COSTUME CONSIDERATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR HOURGLASS STUDENTS:

As you begin to assemble a costume for the recital, or other performance, please keep in mind that belly dance gatherings are almost always family oriented events. There may be grandparents and children in attendance, so please dress accordingly. This does not mean that you have to dress like Jane Hathaway from the Beverly Hillbillies, but it does mean that you should take certain points into consideration. I will address some of these points, as well as costuming in general.

HAIR-However you choose to wear your hair is up to you, but I suggest that you practice with your hair in the style you plan to wear it at the recital. If you are going to wear it up, practice with it up- if you are going to wear it down, practice with it down. If you plan to wear hair ornaments or a head-dress, practice a few times in full head dress. If you plan to wear your hair down for the performance, I suggest adding a touch of hairspray to keep it out of your face while dancing.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN A VEIL ROUTINE and are planning on wearing hair ornaments or wearing your hair up, it is especially important for you to practice with your veil to insure that the veil doesn’t get caught in your hair during the performance.

MAKEUP-Plan on wearing two to three times as much makeup as usual. Some of the best advice I’ve read about stage makeup is to put on your makeup and then back 5, 10, 20 , or 30 feet away from the mirror (that is, as far away as your audience will be relative to you) and see if you can still see your face. You may be surprised! In general, be sure to play up your eyes, lips and cheekbones. If you normally wear glasses, please substitute contacts for your performance if possible.

JEWELRY-Yes! If you are so inclined, please do wear jewelry. It really does go over well on stage — especially if it sparkles—and it certainly doesn’t need to be expensive jewelry. Costume jewelry works just as well.

BODY GLITTER-Like jewelry, body glitter adds a nice sparkle to the parts of the body you want to accent.

TANNERS-Use tanners if you wish, but BE SURE to start experimenting with them early on. You don’t want to put on tanner the night before the performance and wake up glowing bright orange the next morning with nothing to be done about it. Also, be careful about accumulation of tanner in creases and areas such as the belly button. And while we are on the subject of belly buttons, please make a clean sweep of yours if it will be on display! Also- beautiful, pale, porcelain, skin can be quite striking against a colored costume, so don’t automatically assume that you need a tanner.

ARMS-If you are over 25 years old, you may want to consider wearing sleeves or armbands. While belly dancing, our arms are up much of the time and there is often a lot more jiggling going on than we would like to think. Hold up your arms, do a vigorous shoulder shimmy and take stock of the situation.
If you decide that sleeves or armbands are in order, there are many styles to choose from. Armbands can be fabric or metal cuffs. I will refer you to some websites that will give you several ideas to consider.

HANDS-Please make sure to clean up your nails and if so desired, paint them. Rings and bracelets are nice additions. IF YOU ARE IN A VEIL ROUTINE, and plan to wear artificial nails (this includes the type applied at the salon) and/or jewelry on your hands, please practice with the veil while your hands are adorned. Don’t have artificial nails applied the day before the performance and find you can no longer work your veil as you would like. Also, as with hair ornaments, veils can get caught on jewelry so be careful.

BUST-Please make sure yours is well supported, and the larger the bust, the more support. Push up bras are fine, and moderate amounts of cleavage at the bust line, as long as the bust is well contained, supported, and fairly stationary. Also, and this is a REQUIREMENT, make sure your top is not going to accidentally come apart during the performance. You can insure that this will not happen by reinforcing certain points in your bra/top. Points to triple reinforce are in the front and back where the straps attach to the bra, and the closure at the back. Velcro at the back of a bra, in combination with reinforcements at the strap attachments, virtually eliminates the possibility of an accidental exposure. Once you have assembled/designed your top, put it on and dance in it. REALLY dance in it—shake, shimmy, jump up and down, bend over —you get the point. Really put it through a rigorous test and make sure everything is going to stay put.
One other thing, be careful about busts that spill over the sides of bras/tops. If this is occurring, your bra may be too small, or you may need to attach a sleeve to add some coverage in this area.

BELLY/MIDRIFF-Whether or not to bare the belly is an individual preference. The important thing here is for the dancer to feel comfortable about her appearance. If you would like some “limited” exposure, you may always consider belly drapes of either solid or sheer fabrics for selective coverage, unitards with sheer or mesh inserts, or drapes of beads or fringe sewn to your top.
Whatever your choice, please be careful about how low you wear your skirt or pants, keeping in mind that it is a family event.

SKIRTS/PANTS-There are many styles to choose from when deciding on skirts and/or pants for costuming. You should consider adding some sort of coin wrap, cabaret belt, scarf, shawl, or coin/chain belt to your skirt or pants. It can add color and a nice finishing touch. I recommend using safety pins to keep this part of your costume from sliding around as you dance. After you secure it to your skirt or pant, wiggle around to make sure it is going to stay in place.

LEGS-If you have a great set of legs and would like to show them off, please do, but do not expose the entire leg by wearing a completely sheer skirt or pant with solid coverage only in the form of a “bikini” sort of panty. Should a dancer show up in this type of a costume they simply will not be allowed to participate. Of course a non-sheer skirt or pant is fine, but if you wish to wear a sheer fabric, the inner thighs, IN BOTH THE FRONT AND BACK of your costume must be covered with some sort of solid fabric and that coverage must extend at least half-way down the upper thigh. If you would like to expose some of the upper outer thigh (sides of the thigh) with a modest slit, a cut-out, or a sheer “peek-a-boo” fabric, this is fine as long as it is in good taste and done with discretion. Also, if you would like to wear a skirt with a slit in the front or sides, please keep the slit mid-thigh or lower.

FEET-People will notice your feet much more than you would ever expect. Since we dance barefoot, it is impossible to keep our feet clean once we begin dancing, but we can at least show up with clean feet. So clean up your feet, paint and adorn them if you wish, (be careful of jewelry that gets caught on skirts) but then slip on a pair of sandals, slippers, etc. and keep them on until you leave the dressing room to dance. Following the performance, we can’t be held responsible for the bottoms of our feet!

LINGERIE-Please make sure yours are not exposed. If you feel the need to wear a standard lingerie type of bra underneath your costume bra, it’s probably because your costume bra is not providing sufficient support or coverage. If this is the case, you need to plan on adding additional fabric and/or support to your costume bra or wearing a different top altogether. If you still feel the need to wear a standard bra under your costume bra, please make sure it is not obviously exposed to your audience – and this includes the back of the bra. Wearing a standard lingerie type of bra that is obviously exposed to your audience is like wearing a knee-length slip under a mini skirt.

COVER-UP-It is customary to wear a cover-up prior to performing. The cover-up will serve several purposes: it will protect your costume when traveling to and from the event, it provides coverage when entering and exiting the car, it keeps your costume a mystery to the audience until the performance, and it just looks more professional. A cover-up can be anything from a nice caftan to a pretty piece of fabric tied at the shoulder or wrapped around the body and strategically tucked in place.

VEIL- Please don’t wad up your veil and cram it in a bag. Iron and either nicely fold or hang your veil before leaving the house and DON’T FORGET IT. (I hang mine by the door I will be leaving from).

FINALLY-When you get your costume fully assembled, put it on and practice your routine a few times. Make sure it is going to work for you.

Lorrie Pierce