Fabrics of Freedom by Zanne Miller
Like homemade quilts, the costumes worn by the women in Troupe Nubia may tell a story, signify a memory or represent an old tradition. A scarf from a grandmother or a treasure from a thrift store may be used in a design that calls up images of dancers from India or Egypt. Or a bequeathed skirt from a dear friend might be used to create a modern costume in a uniquely American style. In the same way they interpret the choreography to create a personal dance, those who make their own costumes create garments that are beautiful to look at and personally meaningful to wear.
Clothes and accessories accentuate the dance and come alive as the dancer moves. The fringe on the bra shimmies with her shoulders. Coin belts on her hips jingle with the music. Rows of bracelets slink up and down her forearms, calling attention to her elegant hand movements, while her veils seem to dance on their own. Layers of rustling fabric expose and enhance the movements of her hips, stomach and breasts.
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To most Americans, costumes with padded, fringed bras and full skirts slung low on the hips evoke images of ancient lands, and that is the clothing most closely associated with belly dancing here. But Theora points out that the style is actually a Hollywood invention that was taken back to Egypt. American tourists traveling in Egypt expected to see the sultry belly dancers of the Rudolf Valentino movies, so the native dancers changed their traditional garb into cabaret costumes of bras, belts and see-though skirts reminiscent of strippers.
The members of Troupe Nubia wear a range of styles, including cabaret, but each costume is a creation of the dancer. Some purchase their costumes from local importers or order them from catalogs. But others make their own, haunting fabric stores in search of the perfect fringe, the right coins, a fabric that will caress them as they move and a color that will dazzle. They spend hours bent over their sewing machines or hand-stitching their works of art. For some, costuming becomes an obsession. One woman in the troupe admits to spending more than $800 on costumes in just one year for herself and her daughter.
Most of her designs are authentic tribal styles inspired by the costumes of dancers and people from many regions. She makes a vest that is influenced by the Ghawazee tribes of Egypt. The rows of buttons don’t start until the bottom of the breast line, and it is traditionally worn over a sheer T-shirt and accompanied by harem pants. From India there is a choli, a short top that exposes the stomach. And from Eastern Europe, puffy “gypsy blouses” that rest just off the shoulders and gather at the top of the rib cage.
Theora says each dancer’s costume is a reflection of her personality, and there is nothing wrong with picking and choosing among times and cultures to create the perfect ensemble. “Women should have the kind of freedom and self-acceptance to dress the way they feel comfortable,” she says. For this reason she puts no size tags in her creations. “I’m not going to tell women what size to wear. If the costumes feel comfortable on, that’s the idea. I’ve tried not to put my interpretation of what looks good on another woman. I tell them, ‘try it on,’ and if they like it, then they buy.”
Jessie, another dancer who makes her own costumes, says, “You can create whoever you want to with your costume, such as a gypsy look, or you can go all out and do liquid lamé, rhinestones, sparkles...gaudy, gaudy, gaudy, if that’s what you want. It’s a fantasy, but it’s also real life, which makes it even cooler.”
Like the interpretation she brings to her dance, each dancer’s costume represents who she is or who she wants to be. There are no limits.
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Theora turned her artistic inspiration into a second income when she started Theora’s Belly Dancing Boutique, a business she runs from her home. The shiny jewel-toned lamés, sheers and silks in bright colors and exotic prints aren’t what most Westerners think are appropriate for everyday wear. Theora says she used to admire them in the fabric stores but lamented that she had no place to wear them. Now she not only wears them, she makes them.