WHAT is she wearing?!....Costuming Do-s and Don't-s....Part 1

If you are a regular attendee at the local Hafla or dance party, or you participate in shows presented at workshops, you have most likely seen or even sadly been the victim of a costume Faux Pas. It happens to the best of us, but more often then not it happens to the newbies....those oh so lovely and eager students who jump wholeheartedly into performing (but without all the information they need). Sometimes the lack of information is their own fault and sometimes the blame lies solely in the hands of their teachers.

I have seen so many Costume Faux Pas and Blunders over the years, some that make me cringe in sympathy and others that are more of an annoyance. Hopefully this Blog will give some people a second thought before they 'suit up' for a show and wake up those teachers out there who have been remiss in teaching proper costuming. Hopefully. ;o)

You might be asking....Why are costume Faux pas and Blunders such a big deal!? 

When you are on stage performing, everything is under scrutiny by your audience. If something goes awry with your costume, or looks like it is going to go awry, that is all the audience will pay attention to or remember about your performance. (Think along the lines of 'traffic creepers', you know what I am talking about....those people who snail past an auto accident in the morbid hope of seeing something titillating or gory?!) Well that is just part of human nature, we want that bit of excitement, that OMG moment to whisper about behind our hands. As a performer you have to make sure YOU do not give them that! It doesn't matter how awesome of a dancer you are, if you have distracting things happening while you dance, that is all the audience will be paying attention to, they will not remember anything else you did.

I think perhaps the best thing to do, is start from the top and work our way down (for fear of writing an incredibly long Blog I am going to break this subject into several parts - this is Part 1 - The Head).......

1)What is she wearing on her head?

    a) Road Kill -There was a really fun fad that came out several years back in the ATS genre, these colorful and fluffy 'hair extensions' made from fuzzy yarn and ribbons, sometime with beads, shells or coins woven into them. I am not sure what the originator of this bit of whimsy had named these 'hair pieces', but down in Florida where I was a student at the time, we fondly called them 'road kill'.....lol....now if you are like most belly dancers I have met, one of the things about us is we ALL love our bits of sparkle and jingle and all the really cool and pretty things we can wear when we perform. 'Road Kill' was/is an incredibly cute and fun bit of something to wear when performing. There is a point though where a person needs to draw a line....if you are dancing Traditional Middle Eastern dances or American Caberete....please DO NOT wear 'road kill'! It is not proper costuming for those styles.

    b) Hair Ornaments - Flowers, sparkles, and other doodads are all awesome and pretty things to wear in your hair when performing! BUT, please make sure they are Properly attached and that they will not get in the way of your performance. If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times...before you perform in something, try on your WHOLE costume (that means hair ornaments, jewelry, shoes, everything) and DANCE with it on. I have seen it so many times, it DRIVES me nuts! A beautiful and talented girl on stage dancing her heart out and everyone is staring at the flower in her hair that is bouncing and bobbing wildly as she dances, wondering just when it is going to let loose and go flying across the stage. Or another girl who is obviously new to performing, but valiantly doing a lovely job of following the steps of a choreography with her troupe, who keeps getting her veil wrapped up and stuck on the rhinestone hair clips she is wearing. Another thing that can happen with those lovely ornaments in your hair...your hair can get wrapped up in it and stuck and you end up with some funky poof of hair sticking out the side of your head....which YOU will not even know about till after you are done performing and get a gander at the pictures or video. (Because 99% of the time, none of your friends are going to tell you about it for fear of making you feel bad...lol)

    c) Hair - yes, I do mean Hair...lol...there are two parts to this complaint. Many professional dancers wear hair pieces, wigs and extensions...if they are high quality you really can't tell they are fake and they are a beautiful addition to your performance attire. Nothing says 'feminine goddess' like long flowing locks of hair. Many of us (yours truly included) have not been blessed with naturally thick, luscious and fast growing hair...and we live in a time when short and spunky hairdos is the IN thing. Just make sure if you are going to wear extensions or a wig that it matches your hair color (or totally covers your natural hair) and that it is well attached and doesn't look like you shaved all of your daughters Barbie dolls to attach the plastic strands to your head! Cheap wigs are so easily identified, especially under stage lights...do you want the audience to ooh and ahh over your beautiful dancing? Or snicker over the huge mass of fake hair you have on your head that is SO obviously fake? (I personally would rather see a dancer with short natural hair that one that has enough fake, plastic-y looking hair on her head for three women...just my opinion though.)

      The other big Hair blunder that drives me crazy? Those dancers that constantly pet, rearrange and fiddle with their hair while they are dancing! There is nothing wrong with reaching up and removing that annoying lock of hair that is stuck in your mouth, but PLEASE stop fiddling with your hair already! It is incredibly distracting and gets to the point where I just want the performance to end so I do not have to watch the hair rearranging any more! 

    d) Head Scarf - last but not least, the head scarf...a MUST for dancing many styles of Folkloric dance. I love head scarves. My biggest pet peeve with head scarves is that dancers just tie them on their head and think they will stay! Sorry, that is NOT how it works. You are dancing, not just walking along at the local market....even Arabic women who are not dancing and wear head scarves pin them! Use Hair pins and Hat pins (the long, straight, sharp and pointy type - Hatpins) to attache it properly to your head/hair. AGAIN, having a piece of your costume wobble and wiggle and start to fall off is a huge distraction to your audience. Even if you handle it with finesse and smoothly remove it the rest of the way and toss it aside, it has already caused a distraction that is hard to recover from.

I am sure there are other bits of head gear blunders I will recall after I post this, but those four above are the most distracting I can think of.

Next installment.....Keeping things covered up top.....lol...........