Category: Assiut/Assuit

The exotic and rare hand-embroidered cloth from Asyut, Egypt.

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance General

Video Inspirations – Assiut At Tribal Fest 2012 – Part 2

Assiut At Tribal Fest 2012 – Part 2

Tribal Fest is one of my favorite events to go to, hang out at and watch lots of fantastic dancing.  This year, there were many wonderful assiut-clad performers.  Here are three more of my favorites from this year’s events.  Check out part 1 for more.

Rachel Brice and Datura

After relocating to Portland and opening her studio Datura, which has become the new epicenter of modern tribal fusion, Rachel Brice has built a troupe featuring an amazing group of talented dancers.  You can spot one of my favorite tribal performers, another Bay Area to Portland transplant, Ashley Lopez amongst these amazing women.  The costuming is lush, silver on black assiut.  The dance – spellbinding.

Sasha

This performance features the supple Sasha, who spent his days of Tribal Fest 2012 wandering around draped in as many as 7 vintage assiut shawls.   A self-proclaimed assiut addict, here he is performing with at least four draped around his body which he tucks and wraps the scarves to preserve them whole while still enjoying the shimmer and swing of wearing them in performance.

Qabila Folkdance Company

The Qabila Folkdance Company brought to the Tribal Fest a more traditional folkloric performance wearing lovely assiut gowns. These ladies performed an upbeat Saidid and Gahwazee Suite with style and gusto. Visit their FaceBook page to connect with this talented group of women.

 

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY

Belly Dance Dresses

Dresses for Belly Dance

Easy to put on – perfect for quick changes – dresses are an excellent item to have in a belly dancer’s wardrobe. From high glamour to traditional, fanciful to folkloric, a dress can bring high style to the stage. Some designs can even be used in multiple ways from presenting a specific culture, region, or even as a coverup between acts or to wear while announcing at events.  Consider adding a dress to your belly dance wardrobe!

Dresses for Belly Dance
Dresses for Belly Dance by davinadevine on polyvore.com

Categories
Assiut/Assuit General

Video Inspirations – Assiut at Tribal Fest 2012 – Part 1

Assiut at Tribal Fest 2012 – Part 1

Grab your popcorn and settle in for a trio of videos featuring my #1 current obsession, assiut from the most recent Tribal Fest in Sebastapol, CA. For more information about this event, visit the Tribal Fest official website.

Kami Liddle

Superstar Kami Liddle has crafted a lovely skirt from an assiut shawl without cutting the fabric, To achieve this effect, the shawl is draped around her hips strategically tucked/pinned/snappied it into place at her hipline. This is a great idea if you have a shawl you would like to wear, but aren’t ready to cut and sew into a costume.  Find out more about Kami.

Rachel Brice and Illan

Belly Dance Superstar Rachel Brice with her protege Illan of France.  This is a beautifully crafted duet, and a joy to watch.  Rachel is wearing a gorgeous two-toned assiut costume made in the retro-vintage-showgirl style that is currently popular in the world of tribal-fusion costuming.  The shape of the bra and the swag of the blue assiut echo the styles of Erte and other glamorous flapper-era garments.  Note too, how her accessories emphasize the retro-glam feel. More on Rachel here.

Suhaila Salimpour and Bal Anat

Founded by Jamila Salimpour in 1968, Bal Anat has long embraced and used assiut for traditional robes, stylized dance dresses and in hand-crafted bedlah sets.  During their performance at Tribal Fest 2012, you can see how the fabric becomes the unifying element throughout this large group, but each costume is completely unique.  This allows each dancer to have he own identity and still be a member of the group.  Find out more about Suhaila and her studio here.

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Design General

Bras for Belly Dance Costuming – Spring 2012

Nicole Simone
Nicole Simone wearing an Assiut Fusion Bra by Dawn Devine

Bras for Belly Dance Costuming Spring 2012

“Davina, What’s the best bra for making a belly dance costume?

The answer isn’t simple.  There is no one single bra style that will fit and flatter everybody.   Instead, you will have to get out to the stores and try bras on.  When you go to shop for bras, take the kind of padding you would use in your bra and give it the stuff treatment.  You might want to consider going up in cup size and down in band size.  It’s common practice to remove the bra band, so the size is not as relevant, but if you are large busted, you might want to carry some bra extenders so you can try band sizes that are smaller than you would ordinarily wear.  And remember – if you are shopping on line, don’t be afraid to return bras that aren’t working for you!

So, what features bra features should you look for?  I always take these four things into consideration.

  • Underwires – Bras with sturdy underwires are more supportive.
  • Foam or padded cups – Bras that have substance will provide your costume with a sturdy base to stitch your embellishments to.
  • Coverage – Remember – this is a costume and not lingerie. You want to ensure that you have enough coverage to be comfortable in the public eye and with no risk of nipple exposure.
  • Budget – Buy the best you can afford – but don’t exceed your budget!

Here are a few of my current favorites to help you get started in your quest.  Good Luck!
Bras for Spring 2012

Bras for Spring 2012 by davinadevine featuring bras

Bra
barenecessities.com

Bra
$27 – maidenform.com

Bra
$39 – fredericks.com

bras
$18 – target.com

Men
$29 – kohls.com

Categories
Assiut/Assuit General Makeup and Appearance

What’s in your bag?

Davina, March 3, 2012
Davina, March 3, 2012

It’s in My Bag,

My Makeup Bag!

I’ve had my head down and my elbows up working on my next book, The Cloth of Egypt. Over the past few months, I’ve participated in some Bay Area performance.  At each of these recent shows, I’ve made a point of wearing assiut, with the hopes of getting some lovely and useful photos of the event to use in the book.  This photo, was taken by the talented photographer Alisha Westerfeld.  This low-level shot really caught the glint of the assiut, but is, unfortunately, a bit too blurry for print.

However, I am pretty happy with the overall look of this picture!  So I thought I would share a few details on how I created this look. My headdress base is a simple cotton turban made from a shawl rolled into a long tube and wrapped twice around my head and tucked.  I topped this with my largest tiara.

This headdress is topped with an amazing assiut scarf. This long, narrow, and highly embellished scarf is modern assiut that I pounded, cleaned, and softened to achieve an almost vintage drape.  To keep the assiut scarf in place, I used long pearl-tipped corsage pins strategically located to keep everything from moving throughout a high-energy cane dance.

Of course, this look began with my makeup.  I was trying for a highly dramatic look, emphasizing my rather deep-set eyes to make them look very dark and intense.   Using the tools over on the Polyvore website, I’ve constructed a “snapshot” of my makeup kit from that day.  With the products pictured below, I created the look above.  If you like the results, you might want to try some of these cosmetics for yourself.

My Makeup Bag - May, 2012

My Makeup Bag – May, 2012 by davinadevine featuring a cream skincare