Themed Belly Dance Costumes

    It's no surprise to anyone who follows me that I end up dancing at a lot of shows with "themes." What do I mean by a "theme?" It could be anything from the type of music we are tasked to dance to, or something to inspire costuming. The usual "rules" suggest you use the theme to pick your music or your costume, or both. Some dancers tend to ignore the themes, but I have noticed that ever since our troupe has embraced the themes, others have been following suit to embrace them as well, even when they are wacky. Some examples of themed shows I have danced at include "Boy Band," "Crazy Hats," "Raq to the Future," "Pirates," "Around the World," "Fantasy," "Divas," "Renaissance/Medieval," as well as a couple I started working on but was unable to attend, including "Rhythm & Blues" and "Diamonds & Pearls."

    Some of these themes are easy and fun to interpret, and others are much more challenging. Certain themes lend themselves to bellydance, such as Pirates and Renaissance Faire. Costuming is easy for these themes, there are many interpretations of dance costumes on Pinterest for these, and music can generally be something in the realm of bellydance. Other themes are much harder for both costumes and music. When we were tasked with "Boy Band" I had no idea what we were going to do. Luckily, inspiration hit and we did a very cool fusion number dancing with chairs and veils. We wore really cute "mens/business" suits (sort of like Madonna in Express Yourself or Britney Spears from Me Against the Music).

    I do like to keep things in the realm of raks sharki.  I want to keep the integrity of the dance alive. I try to bend the themes to do that, rather than bending the dance to fit the theme. If we dance to a pop song (fitting the theme), I incorporate traditional moves in addition to some that might be less traditional, and I definitely make our second number a more straight-forward belly dance routine. When we danced at the 70's hafla, we did one song from the 1970's rock world, incorporating wings and some non-traditional fusion moves. Our second routine was pure 1970's bellydance, a version of "Ah Ya Zein" from 1974, straight up bellydance, no fusion involved in that one.

    Every year, the only consistent theme is the one for early November's show, which is "Halloween." Halloween encompasses a very wide spectrum of themes in itself. One year we did skeletons (I have a blog about that, here), another year we were witches, then monsters, and one year we were simply "villains."

    The year we were villains, I chose to make a female version of Loki, since the Avengers were very popular at the time, with the films coming out.  There was one other Avenger in our group, but the others were more random - we had a Medusa, Cruella DeVille, Poison Ivy, a Devil and a Dragon. I wanted my costume to be a belly dance costume but to give the feeling of Loki, so I designed a green and gold costume and wore his trademark horns.  I made a green velvet skirt, a belt with detachable gold "armor" panel, and I found this great green mesh fabric I could overlay on top of the bra and belt to simulate the armor.  I made gauntlets to match.  I found a green and black cape from Target to complete the look.  I was originally going to add fur but I was afraid it would weigh the cape down and make it come off my neck.  I found a light up scepter for my magic as well.

    We danced with LED poi, which was really fun, and a new challenge for us to learn this particular prop.  Our second routine used LED wings.  Both songs were belly dance music.

    The next year, we decided to be "classic Hollywood monsters" and I wanted to be an alien. A pretty, laser-sword-wielding-alien at that. I had previously bought a dance dress that was beautiful but every time I moved, it rode up on me, so I cut the dress apart, separating it into a top and skirt. My base model was an anime character I always admired, so I tried to envision what her outfit might look like if it were in a belly dance costume.  This character has shoulder armor and a bodysuit which I kept the essence of by creating drapes on the shoulders from Mao's Sparkly Belly "Jasmine sleeve" tutorial.  I restitched the skirt together, and fixed the waistband.  I used the "old" top's blue pieces to cover the top of a bra. I also used some black material I had in my fabric stash, as well as using some appliqués for sparkle. I used the black power net from the original dress to make gauntlets and the shoulder drapes/Jasmine sleeves, which mirrored the feeling of her shoulder armor (in her non-dance incarnation).  Using the black fabric and more sequined notions from my stash, I was able to create a belt.  I made a belly cover using scraps of the pretty blue material I had leftover to suggest the bodysuit, along with some straps on the belly. I bought some pointy elf ears to complete the look, and wore boots.  I also asked my hair dresser to make my hair red.

    My troupe-mates included the Bride of Frankenstein, a She-wolf, a Vampire, and Beezlebub. 

Other than a very brief "skit," which was a simple veil introduction, with a rising moon effect, and some character development for each of us "monsters," we danced pretty traditionally raks sharki, performing two routines to belly dance music and one brief fusion song to a bellydance remix of "She Wolf" in honor of our wolf-woman and Halloween.

For more info, visit my website.

Living in a Virtual World - Online Teaching

We are living in a time unlike any other in our lifetime. 2020 has been a rough year for business and health.  Everyone has been on lockdown, due to the pandemic going on and all in-person classes, events and entertainment are cancelled. Some people have not been allowed to go to work. We aren't allowed to see friends, or family without social distancing of at least 6 feet apart. We wear face masks to protect us and to protect those who are "at risk" of getting this disease. People are trapped in their homes and the only way to feel normal, is to be online.

It's been a very strange few months, I have not worked on any new sewing projects since last year, although the pandemic seems like a good time to be working at home on costumes. Life has transformed into home schooling and quarantine. Instead of full costumes, I have only repaired some things and I still have several unfinished projects sitting in my pile of "to do" items. Materials have to be bought online or picked up after ordering online, there's very little browsing in stores and looking at fabrics and trims. My in-person classes have been cancelled due to the closure of the recreation center I used to teach in, under "stay at home" orders. The dance studio I used to teach at closed, in what was thought to be a temporary relocation, but the closure is now going on 6 months.

I kept thinking, do I try to teach online?  Do I wait for this pandemic to subside?

I finally moved on to teaching classes in the virtual world, after much troubleshooting, navigating the tech world of Zoom, Facebook Live, and Band live. So many things can go wrong. People can have bad connections. The picture can freeze. You need permission to play the music because it's different than playing it in a classroom. The music can cut in and out. It's a strange world, teaching online, but it's better than not dancing and better than nothing. It's very strange because I come from a video background, where I have set up cameras, mixers, cables, lights, for on location shoots, both single and multi-cam, but now I'm using my computer camera to go live and a second camera for my replays of my classes.  It's taken many different tries to get the audio right, the camera showing what I want it to, and transforming my small office into a dance studio/television studio. It's not perfect but it works.

With hesitation, I started up a Patreon page. What is Patreon?  It's a website that supports artists work. The artists can make up "tiers" of "benefits" for their Patrons, who pay a fee for whatever tier they are interested in, and then they can access, in my case, videos.  I have a $5 option for live zoom classes and mini videos and a $10 option for choreography with notes and practice videos.  I have also posted some DIY videos and tutorials for the $10 option.

The only goal of Patreon is to try to keep my classes going and maybe makeup a fraction of the money I used to make, because I spend many hours of work on choreography, setup, and video editing that comes with teaching my classes. Now each week after I teach, I have to edit the video and upload it, which takes time too. With my kids at home from school, I can't be shooting and producing videos daily. I do my weekly class, but when I was teaching in person, it was 2-3 times a week. When there were upcoming performances, we added on at least one rehearsal a week on top of that for my troupe/s to practice.  When my kids were in school, I could sew or choreograph new routines.  I have less freedom to do that now.

Things are starting to open up again, although the pandemic is not over. It makes for a strange transitional time. We are learning choreography in my classes, but can't do complicated group formations or moves that rely on partners. There is a Christmas-themed hafla coming up in July (I know, that sounds weird) which we have no idea if it will happen or not, due to social distancing rules. Playing Christmas music in June is also weird. Masks are required pretty much everywhere so that means for dancing too. This of course creates a challenge for costuming. Wearing traditional veils can be problematic to some, who get offended by such a thing. However, I want my dancers and myself to be safe, and that's really the main thing that matters.

I'm not sure when my recreation center will open up and they will ask me to teach in person again (?). Perhaps they will ask me to teach online?  I know my former dance studio is waiting until it's more feasible to re-open. Imagine having to wipe everything down all day long, limit the amount of students who come in, limiting the money to pay for a studio, keep the distancing happening in the studio/classroom.

For now I'm happy that my students have stuck with me and we are trying to bring ourselves together, to dance, to feel normal, to see other people, and to feel like a troupe again. We all miss going out and performing. All the fun things that go with it.  For more info visit my Patreon and my website.

Transforming an Indian Sari into a Belly Dance Costume

I took a Bollywood fusion workshop with a couple of friends where we learned a dance to the then- super hot song "Jai Ho" by the Pussycat Dolls and A.R. Rahman, and we were going to perform it wearing Bollywood-style costumes, which we all thought were so beautiful.  I found a store that sold beautiful saris from India, and bought one in hot pink and orange.  After the performance, I decided I could make a better costume though, because it was hard to dance in, and it didn't stay put in a flattering way.  It simply wasn't made to move.  As much as I liked it, I really struggled to make the original sari work for dance.
It came in a few pieces - a hot pink decorated tank style top, an orange large chiffon circle skirt and a large orange chiffon veil with lots of embellishments.  I never wore it as it originally was, because it was not practical to perform in at all, so I wore parts of it.  Photo - Left performing Jai Ho at Gitana by James Komen - The top with dance pants by Melodia Designs and a hip wrap - Middle - the sari skirt with a different top & wrap performing, and Right posing after I already made the belt repurposing and up-cycling the "veil" piece in the far right photo.

The hot pink top was a bit big on me, as you can see in the left photo.  The circle skirt was really big, and extremely heavy.  It had a tendency to fall down as I was dancing.
So to fix this, I took the large, beautifully embellished veil and used the fabric from it to cover a bra (photo below), make a matching belt and finally some matching armbands.  I did some of my own beading to add to the look and put that at the center of the bra top, and on three sections of the belt.  I had found some matching orange stretch fabric from the clearance rack and that was used to make my very first mermaid-style skirt, using Mao's Sparkly Belly tutorial.

The belt was lined with matching orange cotton underneath the chiffon, and backed with interfacing. Luckily, I just happened to have the center orange appliqué from one of my belly dance shopping trips in the past, which worked perfectly as a lovely accent.

This fabric was also perfect for the armbands, so that they would stay up on my upper arms and not fall down.  I had so much leftover orange fabric, I also used it on several other Sparkly Belly sewing tutorials (including the shoulder shrug, tribal overskirt, and cowl neck top), which you can read about in this entry on my blog.
The Costume with the Sparkly Belly Mermaid Skirt photo by Kristy Johnston

The costume with the circle skirt photo by Alex H

Sewcial with Troupe part 2 - Appliqué and Costuming

I met with my students for a second part to our Sparkly Belly Appliqué and sewing party/sewcial.  Find all of Mao's tutorials here on Sparkly Belly dot com.

We managed to cut out and sew our sleeveless choli tops with ties from the patterns we created last time, and we also finished most of our no-sew 10 minute skirts.  We also continued beading our appliqués to finish our troupe project.  I was happy that we were able to do some actual sewing this time, everyone brought their machines, fabric, thread, and had to learn how to use them!

 Beading, cutting out patterns, spinning bobbins, threading machines and learning about different stitches.

 Putting together the costumes where our appliqués will end up eventually.


Our finished tops!  We forgot to get a photo in our skirts, but when we are totally done I will update the blog with the full costumes and appliqués.  Thank you, Mao!  The Appliqués are available in Mao's Sparkly Belly Shop here. 

You can find info about my troupes on my website.

Appliqués from Sparkly Belly

I was fortunate enough to be a part of Mao's Sparkly Belly appliqué project for dance teachers, where she mailed teachers her DIY Appliqué kits for free, with the hope that they be sewn and completed with the teacher and their students at a "sewcial," and then posted on social media.  I had done a similar sewcial (without any materials from Mao, but using her tutorial), with my West Covina class previously, to make her 3 panel mermaid skirts (read my blog post here for the mermaid skirt sewcial).

This project was more of a challenge than the mermaid skirts.  It was to be completed within two months, and the ultimate goal is to get the appliqués on actual costumes that we create for our troupe.  I began by starting an appliqué by myself to see how it worked, knowing that time is our most valuable asset and people are busy.  I have never actually beaded anything before, so this was a new challenge for me.  My Mom is a sewer and a beader so I enlisted her help initially to guide me with the beading.  Together we did a large and small appliqué prior to working with the group.  Once I got the hang of how to do the stitches, it went smoothly and easily.  I have to balance my time being a mom, teaching classes and working on this project so that was my challenge, fitting in the time to sew.  Mao sent us the teardrop style in purple.  Everything we needed was included in the kit.  The only thing I used that was mine was scissors.

I scheduled the sewcial to take place after one of my dance classes on the weekend.  I had three of my dancers join me for the first sewcial, all non-sewers.

Mao's instructions were very good, well thought out and clear.  The biggest hurdle was time, and the initial learning curve, because none of us were experienced in beading.  After meeting with my dancers and having our first sewcial, we realized that we needed to do several of these "workshops" because of the detail in the appliqués, and because we wanted to make our own costuming to utilize the appliqués.

The appliqués look very professional and definitely add a nice finishing touch to costuming.

Our plan was to create the Sparkly Belly 10 minute DIY wrap skirts with ruffles and matching sleeveless choli tops and place the appliqués on them.  We have two guys in our group so we also are going to do the harem pants tutorial.

After finishing our appliqués, we agreed to meet again and work on the costuming tutorials to put our appliqués on the following week.  Stay tuned for my next blog post, hopefully we will have the costumes done with our beautiful appliqués!


Thank you to Mao for sending the beautiful appliqué kits for myself and my students, we had a great time sewing together and learning!  Visit Sparkly Belly to learn more about Mao's wonderful costuming tutorials and to get your own DIY appliqué kits to make your costuming look amazing! 

 You can find info on my troupes at my website.

So Many Fabrics, So Little Time

When making mermaid or wrap style skirts and matching choli style tops, the fabric you use must be stretch, and you have to use a stretch stitch to sew them.  Check out the "performance fabrics" (or swimsuit fabrics) or the stretch velvets as these are the easiest to sew.  Performance fabrics can range from $5/yard to $30/yard.

Always check the integrity of the fabric before you buy it.  Some do not "come back" from the stretch even though they are "stretchy" material.  These are a disaster for costuming.  Gently tug a very small section (about an inch) in the direction of the stretch and see if the fabric tears or if it stays in tact.  If the fabric stays nicely woven, it will work for any stretchy skirt or top pattern.



If you are making a more generously cut (does not need to stretch) circle skirt or harem "pantaloon" style pants, I recommend using a soft chiffon, satin, jacquard, or "silk essence" style fabric.  The important part of choosing this material is the drape or how the fabric "falls" from your body.  If the fabric is too stiff, it will not be good (or comfortable) to dance in.


Some fabrics are easier than others to sew on as well.  Fabrics with sequins can break your needle and the sequins themselves can break.  Other fabrics can pull while you are stitching and possibly create runs in the fabrics.  It's a good idea to experiment on a small scrap before working on a big project that might be expensive.

Skeleton Dance - No Bones About This Costume

Our troupe was going to do a Skeleton-themed dance at a Halloween Hafla and I had a month to figure it out.  I was hoping to use inspiration from bones from the dollar store, plus flowers to make it pretty and using orange fabric and black netting.

This was not my most successful costume.  It looked better in my mind and as I was designing it, and I ultimately wore only parts of it, but I hope to re-visit it, as I do when I have trouble executing my vision.

There were lots of fun bones and things at the dollar store, which is where I started for inspiration.  I used some orange fabric someone had gifted me, which was going to be an asymmetrical skirt.














I used Simplicity 1033 for the skirt.  I struggled with the skirt material, which is why this costume was ultimately not as successful as I would have hoped.

I had leopard printed netting and black net, plus this orange material (organza?) that did not sit well as a skirt.  I didn't realize this until I had already followed the store bought pattern and sewed the whole skirt.

I laid out several different combinations of flowers and bones on a cheap bra I bought.

I made a simple belt, using a pattern I had from a troupe I danced in previously.  I made a youtube belt tutorial here for my students.  There are commercially available belly dance costumes, including Simplicity 2158 and Simplicity 2941.

The belt was made from scrap materials I had left over from other costumes, plus felt for interfacing.



I struggled with the black of the bra and belt, and not being able to see the outline either piece when I wore it over my "bones" bodysuit.  Everything looked great on the table, but not so much on me.  It blended in and just was not working.

The finished outfit.  I did not end up wearing the skirt and I was unhappy with the placement of the flowers.  Next time I think I would use a color other than black or put some sort of trim around the bra and belt.