Twilight Spiral

Oh, I saw those. They vender who sold me my outfit had two padded chainmail bras, rather heavy. I could just picture me dancing in one of those and so much jewelry and the works. I start dancing and then...WAM! I hit the floor like a load of bricks.

Haha, well one is better then none. Aww, that is too funny.

Aisha Azar

Dear Sedonia,
I thought that both Aziz and Raffa had really good costuming for the most part, even when the wore shalwar. Both of them knew how to dress. I did costuming for Aziz many years ago and it was such a pleasure to work with him because he had great taste! Raffa inherited a lot of Aziz's stuff when A. stopped dancing. I talked with Thea a year or so ago and she said that Raffa is not dancing much now. Some REALLY nasty stuff went down in SLC. I felt sad.
Regards,
A'isha

Tarik Sultan

Hey Ma look at the eunuchs! Oh wait....maybe their genies....

Couldn't resist.

jenc

What did you thik of them? I thought it was more about showing off than dancing - at least in this clip

khanjar

Okay, that is one perspective, so can I ask what others here would like to see male dancers wear, any suggestions ?

Can you supply references pictorial or video for your suggestion?

__________________
I am a dream to some...and a nightmare to others.

Zorba

The answer is, of course, what works for YOU. I personally don't like shirts or other midriff covering tops, nor do I care for the bare chested (or almost bare chested) look. "X chains" and similar look like something to wear in one's mistress's dungeon, not dance wear IMHO. Again, I do think the triangular top Raffa came up with is an extremely effective look for a male - but that's only one option.

Ooooh! I just had a thought - what about a triangular "Raffa top", matched up with a triangular panel skirt in like appearance (ala 70s style Turkish)? Oh boy - I can see my wallet flying away with this idea! Hmmmm.... Probably NOT the costume to do floorwork in!

__________________
-Zorba
"The Veiled Male"
http://www.doubleveil.net
"There is nothing sadder than a veil, that is for sale."

Tarik Sultan

It looked like they were trying to use more of a Debke movement vocabulary to interpret the music rather than an Oriental vocabulary. I didn't get the impression they were showing off, but to me it didn't really fit the music. The movement vocabulary is too limited. However, I did like their costuming. They all had an individuality and the costumes looked very tasteful.

Tarik Sultan

The so called genie look is in fact based on actual period men's wear. As for eunuchs, they wore the same thing all men wore at the time, they had no particular costume.

I know that the original poster of this thread is not concerned with looking like a male per say, Mark blends male and female elements and our own Zorba doesn't believe in gender conformity in dress, so what I am saying here does not apply to them, but to the men coming to this dance who do want to present themselves as men.

The challenge is in finding something to wear because we have had no costume tradition to follow per say. Yet we want to look like men but at the same time not have the costume restrict the visibility of our movements. As far as Eastern men's wear, for most of us living in the west, the traditional robes don't work because in the west crotchless garments are perceived as dresses. They are also constructed to conceal the contours of the body and a more form fitting outfit would look even more like a dress. Problem is we still wanted our costumes to reflect the region of origin.

The vest and shalwar are in fact traditional male costume from the Ottoman era. These types of outfits were worn by middle class men. This outfit works for us because pants to a western audience reads male, (even though Ottomen women also wore pants not skirts). The shape also shows more of the bodies contours, or at least doesn't obscure them the way a robe does.

As far as tops. Some guys are just not comfortable going bare chested under the vest for many reasons. Personally I don't like to. The reasons for me is 1. it looks crappy on me and 2. bare flesh is not part of the cultural aesthetic. The bedlah was a Western fantasy creation which was adopted in the 20th century and is not Eastern at all truth be told. Before that time women wore elaborately embroidered gowns and before that, they wore what upper class ladies wore at home. however, there is a certain expectation on the part of the public to deal with. They associate the bare midriff with the dance and a lot of ladies want to see some skin. My compromise is the net shirt. Its form fitting, shows enough of my best features, my chest and hides the defects of my not so nice features, (flabby lower abs. My top four are great, but someone apparently drank 2 cans of my six pack!).

My biggest critique with the vest look are vests that are too big, obscuring the body's shape, or made out of flimsy material that looks all wrinkly. The cut of the vest should also enhance the person's shape. Especially if they are bare chested. I angle the cut of my tops to give me some shape and create the illusion of a narrower waist and wide shoulders.

I am experimenting with a more contemporary look though. Something with embroidered genes and a form fitting tee shirt top. I really want to reflect the urban aspect of Egyptian contemporary culture on stage. Something that they can relate to.

Thing is, I think we should have many different types of costumes. Some customers want the glitz, some want a reflection of traditional period wear, some don't want to see bare skin, but want something glamorous.

Aisha Azar

Dear Khanjar,
I think you could go to Mark Balahadia's website and see some of the things I have discussed. Other than that, I am not sure. I am not a huge web browser and I really do not know what is out there on Youtube or anything. You also might google "Raffa" to see what he wore. I have seen photos of him on the net before when I was researching something else. I have only found photos of Aziz dressed like what the Jamila Salimpour Bal Anat guys used to wear, from WAY before he and I hooked up. Others might be better to guide you in web searches.

Caroline_afifi

I am personally not fussed on the male ice skater look... it looks like an ice skating costume or a ballroom costume.
I liked the clip and I liked the costumes based on the old style.
It was fun and light hearted and the context looked good.

What to wear is always an issue these days. Jeans and T-shirts do look good.
Galabiya always look good too. The men from the Yemeni group today wore skirts and their dances were Yemeni with what looked like a bit of Debke from other areas. Men are starting to diversify a little with their styles. The Beduoin Jerry Can Band were great dancers and all wore different types of galabiyas and head wraps. I suppose on the performance, the music and the context like with all aspects of the dance.