Bellydance: Experiences

Is there a lipstick shortage in St Louis?

The show Saturday night was fantastic, but I did notice something odd.

The stage at the Kirkwood community center is small, and the lights aren't nearly as big and bright as lights on a more formal theatrical stage. But even though they are smaller, these lights are closer to the dancer than the lights on a big stage, so the end result is the same: washed out makeup.

So why was it that several dancers Saturday night, all of whom had danced on that stage before and were familiar with the lights, wore daytime-shade colors of lipstick? Bright hollywood red lips go with every costume, and we are belly dancers, we shouldn't be afraid of dramatic makeup! But it was amazing to me how noticeable it was to see a beautiful dancer, in a beautiful costume, whose facial expressions looked vague and indistinct because they didn't seem to have much in the way of lips.

(I wore MAC Viva Glam I, which was recommended to me by Samira who is one of Dahlal's most often-used models. It's a little darker than the MAC Russian Red that I used to use, and I like the color better with my skin tone. I have visible lips in all of my pictures from that night.)

Two new costumes

Just a quick pair of pictures.

This is the Pharaonics bedlah I picked up from a dancer in Oregon. I bought it inexpensively, it needs some TLC, and I need to completely re-construct the bra (move the cups closer together, angle them in, make it a halter and reduce the fringe). But I think it's such a classic, and I will love it once it's done.

And this one I bought tonight. It's at least 10 years old, probably closer to 15. I bought it from a dance friend, who had bought it from another St Louis dancer (who is now a great teacher and studio director). The style is very old-school - no one is making costumes like this anymore. (In the picture, there's a neck strap that is currently sitting loose under the shoulder straps. It needs a new hook.) The beading is very 3 dimensional, and I love the asymmetry.

Technical difficulties

Trying to post an enrty from my iPhone broke my categories... I somehow created duplicates of the "bellydance" and "costumes, props and makeup" categories, and when I went to delete the duplicates, it deleted the categories entirely.

Since I know people do use the categories to look for older entries, I am in the process of going through all of my old entries and restoring their categorizations. This will, unfortunately, take me at least a few days, since I have a lot of history to go through.

Thanks for your understanding.

Bellydance is half about the costumes

It's funny, now that I'm not so stressed in the rest of my life, I'm enjoying dancing a lot more too. As I got closer to the exam, I would feel guilty whenever I spent any of my free time doing anything other than studying. Now that my time is my own again, I feel a lot more free.

I've lost almost twenty pounds since the beginning of the year, and I have to admit that has done a lot for my confidence too. I've been looking at my costumes with a critical eye, trying to decide which to keep and which to sell. It's hard! I love them all. Three of them I know I'll keep, because selling them is out of the question: the blue bedlah in the picture on the sidebar of this page, my pink Lycra galabeya, and my black Madame Abla dress.

My coin costume, though, will have to move on. The belt slides off my hips and shortening it would involve some major surgery. I was going to replace it with another Mid East manufacturing set in the next smaller size, but seeing pictures of vintage costumes is making me seriously consider spending my summer making an old school style real coin bedlah. I think it could be something really different and awesome. After all, with Dahlal and Andrea being here in St Louis, everyone has pretty imported costumes and it would be awesome to have something that stands out.

Speaking of costume projects, I picked up an older Pharonics bedlah on the Bhuz swap meet, and I'm going to completely rebuild the bra and update the style. I'll be documenting the process with pictures and details here on the blog, so hopefully that will make for some fun reading. It is a great set, all glass beads and a really classic cut so I think I'll be able to do a lot with it. Look forward to lots of detailed pictures of scary costume surgery and bedlah innards.

I am a total bellydance trendsetter

Well, probably not really. But it's nice to think so.

I am stressing and anxious about tomorrow's exam, so I wandered out to get the mail, and the May/June Inside the Harem flyer from Dahlal was in my mailbox. I was flipping through it, idly daydreaming about costumes until I got to page 6... Where I see that Dahlal is now carrying Stephanie dance shoes... like the ones I wrote up a couple of months ago. (And they're calling the model I got the Fifi, after Fifi Abdo, how awesome is that?)

Of course, I'm sure that they came to their decision to carry them completely independent of me... but it's nice to pretend that I'm all influential and stuff.

Misc Review Stephanie Dance Shoes - #12028 - for bellydance

Brand: Stephanie
Model: #12028
Price: $69.95 - $99.95
Available from: I bought mine at a discount from Danceshoes4u, also available from basically any ballroom dance vendor that sells Stephanie Shoes like Feather Dance Shoes

Added 5/12/08: Now Available from Dahlal!

I've gone ahead and taken a ton of pictures, but unfortunately, the only place in the house with good natural light right now is right in front of my back door. So please excuse the odd backdrop. Also, all of the live modeled shots were taken by me - and it's extremely hard to take pictures of your own feet. Especially since I was on hold with my bank at the time.

I wish I had gotten shoes like this so much sooner! I have danced in smooth-soled character shoes, and rubber-soled high-heeled street shoes before and found it difficult and frustrating. From the moment I put these on, I felt stable, and could dance. Unlike those other types of shoes, the soft soles make it easy to feel the floor and feel grounded.

I danced in them at the hafla Friday night, and I was very comfortable performing in them. Their glitzy look is appropriate with a cabaret costume (though I wore them for a group "salsa-hiphop-oriental fusion" dance. More about that in another entry.) They were stable, and moved well on the linoleum-type floor we were dancing on.

Now for the important details:

Here are the  2.5" heels, they look thin, but they don't wobble at all:

The glitzy bits:

The suede soles:

The quick-release buckle: Could someone please explain to me why street shoes never come with buckles like this?

Finally, the shoes in action. They make my ankles look great.

I think these are a great choice for cabaret dancers who need shoes that will protect their feet on questionable floors, and not look out-of-place with beaded and sequined costumes.

I ordered my shoes

So, after asking you guys for suggestions, I went ahead and decided on a pair of dance shoes. I think I managed to meet all of my criteria, though I won't know for sure until they arrive which should be in a couple of days.

I ended up deciding on a pair of Stephanie dance shoes. The talk I found online is that it's a decent brand of dance shoes, nothing spectacular, but not bad either. Maria of A Time to Dance had such great things to say about hers, and that cemented it for me.

So this is the shoe I picked out. It has a 2.5 inch heel, and a quick-release thing behind the buckle on the ankle. the suede soles will work well with the wooden stages at workshops and the wooden floors at haflas.

I think it's a pretty shoe, and will go perfectly with both of my bedlahs, since both of them have silver beading. I especially love the extra glitter sparkle along with the plain silver.

And don't you think they will really beautifully show off a great pedicure?

One thing I am a little concerned about, though: I ordered them from a discounter called Dance Shoes 4 U. When I got the confirmation, I realized they are another storefront of Dance4Less, which has a questionable reputation when it comes to customer service. On the other hand, I got them for $30 below retail... $69.95 with free shipping. I'll be sure to let you guys know if everything arrives ok.

I need shoe recommendations!

I know there's a small handful of ballroom and other partner-type social dancers who read this blog, and I'm coming to you asking for help.

I need a great pair of dance shoes!

Here's what I'm looking for:

• Silver-colored
• 2-3 inch heels, and they need to be nice-looking heels, not like the chunky clunky ones on my cheap Capezio character shoes
• Open-toed, strappy sandal-ish
• Secure on the foot, but not obnoxiously fiddly to get on and off. (There are alternatives to constantly having to struggle with those little tiny buckles, right?)
• Very stable while dancing, good support
• Under $100

I appreciate your help!