Review – nude by nature ‘cover’ and ‘veil’ mineral make up
28 May 2012 2 Comments
in Belly Dance, Make-up Tags: Belly Dance, cosmetic review, Cosmetics, Jade Belly Dance, make up review, Make up tips, Make-up, natural make up tips, nude by nature
PRODUCT REVIEW – NUDE BY NATURE
In my ever burning quest to find cosmetics that look fabulous on and off the stage and don’t overload your body with toxins, I ordered from the much hyped Australian brand Nude by Nature. Summary: great sales pitch, poor customer service, mixed opinions on the actual products – read on for details of what to avoid.
NUDE BY NATURE –
I was sucked in by their slick advertising and ‘FREE’ offers. It really annoys me when products are offered for free but are not really. In this case, when you rung you were offered some free samples but you had to pay postage and agree to sign up to ongoing products being mailed and billed to you – groan. So immediately I was unimpressed. Normally I would hang up on them after such antics but I had been re-inspired to clean up my make-up drawer and here was an apparently natural brand I hadn’t tried.
The pleasant salesgirl on the phone was really very good at selling and they had a number of ‘deals’ available. I wanted to try the eye shadow and mineral foundation and have no ongoing contracts. Somehow it was the best value if I purchased 2 packages. The skin package that included foundation, blush, liquid mineral concealer, mineral bronzer, mineral finishing veil, brush, lip gloss, and tinted moisturiser and a how to DVD and a separate eye shadow pack that actually had 3 packs of 3 tones of brown eye shadow and 2 little brushes.
The package arrived in reasonable time minus the DVD. Don’t bother ringing their customer service line, you get asked to leave a message and they will get back to you but they never do (it’s been months).
NATURAL MINERAL COVER – LIGHT SKIN TONE
When I purchased these products over the telephone they asked me what my skin tone was like. I said I was very fair, she said there were 3 tones and I should consider the medium tone as they are quite light. Since it is rare that I meet someone fairer than myself and am usually the lightest or second lightest tone available in foundation – I chose the light tone figuring the bronzer would surely be able to help if it was a little too fair.
Mistake!! Why have a light tone available when the only people that could wear it would be the Cullen’s? My skin is so fair that people joke that I glow-in-the-dark. I have met a few people fairer but seriously, this line of cosmetics is for vampires of Caucasian descent only!
Look to be fair, (LOL pun intended), I can get away with it but only just. I don’t look all that well wearing it and its coverage of imperfections is not nearly as good as similar products by Revlon or Minerelle that I have tried before it. So if medium is for light skinned people then dark must be for tanned types and I guess they don’t give a crap about the market for other ethnicities!
Since I was minus the DVD I was left with a tiny package insert to guide me on recommended use of their products. I should say here that a few years back I signed up for a free demo and lesson on how to use mineral products with the Minerelle range and have used mineral powder type foundations for years so I am not a newbie but still I was perplexed. The coverage of the product was so poor, I figured I was using it wrong but from what I could tell from the pamphlet I was using it correctly.
Safety
I asked about the safety of their products when I phoned. The sales girl just gave me a whole heap of spin – we are the best, blah, blah. They then put me on to their resident expert – that pretty much said the same thing. I am still not sure about their credentials in this field so I looked up the individual ingredients on the EWG website. The ingredients were indeed in the low to moderate toxicity range with scores from 0-3. This is pretty good going and would make it one of the safer options on the market. The L’Oreal mineral powder foundation I was using previously scored a 6 for some ingredients in comparison (out of 9 – 9 being the worst). So at least in this field this product did well. One concern was that the zinc oxide used is quite safe if not inhaled (then it is highly toxic apparently). Being a powder though, inevitable some is inhaled. I started using powders because of their touted safety and while I still use them, I am becoming increasingly sceptical of all brands because they are not being rated for respiratory safety.
According to the NUDE BY NATURE website, their foundations “offer natural sun protection with a high SPF guard against damaging ultra-violet rays whilst being water resistant.”. According to the Environmental working group these kind of statements are a load of codswallop. No product is water resistant and in this case the SPF factor is not even stated. What is the high SPF? 10? 15? Does it protect against UVA and UVB? I feel it would have been much more ethical to state that it is non toxic and leave the bull shit out.
The EWG is a great place to go for more info on toxins in make-up, mostly American info but you can look up major brands available in Australia too and check ingredient safety.
Packaging
It comes in a pleasant circular 8 gram container with a brown screw top lid and a plastic insert inside to help avoid spillage and over loading your brush. The lid only says nude by nature on it however and the container is the same size and look as the blush. This means you have to pick both up to see which is which. The finishing veil and bronzer are in a smaller but similar container and they are both identical looking from above too as are the 3 eye –shadows meaning putting on your Nude by Nature make- up involves a lot of picking up pots and putting them down again trying to work out what product you are holding. The screw top lid prevents spillage in transport but adds to fiddliness on an everyday application level.
My summary with 5 stars being the best
Product: Natural mineral cover – light-skin tone
Effectiveness: 2
Packaging: 3
Safety: 4 (by comparison)
Price: promotional pack I bought is no longer available online but a 15g pack is $39.95 + postage (or free Australian postage if you spend over $50)
Size: 8g
Suitable for day wear: yes (if pale)
Suitable for stage: No
Overall Star rating: 3 
FINISHING VEIL
According to the little pamphlet, one uses this if you want to get that ‘airbrushed’ look. Ummm, when is there a time you are applying make-up that don’t want to haven’t airbrushed look???? I mean seriously, if you go to the trouble of putting on make-up, it’s to look flawless or as close to as you can. Using this product in combination with the mineral cover did improve coverage but felt like yet another unnecessary step. With both products in use it had a similar (barely) effect as a single use of a L’Oreal mineral foundation. For every day wear it was a tedious extra thing to have to do. For stage? Well I used it separately to reduce shine over the top of a liquid foundation I used. For that it did OK. It came in a 3g screw top container that was much smaller than the ‘cover’ meaning you may have to purchase more before your ‘cover’ runs out if you use it on a daily basis. Does it ‘diffuse wrinkles’ as the web site spin states? Not that I could tell. Powders have a habit of doing the opposite.
BRUSH
The Nude by nature package comes with an absolutely excellent brush for applying the product. It is a really soft synthetic fibre with fine bristles. It is a lovely brush that is superior to the ones that come automatically with similar L’Oreal products for example.
***** 5 stars for the brush
As you can tell from the tone, I got off on the wrong foot with Nude by Nature – I can’t stand heavy sales pitches and spin. I have continued to use their products because I can’t afford to buy stuff and not use it if it is at least partly decent. When I run out – I will try a different brand however. I will review the bronzer, blush, tinted moisturiser and lip gloss from this pack in a different product review. I did actually like some of their stuff so stay tuned. You can buy their products here, despite everything I have said it is still one of the safer options available and better for you than most standard supermarket and chemist brands.
I aim for Mondays to become ‘Make-up Mondays’ where I tell you what natural products work and what don’t.
With online shopping most products can be purchased from anywhere in the world but if you are after American reviews then I would like to recommend the excellent “glamorganic goddess” blog.
Have you used these products? What did you think? What’s your favourite natural foundation?
Comment below.
It’s official! Belly Dance improves body image!
18 May 2012 2 Comments
in Belly Dance, Self-confidence, Tribal Belly Dance Tags: Australia, Belly Dance, bellydancing, body appreciation, body image, Dance, dance research, research, Self confidence, Self esteem, Self-Confidence
Last year, Danielle Camilleri from the University of New England conducted a survey investigating the relationships between belly dancing, body appreciation and well-being as a part of her honours thesis in psychology. And now the results are in!
As anyone that writes about belly dance is probably aware – there is so little hard evidence to back up our claims to how great our dance is for the individual.
Ashwara proving you can be stunning at any age!
From discussions and observations with my friends, colleges and students over the years, it was clear to me that belly dance did wonders for a women in terms of her self-esteem, her acceptance of her body and reproductive health. (Sorry guys – I haven’t had enough men in my classes to have formed any opinions about how it impacts on male dancers). But was I operating from an inherently biased position? Was I seeing what I wanted to see?
Apparently not! YAY!!
Danielle collected data from 413 amateur Australian belly dancers aged 18-67 years old via an anonymous online survey. The survey included measures of belly dance experience, body appreciation and four indicators of well-being: life satisfaction, subjective happiness, the presence of life meaning and the search for life meaning.
“Results indicated that belly dance experience was significantly related to body appreciation, (i.e. that the longer women had been belly dancing, the greater their appreciation for their body, regardless of their shape and size).”
Well this certainly was true for me. The longer I danced, the more I realised I was beautiful. I really hadn’t known this at all. When I first started belly dance I could not do it facing the studio mirrors. I was so distressed to see myself reflected in them. I felt I was too tall, with bits that were too small and other bits that were too big – my body appreciation was pretty damn low. My very first teacher, Karen Tollan (who will always be close to my heart for her fabulous insight), recognised my distress and turned the class around so I didn’t have to face the dreaded mirrors! If she hadn’t done that one simple thing 13years ago – I probably would never have danced again. (In future blogs I will tell you more about my unlikely dance journey and how I have overcome some of the challenges that a seriously shy, potential dancer faces – follow my blog either by email see follow button on right or as a wordpress user).
Can you believe some of these lovely ladies were hesitant about showing their tummies?? But they got over it and did a stellar performance.
It also seems to be true for my students. Usually their first performances involve them trying their best to find clothing that will cover all of their perceived faulty bits. Curiously, it is some of the best looking women (from a conventional media stereotype perspective) that panic the most. The longer they associate with belly dancers the bolder they seem to get. They seem to forget to hate their stomachs, arms, hips, breasts or whatever and start looking for ways to enhance their looks, love their bodies and make the most of what they have. When you go to belly dance events, one is inundated with women of different shapes and sizes looking glorious and I believe that may be one of the reasons belly dance improves our body appreciation. Once you see a woman look fabulous on stage and then realise that she isn’t super thin or that she has a stretch mark on her stomach, it helps you realise that you don’t have to ‘perfect’ to shine. It is your uniqueness that makes you special.
OK, back to research -
“Body appreciation was also significantly associated with well-being (i.e. indicating that the greater a woman’s appreciation for her body, the greater her self-reported level of well-being).”
“although my research did not find a direct positive relationship between belly dancing and well-being, it seems belly dancing has great potential in increasing the well-being of women, through its effect on increasing women’s body appreciation, regardless of weight or body shape.”
So what does this mean? Here’s my spin on things – Belly dance definitely has a positive impact on a dancers body appreciation and the more you appreciate your body the more likely you are to experience feelings of well being and happiness. If you can wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and are happy with what you see – it’s not a bad start to the day!
Belly dance is not some panacea for all your troubles however and it won’t stop you having bad days (sigh, I wish!). It will however help you accept and love your body more and this in turn seems to build resilience that does impact on your general well-being.
I do wonder if these findings would apply to other dance styles. I think that it probably doesn’t. 18 months ago, when I participated in a series of kick arse Bollywood workshops with Ramona Lobo (choreographer for the Australian version of so you think you can dance), we were trying to get a bit of a costume together and I happened to own several velvet embossed Indian choli tops that I offered the group. It was a part of the Utopian Dream dance festival where dancers from many genres got together for some high level training. I was stunned that some of these gorgeous multi-talented women went into a panic over showing their stomachs in performance!!! Here I was, among some of the best and brightest dancers in the country – fit, young, strong dancers – and they were bigger chickens than my beginner belly dancers!
Myself and Kristy Pursch (awesome local swing dancer) and Ramona Lobo chillin’ Utopian Dream Festival 2011.
Also for consideration is the fact that the research was only of Australian belly dancers. It is possible that Aussies foster a different kind of learning environment that facilitates better body appreciation but from my travels I think not. There have been a few exceptions over time but overall most dancers and teachers are overwhelmingly encouraging of women and their bodies whatever their nationality.
Physical well-being and a myriad of other aspects that belly dance could impact upon in a positive way were not assessed in this research. It would be too big a study to try to incorporate everything, so that means there are many other great findings yet to be proven. I was happy to support Danielle in her attempts to contact as many dancers as possible for her research and am happy to do so for any other academic that needs contacts. Please contact jadebellydance@hotmail.com.
I will leave you with this little post script :-
P.S. Keep dancing… and most importantly, make sure you appreciate your belly dancing body, regardless of your age, your weight or your body shape… there is now empirical evidence suggesting that it really is good for you!! Kindest regards,
Danielle Camilleri xxx
How about you? Have you stumbled across any great research related to dance?
What benefits have you experienced from Belly dance?
Please comment below..
World Belly Dance Day Bellingen 2012
13 May 2012 3 Comments
in Belly Dance Tags: Bellingen, Bellingen Belly Dance, Belly Dance, Belly Dancing, Bellydance, Dorrigo, Jade Belly Dance, Performance artists, World Belly Dance Day
A tribute to my students
I stumbled across the World Belly Dance Day website by accident back in 2008. At the time I was a student and teacher with the Awalim school of Middle Eastern Dance. I suggested to the other teachers we hold an event as well. Ruth and Shekhinah thought it a great idea and Bellingen’s first World Belly Dance day was born. That year we won “World’s most caring organisers”!! We hadn’t known such an award existed.
I felt a bit like the pied piper! All the gorgeous girls following me.
In 2009 we were thrilled to have around 26 dancers parading, as this was 1% of the population! (we live in a small town – Bellingen has a total population of 2600 people). This year my dance school, Jade Belly Dance, had 30 performers all on its own from the Bellinger Shire and several other schools had good numbers in attendance too (too many people in the photos for me to count them accurately! Maybe 70 dancers all up as a guess?).
Taking centre stage together – well done!!
What a beautiful day it was, you would hardly know we were only a few weeks off winter. Even I was hot and that rarely happens. Good photos were hard in the parade because of the copious amounts of sunshine in our faces but I would rather sun than shivering – it means you can show your belly without turning blue! After weeks of costume panics and dance practice it was such a relief to finally be there with so many of my gorgeous students.
Dorrigo kids wrapped up ready to start their dance
The kids were armed with veils I had picked up in Egypt (really cotton head scarves but they are a good size for children) and off we went following the beat of the drum. Every time I turned I saw a sea of smiling faces following behind. There were two extra special moments for me in that parade, one was watching my friend Pauline (whom I had danced with for a decade) and her daughter Catie (a past student of mine), do a little solo together. When I have danced with Pauline, I have always thought we looked a little silly together. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the energy but next to her I felt like a giant. Seeing mother and daughter dance together was just perfection. The other was when one of my current students, Lyn, struck out and did a spontaneous solo improvisation to the maksoum beat. WOW! Is there any greater feeling for a teacher when you see your students shine. Later 3 of them had a go together and I had a grin from ear to ear (so proud Lyn, Bess and Bec).
Finale of Abl Ma Anam!
Next up was some dancing to live drumming, then my girls took the stage. My Dorrigo kids classes opted to dance without my assistance or that from my more experienced Bello girls and they did a fine job. Only one disaster was poor little Izzy that had run off to the toilet and we couldn’t find her. She was so devastated to have missed the performance but she got to parade so it wasn’t a complete loss for her.
My Bellingen girls did the first ever complete run through of their dance Abl Ma Anam. They choreographed a good deal of the dance themselves with moves that reminded them of the lyrics (Houda translated for us- thank you!!). But as a child inspired piece it naturally broke with convention and thus included cartwheels while holding veils!
The Dorrigo Ladies then followed with our mothers dance which was very appropriate for the day before mother’s day! It was partly choreographed by last years Bellingen class but with the addition of some tricky pinwheel formation work. I can’t believe they were all so brave to publicly perform after only 1 term of tuition! I refused for 3 whole years when I started out!!!
Other schools danced a variety of styles including Baladi, Khaleegy and fan veils. I didn’t catch as many acts as I would have liked due to costume changes, organising, photos and trying to keep an eye on my own little dancing daughter as she flitted around the market but what I did see was lovely and there was great music as well.
Mother’s Dance
At the end of festivities my Bellingen ladies performed our Bellynesian act (Polynesian mixed with Belly dance). I took my first Polynesian dance class in Hawaii when I was 15, I loved it and wanted to do more but it wasn’t available here. Eventually I took up belly dance and it has remained my passion for the last 13years but all along I have wanted to do a fusion of the 2. On World Belly Dance Day 2012 I finally got to fulfil that goal backed by my beautiful students.
Our Bellynesian number
The unseasonably hot late autumn weather added the necessary tropical feel and our fast and furious dance to Tahitian drumming was a triumph. My schools last offering was a sword duo by two of my more experienced dancers, they were told they were definitely doing it only 10 minutes before performing. It was then I also told them that I would not be dancing with them as I usually do. I wanted them to be the stars. They had a panicked look in their eye at first but rose admirably to the occasion.
So it is with much happiness that I congratulate the efforts of all of my past and present students that have bought me to this place in my life. Without your support I would not be a teacher and would not be writing this blog. You have come to me for lessons but have taught me so much in return.
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!
Love Jade
PS: If you have any photos or video of the day please send to jadebellydance@hotmail.com
Quotes to inspire belly dancers 2
11 May 2012 2 Comments
in Belly Dance, Quotes, Self-confidence, Tribal Costume Tags: Belly Dance, Bellydance, Dance, Dancing, inspiration, Jade Belly Dance, quotes, Self confidence, Self esteem
One of my most popular posts was a short collection of quotes, mostly relating to self- esteem and dance. I have been collecting inspirational quotes for years so I thought I would post a few more to help inspire you. Also a big hello and much love to all the beautiful dancers participating in World Belly dance Day tomorrow.
Take more chances, Dance more dances
‘We know what we are, but know not what we may be’ – Shakespeare
Grace & Beauty are born of Honesty, Truth and Integrity.
Mistakes are just practise for getting it right.
Perfection is found not in the general consensus but in what is ideal for you.
Allow your light to shine.
– Kirsty O’Callaghan
www.unity-qld.com.aufrom her resource page ebook
My friend Teash in the rain. I love the raw honesty and joy in this picture.
“Forget the dancer, the center of the ego. Become the dance. Then the dancer disappears and only the dance remains. Then the dancer is the dance. There is no dancer separate from dance, no dance separate from the dancer.”
Acharya Rajneesh
‘Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future. Faith is having the courage to dance to it today’
The truest expression of a people is in its dance and in its music. Bodies never lie. ~Agnes de Mille
Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order. ~Samuel Beckett
Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair… ~Susan Polis Shutz
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we’re here we should dance. ~Author Unknown
I have given the references where I know them, if I have made any mistakes let me know and I will amend !
What is your favourite inspirational quote?
1 skirt – 4 simple looks
06 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Belly Dance, Costume Design, Tribal Belly Dance Tags: affordable, Belly Dance, Belly Dancing, Bellydance, bellydancing, Costume design, dance costumes, Dorrigo, economical, Jade
When you start out belly dancing most people acquire at least one or two items of costuming. Sometimes it was what was cheap and available at the time and other times it is an item that your teacher made you buy for a group performance.
Check out the shadow!! I look so tiny!
So how do you get the most mileage out of what you already own?
How do you personalise a look for class or performances for your family?
Using one skirt, a teal petal skirt (the one I made all members of my Dorrigo Adults Class buy!!) as the base for all of them, I have come up with 4 simple and affordable looks. These are suitable for beginner performances and class wear. I didn’t go the whole way with accessories, hair styles and make-up as one should when performing but just threw together some things I had to give ideas.
Look one – I call this the Turkish waterfall look. Why? The beaded bra reminds me of a Turkish look and the silver the frothiness of water!
To get the look
Add one cheap, silver beaded bra top bought of eBay years ago for approx $20 AUD and one silver coin belt. This one I bought in Cairo but you can buy a silver belt from one of several online stores or eBay if you can’t make it to Egypt! (See gifts page for links to some sellers)
Collect pretty things and sew them on for an affordable look!
Look two – Tribal flavour. Earthy it up with a tribal style bra and belt.
To get the look
I made a tribal look bra by getting as old bra that had solid cups and sewing on bits and pieces. I made this for under $15. It has a bit of an old embroidered bag, a curtain tie a broken earring, etc. I have written posts on inspiration for bras and what you need. For the belt you can either purchase one ready to go like the one I am wearing in the picture or create one yourself like the bra. A bra is quick and easy though so start there if you are unfamiliar with sewing and craft.
Go for layers with harem pants and fringe belts
I tucked the petals of the skirt over the top of the waist band for a plainer line, shifted it around 90degrees and tucked a bit into the waist band to show off the harem pants.The harem pants cost me $7. The necklace is Afghani lapis and another eBay bargain but I have another similar one I bought off a market stand for $25 so keep your eyes peeled for a bargain.
Look 3 – Indian Inspiration
To get the look
You can cover up a bit with a sleeved top like this.
I bought this embroidered wrap around top for $6 in a bargain bin at the front of an Indian market stand years ago. The belt cost approx $20
Look 4 – Colour Carnival
To get the look
Another look to consider if you don’t feel comfortable in public in a bra – I bought the purple top from a friend closing down her business (Haven we will miss you!) $6. I teamed it with a simple belt another eBay special $25 and the expensive bit is the fancy vest from another costume set. Vests can be purchased individually from anywhere from $15 -$80. Or you can make one out of fancy fabric and save cash. I am also wearing a lapis necklace, I have several of these available for $8 each if you want one email me jadebellydance@hotmail.com
Bright colours work well for performance. Be Bold!
Don’t want to show your tummy? Add a tight black singlet or better, buy a dance body stocking.
While this post was related to simple looks for beginners, the same principal applies to advanced dancers. Get out some of your fancy costumes and see if you can come up with a new look using different elements. You may have bought them as matching sets but sometimes you can get away with a bit of mix and match. I recently wore a beaded bra and belt from one set and substituted a full embroidered circle skirt with it. The colour match wasn’t quite perfect but it matched better with what my students were wearing and looked even fancier than the original look. The full skirt gave me better room for motion than the original skirt – I found it a pleasant change overall.
Last 2 days to vote for me in the Australian blog awards – please, please click the button on the right and look for Jade Belly Dance! Anyone can vote!
Hope that got some ideas flowing. What are your thoughts?
Have you had any mix and match triumphs? Comment below.
A Hip Bra??
30 Apr 2012 4 Comments
in Belly Dance, Belly Dance Bra, Costume Design, Humour, Tribal Belly Dance Tags: Belly Dance, Bellydance, Bottom, Bottom Bra, bra, Hip Bra, humour, Suhaila Salimpour
Had to post this for a laugh. This goes in my WTF file.
A bra for your butt! What is the world coming too? How uncomfortable does it look? The ad claims ‘it lifts your hip for a real feel‘. Hmmm… for a real feel of what? … chaffing??? And is it just me or does the bottom in the picture look like someone is just sticking it out?
Here is an idea – if you want to make your backside more prominent, wear horizontal stripes, heavy textures, layers of belts, tuck scarves and or skirts bunched into the sides or back (see pic below). You could also try exercise – lots of butt crunches and squats and the like. Regular use of Suhaila Salimpour’s pilates DVD would surely make a difference to posterior perkiness. Personally, I think we should vive la différence. A rounded bottom can be sexy but so too can a slimmer profile. Who are we trying to impress? Men like woman in all shapes and sizes despite what the media implies.
Old school tribal belts like this one have plenty of bulk for the hips and the simple straight profile of the base adds width and definition. Apply the same principles for a Modern Egyptian type look i.e. lots of beads and contrasting horizontals.
Well each to their own … If you are really keen on owning one, the top picture was from ebay and believe it or not, there is more than one seller with this type of item for sale (it came up for a search on hip belts). They are around $3 including postage. If you want to wear it for dance you may need to add some sequins to the top of it if it shows past the top of your skirt 
What are your thoughts? Would you wear one?
(Please vote for me in the peoples choice awards for the Australian Blog awards – only a few days to go! Just click the button in the side bar)
Does belly dance sexualise children?
27 Apr 2012 8 Comments
in Belly Dance Tags: Belly Dance, bellydancing, dancing children, Sexualisation of children, sexualization, tasteful dance
A few times when I have mentioned I teach children’s belly dance classes, I have noticed people’s faces go through a range of emotions – usually distastefulness or uncertainly followed rapidly by trying to cover it with any other expression they can. When this happens I whip out my phone and proudly show them a few pictures of my girls. The girls look gorgeous and tasteful and the doubter’s expressions tend to shift to a look of relief and approval. I forget that there are still a few people out there that erroneously think of belly dancing as a kind of stripping. Thankfully this attitude has been in decline over the years as people have become more educated about our art form.
My girls!
‘In the Middle East, women often dance with other women at family gatherings, and men dance with other men. This has long been the tradition of their culture. Of course, it’s likely that there were individuals who used this beautiful dance form to entice their husbands behind closed doors. However, that is not how Oriental dance’s place in society is viewed by the people who have actually grown up in Middle Eastern families. Women don’t teach their daughters a “dance of seduction”. Instead, the girls watch their mothers, cousins, aunts, grandmothers, and sisters dancing with each other at weddings and other parties, and imitate what they see.’ – Shira
I believe the general public, is much more supportive of Middle Eastern dance these days. In India belly dancing has been a contentious issue but even there attitudes shifting. Two girls auditioned recently for a TV show called ‘Dance India Dance’ and this is what one of the judges had to say about their dancing.
“Watching these girls dance was truly a joy! Their every movement was spot on, exuding grace with each beat. Nothing remotely vulgar or crude. They retained the innocence of children in their belly dance, without compromising on the basic form of belly dancing” – Master Geeta Kapur
Comments like that warm my heart. For those that are still baulking at the idea of children learning belly dance, I would like to add a little perspective.
Moving with grace is beautiful; whatever the style of dance you perform.
Yes, it is possible for a clueless teacher (in any dance genre) to teach a provocative dance piece to children and then advise them to costume themselves inappropriately. (That link is of 7yr olds!! I wouldn’t dress or dance like that in public. The children are having their talent exploited). More often than not this occurs when the teacher themselves has never had children and simply has not thought about what is acceptable. Unfortunately, it’s up to parents to check with teachers that the music their children are performing to does not contain sexual lyrics and to question costuming that is not age-appropriate. Look for another teacher if necessary but don’t discount all dance as lewd because of the thoughtlessness of a few. Of course it all gets complicated by individual opinion. What one person thinks is appropriate another can find offensive. We all look at life through our own prism of experience.
Here’s a little hint though: if the junior members of a dance school are not advised to watch the dance piece the 12 -14 year olds are performing because its too risqué – THEN ITS NOT APPROPRIATE for the 12-14yr olds either. This actually occurred locally with a dance school that shall remain nameless (it wasn’t a belly dance school I assure you). It does occur in belly dance too though as much as I would like to deny it – here is another link of a talented child wearing something ridiculous. (I haven’t embedded these vids as I don’t want them appearing under my name.)
Thankfully the vast majority of dance teachers and schools do a great job.
Now as to singling out belly dance as particularly ‘sexy’ as compared to other dance forms that are widely accepted (eg jazz, tap, ballet) I am asking you to really think about it…. here are a few points to get you started.
- Belly dancers usually wear more clothes than cover more skin than jazz or contemporary dancers.
A snap shot of my daughter trying on a costume I brought back from Egypt for her. You can be sparkly and not scantily clad.
Super short tutus, skirts dresses and skin tight bike shorts are all very standard in those genres. Belly dancing children more often than not have their legs entirely covered with long skirts. Adults will show flashes of skin sometimes in the way of a split but rarely would you see the whole of either leg and showing your belly is optional. I would like to add here a plea to belly dance teachers if you agree with I have written then please – lets stop this new trend of dressing your kids in bras!! They don’t have breasts and it is not necessary or tasteful. A choli or form fitting top will still show off abdominal control. Please note that the silly see through skirts and tiny sequinned bra tops that are sold in Turkish tourists markets are not something any self respecting dancer would dress their own child in. They are cheap, crappy and would not stand up to the rigours of dance i.e. they are not REAL costumes.
- Belly dancers don’t dance with their legs apart.
I am personally annoyed the amount of times choreographers (outside belly dancing) have their dancers performing the splits facing the audience. I do not want to look at your daughter’s vulva nor do I want to check out your wax job! If you want to show a long line and flexibility then point your crutch to the side please!!!
- Belly dancers don’t have partners grabbing their groins.
I know, the crutch grabbing is for lifts that can look spectacular, I’m just sayin… we don’t do that.
I am not claiming that other dance styles are vulgar, I actually like them, just that it is unjustified in thinking belly dance is sordid in comparison. In all reality it is often far more tame and conservative than Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary and just as suitable for children.
None of these styles of dance of themselves sexualise children – insensitive adults do.
What are your thoughts?
Do you have any suggestions for great Arabic music suitable for kids to dance to?
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