Kharis

Erk... Full Metal Yashmak!

Caroline_afifi

when is the premier?

Kharis

Title of a piece by Muslimgauze. Great title I thought then, and still do.

shiradotnet

Yeah, good point. And a vivid illustration of something I'm fond of saying: "Just because you saw someone do it on a stage in Egypt doesn't mean it's a good idea for YOU to do it!"

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Amulya

Isn't there maybe an online article about face veils being offensive? Shira, do you have it mentioned on your site maybe?
If there is you could print it out and give it to your teacher.

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shiradotnet

At this time, there's not an article about that on my web site, but I've actually been thinking about writing one. I think it's something important for us to educate dance students about.

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sultan

Frankly, I am puzzled as to why anyone objects to performers having face veils. Yes, I am aware some believe it to be offensive. Yet, I have seen several videos where both professional and non professional performers (such as at weddings) wear one without any difficulty or objection. In all honesty, I feel it adds an air of mystery that invariably enhances the dance.

Not to unnecessarily change the topic but, it appears to me that it is women who prefer costuming that is a bit more on the skimpy side whereas men prefer more fuller costuming. Or at least it seems that way. If this has been discussed in the past, please forgive this additional note. At any rate, face veils are part of fuller costuming and that is why some of us accept them.

Chani

Hi Sultan,

I agree it's not such a big deal but I am concerned about being offensive through this dance even in a small way. It's important to me to present belly dancing in a respectful way. As a non-Arabic person I possibly (probably) make faux pas all the time but my intention is to honour the dance and the culture/s it has come from as best I can. So once I was aware of the issue with the face mask I felt really weirded out by it. At that point the issue became about me being comfortable in what I dance in, too.

I can see how it would feel like that to some. To be completely honest, I like to see a person's whole face or I find it creepy - I expect for me this is a cultural thing as masks are not part of my culture and hiding the face is seen as secretive or dishonest - an example of this would be wearing sunglasses when indoors which is considered bad manners.

As for it pebing part of a fuller costume it makes little sense to me to cover your face when your entire midriff is bare.

Thank you for your thoughts on this. As far as being more revealing goes I agree that we see males dancers more covered in general. I don't agree that all women necessarily prefer to be in skimiper costumes. I'm sure most men like seeing women in less LOL.

I have found that as a student dancing in a group I'm not completely free to choose my own individual costuming style and have to be in keeping with the rest of my troupe or, as in this case, wearing exactly the same outfit. So, I have worn to date what is expected and followed the guidelines my instuctor has provided. I am, however, now that I'm a little more experienced and confident with my dancing moving towards a more covered costume. My ideal costume is a full baladi dress with sleeves. I have a nice figure, no scars or disfigurements or any other reason to feel insecure or need to cover up plus I come from a culture where modesty is scarce and my regular clothes can be quite revealing. However, this is simply my preference because I feel that a revealing outfit can be a distraction from the dancing.

What I notice is that regardless of what the dancer prefers to wear or what is traditional to wear, there is also an expectation from an audience. I was really surprised when my mother saw a belly dance performance and complained to me that the dancers were too covered up. I explained that they were most likely doing a folkloric dance and the costume was to match the dance. My Mum is not a fan of a bedlah or any other revealing clothing for that matter so I found it interesting that even though she doesn't approve of these costumes she expected to see them and was disappointed when the women were move covered. It's for this reason - audience expectation - that I also felt that I had to reach a certain level of dancing ability before covering up more so that my dancing can stand alone rather than needing a flashy costume to carry it along.

Chani

Well, here is the update.

I brought the matter up in class as well as mentioned it to my instructor in an e-mail. She welcomed the discussion and was very open to hearing our thoughts. Everybodies opinions were considered regarding the costume.

She was aware of the face veil issue. She explained that the costumes were following a theme and were based on a specific record cover of a famous belly dance troupe and were meant to have an 80's feel. This was achieved with the hot pink colour and the costume and accessories matching those of the record cover.

She also explained that the costume was designed years ago when people were less sensitive to Middle Eastern culural practices. At the time the women really enjoyed wearing the face masks and felt they wree a fun prop for the dance but she acknowledged that times have changed.

After a group discussion it was decided to ditch the face masks and just have the rest of the costume as it is. Apparently, the masks were very hot to dance in as well. I am really glad to have a costume I'm happy to dance in and very pleased and grateful that our teacher was sensitive to my feelings regarding costuming.

Caroline_afifi

That sounds like a good outcome regardless of whether or not it was ditched.

the fact that your teacher was open to discussion and had a context for the use of that style of costume is great.

If we had more of that going on in classes i would be very happy.

Context is everything.