Big Bellydance Lensography

The entire genre of dance was once, and sometimes still is, called by the French term 'danse du ventre' or what we translated into English, the "belly dance". In Arabic it is called "Raqs sharqi" which is the performance of a solo dancer, or "Raqs baladi" which is the "dance of the country" or what we usually refer to as a "folklore dance"- common people dancing for a festive occasion in a regional style.

There are a number of styles of belly dance, and there are related genre of dances including Gypsy, Flamenco, and Baladi of the Middle East. These are the lenses all about this group of dances.

Although the origination of this dance is lost in time, it is the Gypsy culture which carried this form of dance to many regions, where it was adopted and itself influenced by regional styles of folk dance. The Gypsy performers often kept it alive by providing festive dance and music during times when authorities clamped down and discouraged dance performances.

As with any theatrical performance, there is stage makeup, costumes, and footwear, as well as props to think about. That is probably one of the most entertaining aspects of learning to belly dance: creating the fun costumes. And for those who just want to dress up, it isn't hard to create your own costume, if you know the right components.These lenses cover the dress-up part of the belly dance world.


Be sure to check out the wonderful tribal jewelry that comes up for auction on the eBay bid on these lenses. Really beautiful cuffs and other items.

The art of decorating your face and body when dressing up to perform bellydance.

You don't really have to dance to enjoy the practice of using makeup techniques to enhance your eyes or use henna tattoo designs. Or learn about tattoos. Sometimes it is just something you want to do :)

Pretty feet and hands are part of the whole look.

       

Some of the instruments include:
* The arabic flute: ney
* The middle eastern violin: rebab, rababa, rabab
* The oud, arabic lute
* The oriental piano: Qânûn or qanoun
* Framedrums: bendir, deff and tar
* Derbukka, zarb
* Mizmar, zurna
* Tar, dutar, sitar, shashtar, tambour, târ
* Santoor

Pictures and Descriptions of Common Mideast Instruments

The costuming lenses listed in this lensography are mainly about creating authentic belly dance costumes: the type that real Oriental dance performers actually use. In completing a Squidoo quest for a Halloween costume lens, I made one that happens to conform to the theme of this Middle Eastern themed set of lenses, but remember that Halloween costumes are necessarily much more simple to make, or if purchased, are much less expensive in terms of time and materials, and workmanship. The price will reflect that and I wouldn't recommend these costumes for the rigors of a belly dance performance, but they sure are fun for a costume party.

The large number of men's costume ideas in the Halloween lens will serve to costume the male guest at a Hafla get-together, for instance.

1001 Arabian Nights Halloween Costumes