Chani

My daughter is 7yo and is doing Egyptian style belly dancing. I haven't seen too many proper costumes for children around - most are really for dress ups.

I was thinking a midriff top and harem pants would be cute.

Are there any galleries of belly dancing costumes? Are there traditional costumes for girls that would be suitable?

Thx in advance
Chani

Kharmine

I came across these kids' styles on a bellydance clothing site, but they're pricey: Belly dance costume, Scarf, egyptian jewelry: Isis Imports Ltd

If you sew, you might use these photos as ideas. You can make a midriff top out of any peasant blouse. The pants might be harder but if she wore anything kind of gauzy she could just borrow Mommy's coin belt to top 'em off.

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Aniseteph

My coin belts would go round my 8 year old about 3 times at least!

For harem pants those patterns for dressing up outfits might be OK - the total look isn't necessarily right but you get some basic pieces.
http://www.simplicity.com/assets/5357/5357.jpg
Design Viewer

For a mini hipscarf you could use an ordinary scarf and sew on coins - not going to take hundreds to go round a small person!

PS - Blimey Kharmine, that IS expensive for bit of Lycra and a few coins and beads.

Chani

Thanks for the replies. I can sew okay - enough to pull off a circle skirt.

Kharmine, She loved the ones from Isis. She fell in love with the red one. They were just a little grow up looking to my eyes for a 7yo because of the tight skirt. Not that she doesn't wear clothes aimed at teenagers al the time already...whenever she can...LOL. They were pricey but not for what they were.

Aniseteph, I thought all those outfits are great and I think I can make all of those without buying the pattern. I liked what the girl in the main picture is wearing. It has an Indian feel but with the right fabric or perhaps without the sleeves it would have the right flavour. I love the idea of harem pants underneath a skirt.

Good point about an adult hip scarf being miles too long. My daughter hasn't done much hand sewing yet, so far just a couple of buttons, but I thnk if I get her the materials she might be able to design and make her own hip scarf.

There is one other child in our class who is 7yo too and she just happens to be the exact same height and build as my daughter. They both wear matching big beautiful smiles when they dance, too. They will look great dancing together in complimentary outfits. I'll offer them a couple of choices and see what they would like to wear best.

I have a 3yo also and while she isn't dancing herself yet I can see I'm going to have to whip something up for her to wear so she doesn't feel left out. Then there is my own outfit. My Bernina will be getting a work out. I'm grateful about now that my mother taught me to sew otherwise I might be looking at a second job.

Chani

Maria_Aya

Hi there
I'm a teacher and I total dissagree with the idea of kids being taught bellydance.
Bellydance have in it a sensual feeling whatever we do, its in the nature of the dance, so its not good to teach it to kids.

I teach kids only folk dances from middle east.
So this means that you will laugh watching the 8 years old with the canes
In the same way i believe that its not propriate for a kid to wear a 2 piece costumes. Go for a cute gelebia style, with a hip scarf and head scarf.
Harem pants with a top is ok also.

Maria Aya, Greece

p.s. heyyyyyyy I'm greek australian, born in Melbourne !! and lived 12 years there

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... www.orientalexpression.gr

Chani

Hi Maria Aya,

I very much appreciate your thoughts. I both agree and disagree. I am very new to belly dance so I can only speak as a mother and not as a person with a good understanding of belly dance or the accompanying music and costumes.

I agree that belly dancing is sensual. However, far be it for me to supress my daughter's sensuality. The only reason I can think of that I would desire to inhibit her would be for safety reasons. Believe me I am very aware of the dangers out there in the world. It's one of the reasons I don't send my children to school into the care of strangers but homeschool them instead. Both of my young girls are always with me or with a trusted family member or friend (and not all friends or family members fall into that category).

I should explain that the class is actually an adult class. She and the other 7yo are not paying students but just accompanying their Mums and learning alongside of us. The other mother bringing her 7yo also has her teenage daughter with her. This is to me is a natural way of leaning. By my side and under my supervision. It has been in this way, through observation and having questions freely and honesly answered is how my daughter learned about childbirth, it is how she has learned to cook and grow food, clean house and make friends, sew and care for a baby, ride a bike, swim etc., etc.

But I do understand your concerns with belly dancing and that sensual side of it. It is one of the reasons that I would use caution when helping my daughter choose an outfit to dance in. Why the more grown up outfits don't appeal to me for children is because it seems that the bikini/bra style tops are attemting to give the illusion of developed breasts and a tight fitting skirt, particularly a fishtail style skirt, seem to be attemting to give the illusion of developed hips. To me what is nice for kids are outfits that are still in keeping with the flavour of the cultures where belly dance have emerged from without any attempt to change the shape of the child which is perfect just as it is.

Still, having said all that regarding my preference for children's costumes, I respect my daughter's right to autonomy - both in her right to belly dance and her right to wear her personal choice of outfits. If she really wanted to wear a certain outfit I would never stop her no matter what it was. I might if I was concerned about her being hurt by nasty comments advise her on the way her outfit choice may be judged by others but I would ultimately leave the choice to her.

This is what I have always done. An example: we live at the beach. When she was little she never wanted to wear a swimming costume. This hardly got noticed until she was 3yo when it was the other children who would ask her where her pants were or they would ask me why she was naked (not in a nice way either). I simply explained to her that some people find nakedness rude and that some people aren't used to it because even in their own homes and around their own family members they aren't ever naked. However, I had no expectation that she cover up on account of their prudishness. If I had I may have sent the message to her that there was something wrog with her body or that we have to act in accordance with other people's moral codes even when we disagree with them rather than following our own internal monitors. Of course, there is always the issue of paediphiles and perverts - but I am not going to supress my daughter and inhibit her activities on their account. Instead, we create a safe environment and when she is away from the home she is supervised and in that way she has her freedom but her safety too.

The rest of that story is that eventually when she was 5yo she decided that she was more comfortable covering her body in public which she now always does but at home she swims naked (as do we all) and she is totally comfortable naked at home amongst family and well known friends.

Last year she chose a bikini for her swimming costume and I have had comments to the effect that it is not appropriate for her age but she likes it and feels comfortable and pretty in it and I think unless she is doing something wrong or hurting/disrespecting others, supporting her choices is more important than catering to other people's tastes.

She also takes Hip Hop dance classes and she has a ball and I don't thinlk that they will cause her to grow up any faster than she naturally would any more than belly dance class will. Actually, some of the other mothers at her dance school won't allow their children to take hip hop (because of the moves and the music) and one girl was pulled out because of a song the kids were dancing to (Black Eyed Peas number). Unfortunately, that mother didn't take the time to actually listen to the words of the song because it was all very "girl power" and positive. The indicent of her classmate being pulled out gave my daughter andmyself a great opportunity to discuss positive and negative images in pop culture and also tolerance and respect towards others who hold a different opion to our own.

I wonder if it might not be the case that little girls and boys have always copied and joined in with their elders dancing through history rather than waiting until they have come of age to begin. Surely even girls living in non-Western cultures are practicing the art of belly dance from a young age (undersupervision and in a safe environment of course). Am I wrong?

Chani

kiewiet

The only contribution I would make is: sit down and try to imagine what other people will be seeing when they see your daughters costume - not people who are educated about the dance but the general public. I have sat through many childrens performances and have heard both good and bad and horrendously scary comments. The best outfits I have seen were very modest with at the most 1 inch of belly showing and lots of beads and sequins and color. I would suggest to go for color and fabric and trimmings and make very sure nothing is seethrough with backlighting or gapes when they move(basically what we would do for our own costumes but keeping in mind how children move).
BTW the harem pants may be cute but unfortunately they often resemble or suggest the outfits sold by adult dressup stores if you are not very carefull- I mainly say this because of audience remarks I have overheard.
A quick way of sewing on sequins/coins is to sew them onto ribbon or braid because you can take it with you where you go in a small box and with kids we seem to spend a lot of time waiting around don't we! It also means that you can unpick an re-use it at a later date when they have grown. I also rather use kids sportswear patterns for the bases as they are designed for movement whereas the costume patterns often are designed for one-off wear and dont allow for the arm and leg movements properly.

Chani

Those are really good tips, Kiewiet. Thank you. Particularly good is a reminder that sleeves etc. should allow movement. I hear you about the waiting around for kids. My eldest was a sportsman and now I wait with the other dance Mums for at least a few hours a week. I use the time waiting for my 7yo to read to my 3yo or catch up on my own reading. A bit of hand sewing is a great time filler. I like your idea about sewing sequins on reuseable ribbons. Great.

Maria Aya,

I do hope you didn't feel I was disrespecting your choice not to instruct children's belly dancing classes. I went to bed last night concerned that I had offend you with my post which was just my personal and rambling thoughts. If my own teacher had declined I would have respected her decision and my daughter would just have continued to follow me with my practice at home until older. I feel the class is better though because we are able to focus on just dancing and we have the big mirrors to help us rather than having to dance in the loungeroom at home around the rest of the family annoying them with our music. Also, in class we have our teacher to correct her so I am not passing on any bad habits to her.

We have many Turkish and Egyptian women in our class. The other little girl is Turkish. I am of Scottish decent. When I mentioned bringing my daughter to the class the main resistance wasn't her age but that she wasn't of a Middle Eastern background like the other girl and as such she wouldn't be used to the music or familar with the moves. The expectation is that she would stuggle picking up the dance and so it might not be a good idea.

However, there are two things that I haven't mentioned, and perhaps they might make her taking the class less unattractive to you - or perhaps it makes no difference. One is that she has talent as a dancer. Of course as her Mum I am biased but speaking objectively dance could be a serious career choice for her. I have noticed quite a number of dancers here on this forum express they wish they had started younger. The second is that she very much wants to come with me to do the class. It's her hearts desire and it is a gift for both of us if she joins me dancing.

Chani

kiewiet

My own teacher would not do childrens classes -some of the reasons being the poor behaviour of many kids AND the catty behaviour of mums! She is also concerned about the safety of the kids so she won't let them perform publicly. That said she does allow pre teens to do with mum as long as they are under mums supervision and do not disrupt the class and they can dance at our harem parties(open to ladies and children only). Another local teacher (in adelaide Aus)does have kidsclasses and has them perform. A friend of mine had hers there for a while but took her out because of the lack of supervision causing injury and at the concerts I heard some Dads, Uncles and brothers voicing concern about the way the kids were moving and dressed, let alone what was said at a public performance. A choreography which looks fine in a 16yo can be very inappropriate in a 8yo simply because they are younger and move differently. I have been making costumes for children over the past 10 years as I feel very strongly about the poor costuming choices available for them. You are better off making it than buying!
My own daughter joined in but then went through a stage where she did not want to do it- she still wanted to be involved in helping out at concerts but did not want to dance but this year she(at 17) has started saying she may get back into it When she danced I made sure she only learnt technique(to protect her back and limbs) and folk dances. She wore traditional garb in public but we did make a few "at home" or "harem party only" outfits(still very conservative) which were covered up by a galabeya whilst moving in public areas. I explained that all dancers cover up in public to keep the costume a surprise until they perform.The benefits were great, good posture, increased confidence and flexibility and she learnt about how women love and support one another, but these you may find in other dance classes too. I did notice though that having a child around changed the class interaction and out of consideration to other people limited which classes she took. We also found that we(she) copped flak if she let it be known she did bellydance- we were safe if it was called middle eastern style dance. When kids dance this dance it becomes a very difficult issue to handle on many levels.

Michelle A

I've found some cute and very reasonably priced children's items on this site.

Belly Dance Costume & Children's Dancing Supply with Moondance

My 4yo likes to wear her costume around the house while I'm practicing. I don't specifically teach her but she is picking up some moves by watching me and other dancers. Her favorite move is snake arms