and you’re at a higher likelihood of a costume malfunction.

5. Do your makeup! I know a lot of people are resistant to makeup, but it is incredibly important. It’s not about “covering your flaws” or embracing some media-driven idea of beauty. It’s about enhancing and highlighting your features so the people in the back row can actually read your expression. How much makeup you need to wear depends on the size of the venue and the lighting, but any time you’re wearing a costume, you should also be wearing makeup.

6. Wear a coverup when you’re not on stage. It’s polite, it protects your costume, it’s the smart thing to do. If I was the President of Bellydanceland, I’d make it the law. Wear a coverup. Even at an outdoor gig when it’s 110 degrees. Wear a coverup. Wear. A. Cover. Up.

Most of these tips apply to your props and classwear, too. Buy nice things, take good care of them, make sure the pants you wear to class aren’t so loose you shimmy out of them (been there, done that). That said, don’t feel like you have to buy expensive Melodias or other fancy things to wear to class. If you like to, and can afford it, but by all means do… But plenty of professionals wear less-expensive pants and shirts. Personally, I have a few pieces of fancy classwear, but I save them for workshops. For normal classes in town I wear Target yoga pants and t-shirts from dance festivals.

But why do I suggest all of these things? Because when you take your appearance seriously, it shows that you take the dance seriously. When even at the student level you make sure to dress appropriately, and look the nicest you can, and take good care of your costume, it shows respect for the dance, your teachers, and your fellow dancers. When you wear a nice costume and do your makeup, it shows that you care about giving the audience the best experience you can.

I also suggest paying attention to your costume and makeup early on, because just like dancing itself, it takes time to refine your technique. If you’re not used to wearing makeup, or you usually go for a subtle look, it takes practice to get comfortable with eye liner and contouring. As a baby dancer I had to allow myself 2 hours to do my face and hair before a show, but now if I have to, I can get it done in 45 minutes (30 if I don’t have to do heavy contouring). The same goes for learning what costuming styles look good on you, how to make or repair your own costumes, how to mix and match to create a layered look, etc etc. If you practice these skills alongside learning movement and musicality, they’ll develop at a similar rate, and by the time you’re ready to be a pro, you’ll be a well-rounded performer.

Tribal Trend Predictions

June 2, 2015Sophia Ravenna

Are powdered wigs poised to be the next big tribal trend? (Photo of Auberon taken by Chuck Lehnhard)

I bet you thought I was done talking about Tribal Fest 15! No, I have this one last post in me, and it’s about trends I saw on stage at Tribal Fest and how I think they’re going to trickle down into the tribal dance community as a whole.

1. Humor and fun. I want to discuss this one first. I think it’s a trend that’s slowly been building. For the longest time it’s seemed like tribal and fusion belly dance has taken itself very seriously, probably because we wanted other people to take us seriously. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, and while I like seeing serious belly dance, it’s also nice to see dancers let loose sometimes. There were a lot of performances this year that demonstrated that you can have serious dance technique and a wacky persona and put on a great show. Will this spread beyond Tribal Fest? I suspect that a lot of the humorous pieces happen because people feel comfortable letting loose at Tribal Fest. As such, I think we’ll probably only see these kind of pieces at other tribal-specific belly dance events, while dancers will continue to present more serious work at mixed-genre performances.

2. Lip synching/singing along. I saw a LOT of this, sometimes very obvious and intentional, such as Sooz’s full man-drag Uptown Funk performance, and other times I couldn’t tell if the dancer even knew they were mouthing the lyrics. This is something you sometimes see in Egyptian-style belly dance, but honestly, I have a feeling tribal dancers are drawing it more from the drag community. Will it spread? Maybe. I just have to say, if you’re going to do it, commit to it.

3. SPARKLES. The line is really blurring between tribal and cabaret, and I saw a lot more sparkly costumes and some that I would not have been surprised to see an Egyptian dancer wear at a night club or upscale restaurant. Witness the stunning costumes worn by Rose Movement. I’ve seen similar styles on Egyptian dancers many times. My own troupe performed in nude rhinestone costumes this year. Will it spread? I think so. There seems to be a lot less firm boundaries between styles now, and I think especially as more fusion dancers decide to train in more “traditional” Egyptian and Turkish styles, we’ll see more of that influence come into their dance.

4. More individuality of style. There seems to be less people copying whatever Rachel or Zoe’s troupes did last year and more drawing from your own sense of style, or doing costumes that specifically fit the theme of the performance. Will it spread? I think so. I think the genre is maturing enough that people don’t feel like they HAVE to copy the big names to prove that they’re authentic tribal dancers. I think the trend is now towards originality, creativity, and finding some material or embellishment that no one else has never used before.

5. Headdresses are shrinking. I was worried for a while there that we were going to get into Vegas showgirl territory, with towering feather creations stretching towards the heavens, but I think we finally hit the limit of how big you could make a head piece and still be able to belly dance under it. Some performers — mainly the temple style dancers for whom it is most fitting — are still wearing large, elaborate headdresses but in general they seem to be shrinking down to a more reasonable medium size. Will it spread? I suspect so, because smaller pieces are easier to wear and to travel with.

6. Italian is the next Balkan. There were several amazing Italian dancers on the Tribal Fest stage this year and several of them danced to Italian music. Check out this folksy tambourine ATS piece by Barbara Giannantoni, for instance. Isn’t that music GOOD? And with Violet Scrap teaching at TF next year, I think we’re going to see a lot more interest in the Italian dance scene. Will it spread? I’m guessing YES because we’re overdue for an infusion of fresh musical influence.

Do you have any trends you like to add? Do you disagree with any of my predictions? I’d love to have a discussion in the comments section!

Anatomy of a Costume: Tribal Fest 15 Edition!

May 26, 2015Sophia Ravenna

A dance performance at Tribal Fest 2015 in Sebastopol California

My Tribal Fest 15 performance, skillfully captured by Lee Corkett.

It’s time once again for Anatomy of a Costume, where I discuss the inspiration and sourcing of what I performed in.

Because I wasn’t portraying a specific character in this piece, my inspiration was simple: I wanted to be PRETTY! And I wanted to wear something that would look nice with my custom-dyed fan veils. With those simple guidelines in mind, I assembled a costume that embodied the Art Nouveau with a touch of Faerie aesthetic that I do so love.

Starting at the bottom, a Super Bootie skirt by Snake Church, in the lovely color called Mermaid Food. There was a delay on this production run of Super Booties, which meant I was not able to actually have it in my greedy little hands until I got to Tribal Fest! Luckily it turned out to be even prettier than the pictures and it went really well with my fan veils. I think I am going to get a lot of use out of this skirt because it is such a beautiful neutral!

Next up, my belt and bra! I ordered a belt base from Medina Maitreya, after she posted a belt I really liked but wasn’t sure if I should splurge on, and then somebody beat me to the punch. Then I decided I wanted a matching bra base, and I’d embellish them myself. But then she showed me the other green sari scraps and choli sleeve pieces she had and I fell in absolute love with that shimmery green trimmed with dark green velvet. I had to have it. Then it turned out it wasn’t quite big enough to cover the cups, so Medina added some pieces from a different scrap and suddenly I had the most beautiful bra ever. Seriously, I can’t even handle how beautiful it is. I didn’t have to add any embellishments! I did put a couple small crystals on the straps and I might add more, but in general, the bra is already amazing! Medina also sold me a bundle of cool green embellishments she collected over the years, so that’s mostly what I used to adorn the belt, including some leftovers from the bra. I also added some Turkoman buttons from my own collection, and some tine Swarovksi lochrosen sequins for extra sparkle.

One reason why I didn’t add more bra embellishment is because I knew I wanted to once again wear the body chain I made before LVBDI last year. I really love that vintage beetle buckle! Plus it was nice to wear something that I made all by myself.

Next up, jewelry! I am wearing three pieces that I picked up at Tribal Fest. One is a crystalized tanfouk/talakhmit pendant made by Tempest. This was my first Tribal Fest purchase because there was only one green one and I was not going to miss out! I’m also wearing a pretty bead, coin and chain necklace by Furious Fancies, and a pair of earrings by Tawapa. Oh, and a set of eye accent bindis that my bestie got for me from Kuhl Jewels.

And then there’s my head. I had purchased a cool headband to wear, but USPS lost it, so that was another thing I had to buy at Tribal Fest. I decided to give Medina more of my monies and treat myself to one of her amazing tikka crown headpieces, which is really easy to wear, stays on securely, and looks fabuuuuulooooous. Because of the neutral mixed metal palette I know I am going to wear this a lot (probably with last year’s big splurge, my mixed metal Snake Church belt). The crown is joined by a set of curly braids from Diva Dreads (which I also wore for the troupe performance) and a few custom-made sparkly flowers from Becka Bomb’s Buds.

Lastly, my fan veils! I custom-ordered these from Silks by Sahariah last year because I wanted a nice, neutral pair of fan veils that would look good with whatever costume I wore. They are absolutely beautiful and mesmerizing, and I find that I perform with them much more than my other set, because they get such an amazing reaction out of the audience, and the pale colors really catch the light well.

Whew! So many pieces involved in putting together the perfect costume!

Anatomy of a Costume, Kyle Cassidy Photos Edition

February 26, 2015Sophia Ravenna

Picking out a good costume is just so overwhelming! Excuse me while I swoon!

I just realized today that I hadn’t done an “Anatomy of a Costume” post since September! It’s definitely time to bring those back. Let’s start by talking about what I wore for my photo shoot with Kyle Cassidy earlier this month.

I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do for this. I knew I wanted to wear something other than a super bootie skirt, because I tend to hit those pretty hard. Since I knew the shoot would be outdoors, I eventually decided on a more tribal look, but then I had to narrow it down from there. After playing with various skirts, I finally settled on two that looked awesome together. Added benefits were the fact that one of the skirts had a matching top, and I hadn’t worn either skirt for photos before.

The base skirt and matching top are really special, made out of a heavier woven material and stamped with block-print pattern that is accented with lots of metallic gold. I fell in love with it at the Magical Fashions booth at Tribal Fest last year, and it was the only one, so I had to have it. I really want to perform in this set someday! Unfortunately, the halter top needed some darts added, and one of my hastily-sewn darts popped during the shoot. We scrounged up a safety pin, but you can see the awkwardness of the repair in some of the photos. I definitely need to sit down and do a better job of adjusting this top.

The over skirt is another 25 yarder from Magical Fashions, one of her popular Aishwarya skirts which is made out of a shimmering duo-chrome fabric with a wide sari ribbon border. I stepped out of my usual box when I ordered this one and chose a peachy orange one, as I thought it would make a nice contrast with the green skirts I already had.

Underneath, I’m wearing a pair of below-the-knee bloomers in brown, I think they’re from Mishu? I’ve had them forever.

To top it off, I’m wearing a brown tribal belt with teal accents that I purchased at the African Village show a couple of years ago. The African Village is part of the gem show and features vendors from Africa, selling gems and jewelry and art and more. It’s a great place to get a basket, or a djembe, or a giant beaded throne (someday!). I’m also wearing the cool hinged bracelet that I picked up from Silk Road Tribal at Tribal Fest, peacock fake gauge earrings and a beaded necklace that I made with a double-sided scarab bead by Margaret Zinser.

Because I was rushed on time, I kept the hair and makeup simple. I really like the more natural look I ended up with. Not as glamorous as I would normally be on stage, I think these photos show a softer side of me — well, except for the ones where I’ve got a sword and my face seems to say “I am going to murder you.”

This is my murdering face.

My sword is a Kult of Athena Balady scimitar. I really like it, the size and weight is ideal for balancing and it looks very impressive. The other prop that I brought was a cute parasol that I picked up from Woman Shops World at the bead show. I’ve wanted one of these besequined parasols forever, and an outdoor photo shoot was the perfect excuse to buy one. I choose one in nice warm coppery and gold colors, because it really complimented this costume, and will also look great for many of my other costumes, especially steampunk looks.

Just out for a stroll.

I’m really happy with this costume. It was fun to go back to my tribal roots and layer on the big fluffy skirts!

Vendors:

Skirts and halter top – Magical Fashions.

Tribal Bracelet – Silk Road Tribal.

Earrings – Dewi Design.

Sword – Kult of Athena.

Parasol – Woman Shops World.

Photography – Kyle Cassidy.