Category: Assiut/Assuit

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

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance General

Weekend Dance Roundup – Bean Scene & Bras for the Cause

Hello Gang!  I thought I would take a moment to share a pair of events I participated in over the weekend.  I was fortunate enough to be invited to perform at a local dance show on Friday night and to join a belly dance cheer team on Saturday evening.  Here are some of the highlights of these events.

Friday Night: The Bean Scene

One of my favorite local events is hosted by the group and takes place at The Bean Scene in Sunnyvale, Ca.  They host several shows throughout the year, inviting local dancers to sign-up and perform.  The coffee is delicious, there is no cover charge, and we always have such a great time hanging out and enjoying an evening of dance.

Along with a line up of talented local pros, teachers, and students, I was delighted to find out that we had two touring celebrities joining us!  The beautiful Rosa Noreen of Portland, Me and Sophia Ravenna of Seattle, Wa.  I caught a few video clips of these fantastic performances and shared them on Instagram.

Rosa Noreen

Aryn

Sophia Ravenna

Davina

I choose to wear burgundy assiut and swing a cane.  You can catch my performance over on YouTube.

Saturday Evening: Pleasanton “Bra’s for the Cause”

On Saturday evening, I joined my co-authors Sara Shrapnell and Alisha Westerfeld to cheer on the walkers for “Bras for the Cause.”  This 5k walk supports breast cancer research.  Each year, Sara Shrapnell gathers together a group of dancers to form a cheer team.  We were at the 1-mile marker, dancing and entertaining the walkers. The participants came in some amazing costumes, whimsical embellished bras, and stopped to take photos, dance, and grab a chocolate kiss or two.

Community fundraisers are always so fun to do!  I look forward to participating in this one and many more in the future!  Here we are striking a pose at the end of the event.  Once all the participants have walked past, and the sweeper limo went by, we headed off to have an author “power meeting” over hot chocolate. All-in-all this was a fun event!

There were many folks in great costumes, but most of my photos were quite blurry.  Here’s the “Bra King” posing with Zemira.  Because he was there taking photos, we got a chance to pose with him before the walkers reached our location.  If you are interested in joining Sara for some of these fun community events, visit her website and signup for her mailing list to get notifications about her future events.

Now I’ve got to go and do some belly dance laundry and give these assiut robes a good wash.
I hope you have a great first week of May!

Happy Costuming and Dance
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
April 30, 2018.

 

 

Categories
Assiut/Assuit General

Who’s That Girl in Assiut? Dagny Servaes

I recently spotted German actress Dagny Servaes wearing an assiut robe in her role as Theonis during act six of the movie 1922 film “The Loves of the Pharaoh.”  The full movie “Das Weib des Pharao” is available in the original German on YouTube. Here is a clip from the film at the 1:20 min mark, just before Theonis appears wearing her assiut ensemble.

Dagny’s costume is composed of two assiut pieces, a robe, and a shawl. Although it is difficult to see the base garment, she is wearing an assiut robe cut in the style of a 1920’s wedding dress of Upper Egypt.  Over the top of this robe, Theonis wears a glimmering assiut shawl.  Although this is a very short scene, I was able to grab a few images.

The film was artistical tinted in different shades to intensify the mood.  So these screen grabs look entirely different.  Because of the nature of taking screen grabs from vintage movies, some of these images are quite blurry.  In the image below, you can get a glimpse of the large central diamond motif on the front of her robe.

This film was released in different versions in Russia, Italy, and the US. Each country received a version of the film cut to suit the taste of their viewers.I really enjoy hunting down beautiful vintage assiut costumes in silent films. Want to read more of the “Who’s That Girl?” series?  Check out the links below.

Happy Costuming!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
April 26, 2018

A few other blog posts in this series

Lyda Borelli Vilma Banky Terpsichore Yvonne Gall

 

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance

Make Your Own Belly Dance Bras – Must Read Blogs & Vlogs!

Today I ran across a fabulous bra-making tutorial on the Assiut Group on Facebook.  I really enjoyed her tutorial, and I thought it would be great to make a list of a few other of my favorite bra tutorials from around the web.  If you are looking to create a masterpiece from Assiut, or if you are more sparkle and glam, there are many different styles to choose from in this collection.

Brick House Designs – Assiut Bra Resize

When I saw this blog post shared on the Facebook assiut group, I immediately went over to take a look!  Not only is this tribal bra full of crusty coin and chain goodness, it has some beautiful assiut base cloth.  Her mission was to take a larger cup size down to a smaller size is a fairly common alteration in my studio, and it’s nice to see how another designer tackles the project.

Jo has a great eye, not only for the design of this costume piece but also for the step-by-step photos that she shares in this post.  I particularly love that Jo has chosen to share how she’s pieced the design together from fountain motifs.  She really maximized the number of silver embroidery stitches would show beneath the rows of coins.  Be sure to watch her video on a portable device to get the full effect!

Jo, many thanks for the shout-out for my book too!  That made my day!

Joanna Dyndor – Tribal Belly Dance Bra out of Recycled Materials

Are you making a tribal fusion style of bra using recycled, upcycled, and repurposed materials?  Then this is a vlog for you!  This lovely costume piece is by Joanna Dyndor.  Her video follows her process of using a heavily embroidered ribbon scrap, a handful of beads, ruched fabric, and repurposed chain.  The result is a lovely performance bra in shades of brown, tan, and cream.

Hanaan Tribal – Tribal Bra Tutorial

This blog post steps through the process of taking making a halter style top with tie back. This assiut bra elegantly uses a basic silver-dotted fabric accentuated with coins and gilets.

One of the common problems for dancers looking for new costumes is the lack of options at larger bra sizes.  If you are a dancer who can’t find bras for bigger curvier women, this is a great example of how a lingerie bra can be transformed for more zaftig physiques.

Shushanna Designs – How to Cover a Bra

This illustrated costuming tutorial walks the reader through how to cover a basic belly dance bra using Shushanna’s technique.  Virtually every lingerie style bra needs to be covered before it’s embellished and this method really works.  If you learn best from step-by-step illustrations this blog is not to be missed!

Sparkly  Belly – Ultimate Bra Tutorial

Mao has created a great free resource for dancers interested in creating their own glam-style belly dance costume bras.  There are many more free and paid tutorials, demos and classes available on her site.  So if you are more sequins and stones, rather than coins and chain, than this website is a great resource.

Studio Davina – Bra Tutorials

Of course, over time I’ve put up a few bra demos/tutorials as well.  Here are a few featured here in past blog posts:

Student Grade Belly Dance Bra – Need a cheap and cheerful costume for a student performance?  Need the costume fast and affordable?  This is the style of bra I teach in classes for students who need a “one-shot” bra suitable for performance with a minimum investment.  The key?  Start with a lingerie bra the color you want and simply embellish the cups!  Read more details.

Designing a Lavender Bedlah Ensemble – Although this four-part tutorial is for a bra and belt set, the bulk of the images and directions are about the bra. There are a lot

I constructed this bedlah set using more hard-style professional techniques for the bra and belt.  This is a very different approach from the student grade costume in the post above.  It’s nice to have some different approaches to reach for that accommodate different budgets and timelines. Read more details.

Three Day Assiut Challenge – When I was working on the build for the book “The Cloth of Egypt” I made this costume for a last minute show.  I wanted to promote my upcoming book, and yet, I didn’t have an assiut costume that fit!  So I took my sewing kit with me on the trip and made the costume in the days leading up to the show.  While this wasn’t my first assiut bra, it was the first made for the book!  Read more details.

Embellished Bras – The book

Of course, If you want to read the book that accompanies my basic bra building class, it’s available on both Amazon and on Etsy (if you want a signed copy)

If you already own a copy of my Embellished Bras book, thank you very much for supporting my business!  But I really believe in the motto, “There’s more than ONE way to do it the RIGHT way!”  It’s always nice to explore the internet looking for new tips, tools, and techniques.  I’m always open to learning new methods, especially if they save time and/or money!

If you find any wonderful resources, be sure to let me know.  The best way to share costuming information is either by joining me in the Studio Davina Facebook group, or you can drop me a line via email – davina@davina.us.

Happy Costuming!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
April 16, 2018

 

 

Categories
Assiut/Assuit General

Assiut Costuming & Studio Davina

Happy Holidays! It’s the season when I begin to conduct an end of the year review for my business. This year, I was involved with a whole bunch of new projects and I rediscovered some old loves. The review process takes a couple of weeks, and I generally gather together all of the data, the metrics that help me understand how my business worked over the past 12 months. Then I sift through these numbers and analyze it. What was successful, what didn’t work, what could work if given more time, information, or skill development. This year, in a nutshell, was a whopping success!

Aqua Assiut Swing Dress from Studio Davina

Studio Davina

In 2017, I reopened my sewing business with a new name, rebranding as Studio Davina. A few years back, we moved into a large enough home for me to have a fairly big multipurpose workroom. My vision was to do practically everything in this one large space.  So we installed mirrors along one wall, shelves for my research library on another, and brought in two folding tables. Within minutes, this room can have a cutting table, ironing board, and sewing station, or be reconfigured into a small photo-studio with lights and backdrop paper. The result?  A multi-functional space where I can work on diverse projects from sewing to model photography, teach mini-workshops and shoot product pictures for publication.

Right:  Final Assiut Project of the Year – Finishing up an aqua tone assiut swing dress. 

Assiut Sewing Projects

One of my goals for 2017 was to work on more assiut costuming projects. The bulk of 2016 was spent working on two book projects, Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage, and Zills: Music on Your Fingertips.  But what I really wanted to do this year was to make more costumes, designing custom clothing, and working with my favorite textile, assiut. So over the past year, I reached out to my clients and customers and asked if anyone wanted assiut costumes. The resounding answer was yes!  I made several bras, a garden of hair flowers, and a few head-to-toe ensembles like this one worn by Bay Area instructor and event producer Sudeep who brings us the annual event Bay Area Belly.

Dance with Davina

Davina's drop-in troupe - Swirl - trio includes Davina, redvelvet, and Zemira, Dec. 2017

One of the new discoveries in I made in 2017 was so simple it was shocking. I really enjoy teaching dance! Although my space is small by dance studio terms, Studio Davina is big enough for a few friends to dance together. Midway through the year, I started teaching more private lessons. By August, I had a regular weekly class going of my coaching students, and we began performing together in October. Teaching again is an unexpected surprise and so much fun! Of course, it doesn’t hurt that my little troupe loves wearing assiut almost as much as I do!

My drop-in troupe collaborative group is composed of myself and current students and coaching partners. Our name is Swirl and we perform in the greater San Jose/Penninsula area of California.  Here we are on Dec. 2017 as a little trio, including Zemira aka photographer Alisha Westerfeld, and redvelvet. There was much assiut-clad swirling happening!

If you are interested in having a custom costume made or if you’re interested in dancing with me, and are within easy drive of Sunnyvale, CA drop me a line and let’s make plans!

I am looking forward to making a lot of assiut costumes and performing more in 2018!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Dec. 12, 2017

Categories
Assiut/Assuit General Publications

Who’s That Girl in Assiut? Yvonne Gall

As a collector of vintage images featuring entertainers wearing assiut, I am always thrilled and delighted when I find an image.  This lovely is the Parisian opera singer Yvonne Gall.  This lovely French opera singer was born in 1885 and studied her craft at the Conservatoire de Paris.  She performed professionally as an operatic soprano from 1908 to 1935.

There are quite a few postcards of Yvonne, some with labeled with the title of the opera or the specific character she played.  Others, like this lovely image on the right, are unlabelled, a move often made when I costume could imply several different roles.

This ensemble is quite lovely composed of a simple sleeveless tunic made from lined assiut and edged with fringe. A kuchi-style pendant and belt along with the veil worn under her headdress and the long length of exposed leg, give this ensemble the air of a dancer.

Yvonne performed primarily in Paris appearing in both lyrical and dramatic roles.  She spent time in Chicago appearing in the American premiere of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole. When she retired from performance, she returned to the Paris Conservatory to train the next generation of singers.

We are very fortunate that she was part of the first wave of opera singers to have been recorded so while you look at her image, you can listen to her sing the Willow Song from Otello in 1922.  There are many more images of vintage assiut, along with a history of the cloth in my book, The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut.

Enjoy!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
November 15, 2017