Thread: Tattoos and Egyptian Bellydance?

Hi Everyone,
I was hoping to hear from you guys about any personal experience with prejudice or problems as a "traditional" cabaret or Egyptian style dancer who has tattoos. I know many tribal fusion dancers have tattoos and that is very common and often really goes with the costuming and attitude of the dance (eg. Rachel Brice and Ariellah) I am thinking of getting a quote written on my upper back (fits right between my shoulder blades), it could easily be hidden by my hair which is quite long, but I am sure it will peak through at times. Just wanted to know if tattoos every cause major problems when dancing professionally, in terms of clients not wanting to hire bellydancers with tattoos or anything else along those lines?

It really does seem to depend. Technically tattoos are haram but then so are BDers. I know of many BDers who have tattoos who dance oriental style who do not have problems. OTOH the look is one of more conventional glamour, which doesn't always include a tattoo.

Hmm this Arab dancer does have a very visible tatoo.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6KCSpY_-rw]YouTube - World belly dance championship - Rana dance ep8[/ame]

I can only say I think the problem is less the religion/"haraam" definition (so is plastic surgery - hehe! look at Arab celebs and at the average Gulf upper class girl :))))) car accident, yeah right!!).
But traditionalism: MOst traditional societies tattoos and piercings are not part of seem to be abhorred and disgusted by them.
I think it s becoming more and more common with Arab youth. But the diaspora society always lags behind and preserves something that exists no more in the home lands.

My teacher, Sonya, does lots of oriental and has a full sleeve tattoo, a back piece, and some other ones I'm forgetting. Dance is her full-time occupation, so I think she is doing well. I never really asked her about tattoos and her work, but I'm sure she'd be happy to answer questions.

Sonya's Souk - Chicago Belly Dance Performer & Instructor

It depends on the venue and audience. Some restarants in the area require their dancers to cover up tattoos. Some will not even hire you if you have exposed tattoos.

There are some wedding parties that would not hire a dancer with tattoos. In their opinion - tattoos show a level of low class.

I DO NOT AGREE but - for this reason - I have decided that all my tats will be in places that are not exposed.

Outside of dance - tattoos are still looked down upon in corporate America..

another reason why I have chosen to not have exposed tats.

Here is a thread where we talked about tats.

http://www.bhuz.com/forum/fitness-be...toos-okay.html

There are many more.

{{{HUGS}}}

Thanks everyone for your feedback, much appreciated. I think mine will be ok as it is text and not too big. Also it will be semi-hidden :)
Glad to hear it is generally not a big deal

Taletha of Louisville, Kentucky, is a lovely Egyptian dancer (and fellow Bhuzzer) with tattoos. You may want to check out her site.

Taletha, Belly Dancer - Louisville, Kentucky

Hi, Nisima here, and can't remember if I ever talked about this before so here goes - back "in the day" in the clubs/restaurants of 80's "amcab" style - visible tattoos were not acceptable, and for that reason alone I waited to get mine. Now I have several "smallish" tats - one on forearm, one on each ankle, one on left upper side of chest and one medium sized one in middle of upper back. They are colorful lotus flower and/or butterflies and haven't been a problem performing but then I'm doing concerts/festivals and troupe gigs. Most of our troupe members have at least one small visible tattoo.

I think acceptance of tattoos has developed in the sense that they are more mainstream nowadays, but NOT in the corporate world. I wear long sleeves and slacks at day jobs because most corporate work environments have dress codes either written or unwritten, even small tattoos are not acceptable to them.

Having said that, I am careful of how my tattoos are designed and placed - I want them to enhance the look of a bra/belt belly dance costume, whether beaded or coins and tassels, not distract from it. I'm short waisted, so I opted not to do a lower back tattoo - sadly, not very much room! My tats are definitely in the realm of "accent pieces". Having said that, I am going to embellish the designs I already have, i.e., one ankle needs two more butterflies.

I don't dance pro in restaurants but I have never had anyone comment on my tats. I have one of Eeyore on my shoulder blade and Japanese writing on my ankle that says "special special special". I got both of these before I started dancing so I would guess that some would consider them odd for a BD'er but oh well....

the biggest whooptadoo reaction i got over mine was from an arab guy who regularly attends bd events.

i think this;

we're american, therefore *weird* anyway, so they are more tolerant of US having them.

yeah they are getting so common i'd like to see a restaurant field a full schedule & NOT have a tattooed bder.

NOW that isn't to say if i got a call for an arab wedding i wouldn't a. direct them to my pix & b. bd try to minimize them.

Doesn't Bahaia have tatoos? She's one of my favorite Egyptian style dancers.

I'm about to find out.

I've had two small inner ankle tatoos and a 3" diameter tattoo just inside my hipbone that is visible by about an inch when I wear a bedlah. I got them all 20+ years ago. at the time I had just started dancing and thought I was getting the larger one in a place that wouldn't show, but you know how beginners tend to wear their belts too high? ;)

as nisima says, back in the day that little bit of tattoo showing caused a furor. at bellygrams, if I didn't cover it up, while I was dancing I'd hear whispers like "psst psst psst tattoo! psst psst psst tattoo!" so I'd cover it with makeup just so people wouldn't be so distracted by it that they couldn't focus on my dancing. I worked for arab audiences a lot back then, and I usually covered it up for them because I got a vibe that it made me look, oh, not quite slutty, but not a look I was wanting to convey.

but the last 10 years, the little tattoo has been a non issue. granted I live in Seattle, but everybody has tattoos. everybody!

but now - I'm in the process of getting a pretty substantial new tattoo that covers my old one and goes up my side from below my hipbone up almost to my armpit. the bottom half of it (up to my waist, the area is about the size my two hands can cover) is half done and the response so far has been positive (it's not all filled in yet so it's still fairly subtle). most people (men and women both) find it sexy. but I think my troupe leader is nervous. we do some gigs that are fairly conservative and I wonder if she might ask me to cover it with a body stocking (which I would be fine with) or leave me out of certain performances (which I would be ok with, too - I started the work knowing it might effect my gigs).

but at the restaurants I work at - I'm curious to see how things turn out.

and zamira - yes, bahaia has some rockin' tattoos that rise up over her hips. I think they're awesome. she did tell me, though, that when she performed for an IAMED show that would be selling on DVD they asked her to wear something that would cover them up...

I have tattoos. I've a large one across my lower back, one behind my shoulder & one on my left upper leg. The only ones I've decided to make an attempt at covering now & again are my armbands (shown in NikkiJ's portrait of me :) ). They're pretty and not huge, but I personally feel like people 'see' or focus on only the tattoos. Not on me, the costume, the dance, just the tattoos and music in the background. Luckily upper arms aren't so hard to cover, just get some sleeves or bands or whatever.

I've only ever had one true negative experience & it involved my armbands & Arabs, Egyptian men to be specific, several years ago. I was dancing at this little ME owned-cafe & the owner called up all his cronies & told them a dancer was coming in. A baby-belly me arrived to a full house of middle aged Arab men .w.: Long story short they knew I didn't know any better & things got rowdy. At one point one of the men was trying to cram dollars in my bra cups while I shoulder shimmied back from him (which he thought great fun & laughed, 'chasing' me into a near backbend) and then fixated on one of my tattooed arms, and proceeded to pantomime licking his fingers and touching the tattoo, as if 'tasting' (the tattoos are grapes). I didn't understand what was being said (in Arabic) at the time, but I got the gist that it was about me, not nice and I was being disrespected. I left shortly thereafter & never went back (though I was asked repeatedly ,r:;).

Most Americans never thought they were permanent, 90% of Western audiences thought they were some sort of jewelry/armbands or painted on for the show ..l;, They are! 24/7/365

My GP is Japanese. Japan still has some major taboos on tattoos (like the fact I had to lie about not having one to get into a health club)...but it is relazing with the younger generation and as a small, foriegn, female I am cut a lot of slack.

I have a poppy on my shoulderblade.

No Japanese person has ever made a negative comments about seeing it when I dance.

I usually dance Turkish Orietal with some Turkish Romani, majority of the restruants I work at are Turkish owned and some of those owners will speak up if I sneak non-turkish music into my set (one is against bellydancers dancing to Turkish pop music) and one even is trying to get dancers to all wear high heels to be more in keeping with Turkish BD style (he backed off when I showed him pictures of how stupid my "hemmed to barefoot" costumes look with heels)...and not a single one has an issue with the tattoo.

Originally Posted by rassicahl

Taletha of Louisville, Kentucky, is a lovely Egyptian dancer (and fellow Bhuzzer) with tattoos. You may want to check out her site.

Taletha, Belly Dancer - Louisville, Kentucky

And lets not foget are beautiful Bhuzer Azhia: ..g.:



Qamar