Bellydance costumes: the classic and modern styles
Bellydance costumes from the ballet ‘Princesses of the East’ of the Academy of Oriental Dance SANDRA in Nice, France
Belly dance (Raqs Sharqi) costumes in the past century have undergone dramatic improvisation to the extent that the authentic and classic Raqs Sharqi costumes of Middle Eastern origins are rarely found anywhere now. A few reasons associated with such a development are basically two-fold. The first, and the most important one, is that the art and culture associated with this classic oriental dance form has been suppressed by irrational religious policing in most of the countries where this wonderful dance form evolved and spread to the rest of the world. The second reason is that the western world embraced belly dance as if it is their own and the western practitioners of this dance form, including the large number of famous practitioners of Raqs Sharqi in the United States, contributed immensely to the improvisation of the dance and its costumes.
From the point of view of retaining the original traditions, the Egyptian branch of the dance form and its costumes still maintain and promote the original form, though the exposure of the midriff and excessive skin show are banned in Egypt.
It is more liberal about designing Raqs Sharqi costumes in countries like Lebanon and Turkey. In the United States, where ironically, there are more belly dancers of international reputation than the countries of Middle East, the costumes underwent a sea change in style and aesthetics. In the United States too there are a sizable number of belly dancers who practice the West Asian style Belly dance and hence import dance costumes from Turkey and Egypt.
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