I’m an old dance nerd, and I’ve been following So You Think You Can Dance since season 1, and have gone to see three of the live touring shows. The audition shows feature the good, the bad, and the “what are they thinking?” which give them an appeal quite different from the final competition. This season, an excellent young belly dancer auditioned in Atlanta and made it to Vegas, or what what some people refer to as “SYTYCD Boot Camp” – there they winnow the group down to 20 who will compete on the show.
The show ran a really sweet little background piece on Janelle, where you find out details of her dance technique, see her in several stunning costumes, and learn she’s Palestinian and living in Birmingham, AL. I love that this brief bio is sensitive, showcases her winning smile and lively personality. But best of all, this piece wasn’t one bit salacious – an unfortunate and all too common a practice in popular media. All-in-all, she’s a great representative of the latest generation of young rising stars in our field. It’s delightful to see a positive and upbeat presentation of our dance form.
Will our belly dancer make it through the rigors of Vegas?
Janelle is super-cute and very talented, so I’m hoping for the best – because I really think she can dance.
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.
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!
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.
I recently received this message over on FaceBook.
(You can find me here – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Davina-Dawn-Devine/84640936617)
Hi Davina, I bought a modern Assiut dress from a friend. It smells musty. How do I clean the poor dress? Thank you!!Much love, Parizadah
Rather than limit the response to just my friend or just to FaceBook, here’s my recommendations for cleaning modern Assiut.
Hope this comes in handy for you!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Washing Modern Assiut
First – pound down the assiut. Use a rubber mallet and take a whack and beat the stitches flat. If it’s used, the former owner may have done this already – but assume she didn’t. If it’s brand new, this is an essential step. I like to use a wooden cutting board for this process. Don’t pound assiut on an unyielding surface such as concrete or the embroidery wire can cut the fibers. The goal of this process is to ensure that the stitches are as flat and secure as possible before laundering. It also makes the dress more comfortable and less scratchy to wear.
Next – place in a mesh lingerie bag and machine wash on delicate setting in warm water. Use gentle detergent or soap and a good fabric softener after the rince. Wash ALONE… many of these dresses don’t have colorfast dye – so – they run or crock. Remember, modern assiut is made of cotton – so it can take regular old detergent. Just keep it in a bag so the assiut mesh doesn’t catch on any moving parts and distort the garment.
Finally – Dry flat or hang dry on a very supportive hanger. Remember the mesh will stretch more when it’s wet. So laying flat is preferred. But if you have to hang it – hang it until dry and then fold it up and put it away. Do not store assiut in a hanging – gravity will pull the mesh out of shape. It’s best to store modern assiut rolled or loosely folded. Avoid creasing the fabric and potentially damaging the metal stitches.
Remember: For vintage assiut, only hand wash gently in specialty soap such as Eucalan, Forever New, Orvus or Restoration (Restoration is my favorite for vintage textiles) and ALWAYS dry flat.
Special Issues:
Does your dress have coins on it? No worries – use this same method of laundering. The washing machine will not damage coins, just be sure they are contained in a lingerie bag.
Does it have beads on it? Test the beads for color fastness. Some beads run or fade in laundry. If this is the case, then hand wash it with soap in a basin or tub.
Is it falling apart? If it has holes in it, or beaded parts that are coming apart – and you want to preserve as much as possible – then hand-wash in a basin or tub and lay flat to dry. When it’s clean and dry, take the time to mend it before wearing to avoid further damage.
If the dress is still musty after washing?
You can try one of these other techniques:
1 – Put in a plastic box with a highly scented candle or bar of soap – the scent will permeate the fibers.
2 – Lay/hang it in the sun – the sun has amazing cleaning powers.
3 – Hang it near incense and let the sent perfume the dress. This is an authentic method straight from the Middle East.
For fine washables - Eucalan
4 – Spritz with your signature scent.
5 – Make a sachet of baking soda and place it and the garment in a sealed plastic bag to absorb scent.
6 – Use a de-scenting product such as Fabreze(tm)
7 – Use a antibacterial product such as Endbac2(tm)
8 – Spritz with a solution of half water and half vodka – this is an old theater trick, and acts as an antibacterial.
And remember – these are all instructions for MODERN assiut. Do not use harsh products or methods on vintage assiut!
Here are links to places where I buy my specialty cleaning products:
I’m an old dance nerd, and I’ve been following So You Think You Can Dance since season 1, and have gone to see three of the live touring shows. The audition shows feature the good, the bad, and the “what are they thinking?” which give them an appeal quite different from the final competition. This season, an excellent young belly dancer auditioned in Atlanta and made it to Vegas, or what what some people refer to as “SYTYCD Boot Camp” – there they winnow the group down to 20 who will compete on the show.
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 
And remember – these are all instructions for MODERN assiut. Do not use harsh products or methods on vintage assiut!