Thread: Student recital costumes?

What do you guys have your students wear for recitals/haflas? Thus far, I've had them wear a simple black pants/top outfit of their choosing with a colorful hip scarf. It works fine, but I feel like I'm in a rut and I'd like something a little more special for our year-end student show at the end of June. They're doing a fun pop choreography. Any ideas for cute yet inexpensive and easy costuming?

My student will sometimes do skirt/shirt combos from missbellydance.com. This year, our opening dance used these costumes and they looked great! Belly Dance Costumes | Harem Pants | Belly Dance Hip Scarf

As a teacher, you can get a wholesale discount from them which makes everything very affordable.

i've had
* all white
* choose between all red and all blue (and they went from ten dollar sweatpants to full blown 400€ bella"s, but if the colours are close enough and the group big, it works)
*anything from sharifwear or lrose in bulk
* double layer chiffon skirt in a BRIGHT colour with a black top, jangly hipscarf
* i sometimes buy all the same tops in the sales (in a regular shop), we've done this with black haltertops and have used them for years, and with funky gypsy style multicolour tops
* tube skirts in velvet. (very easy to make i've been told)
*colourfull harem pants with colourfull tops

in general finding students that are willing to help make stuff is usefull

and also, colour please!!!! all this black stuff :-(

I used to do the black/bright color thing for student performances, but we recently got the minya top and skirt set from dahlal and they'll be using that now with their own hip scarves. They had a choice of blue, purple or fuschia since all of them seemed to gravitate to those colors anyway. :)

If possible, I think it makes sense to invest in components instead of costumes. If you go with separates as opposed to whole outfits, you have more flexibility for future events. It's great when a troupe can afford specific costumes for each performance, but most people don't have that kind of money to spend, especially at the low student level. If you work toward everyone having a certain style of pants or non-sheer skirt, tie top or choli, hip scarf, etc., then you can vary the look down the road by simply having everybody change out a single component. Personally, I don't like when a student troupe has too much costuming flexibility and the overall effect turns into a sloppy grab bag, instead of everyone riffing on a common theme.

I used to dance with a group that made caftans out of three-yard Lurex veils. (Fold in half, cut a head hole, sew halfway up the sides, and cinch with a hip scarf.) With everyone wearing the same outer layer, it loosened the requirement on everyone needing exactly the same underneath tops and bottoms. It also avoided the conflict between the students who insisted on going bare stomach and the ones who wanted stomach covers, because the veil muted the effect of both.

so long as my troupe stays sort of small, I let them borrow my chiffon circle skirts. Then we bought black choli tops and black hip scarfs for uniformity.

I really wanted to stay away from black, but I also didn't want too much of an overwhelming rainbow effect.

They are mostly broke university students so I don't want to break their banks!

Great ideas here!

In Shabnam's Ooh La La troupe, we usually did L*Rose sets and then made our own bras and belts. It did help that we had some sewers in the group to help the ones who couldn't.

Oh, great ideas!! Tourbeau, I like the idea of investing in components. I know some of them have tie tops already, and that's not a huge investment - I have about 4 I could lend out if the others bought their own. I don't want to require a huge cash outlay. I'll poll then on Saturday and see how much effort/skill/cash they want to spend.

*raises hand*

A teacher of the black-pants-and top-with-colorful-hip-scarf brigade here.

I know, it's kinda boring :Ayawn: but it works.

I had a small group at one time that was willing to spend a bit of money (around $120) on matching L*Rose long-sleeve tops and straight one-slit skirts. To jazz them up a bit, I made fringe for everybody's skirt; we also trimmed out the hems of the sleeves. Everybody wore a body stocking. We all looked neat and pulled together.

I like the idea of "components" that can be interchanged, as they certainly lend themselves to greater versatility.

Hmmmmm . . . I made a purchase last year that might work for your group, AnjaDance, that is very simple, sparkley and fun and is meant to take the place of a hip scarf: wiiiiide-width stretch sequin with chainette fringe attached. How wiiiide-width is the stretch sequin? I think mine's at least 8 or 9 inches with chainette fringe that is about the same length. Seems these hip "wraps" were of differing widths and fringe lengths. I think it would be very cute for a pop number.

I want to say I got it from L*Rose, but I can't swear to it; I got it at Cairo Caravan (California) so it wasn't something that I had to order, which is why I'm having trouble remembering the vendor.

Check it out!

Deborah

If it is just them - ie no friends and family - whatever. But as soon as they invite non-dancers I go for a costume. This year I bought fabric wholesale so classes could get a more uniform look. We had a circle skirt workshop where we measured and cut and did the main seams (circle skirts may be old fashioned but they are flattering on the widest range of body types)

Students then made or bought bras and belts to match (no wrap around belts thank you).

Here's a couple of other looks. You can see them in my concert photo montage: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09UomMFxG7M]YouTube - Bedazzled! Jewel Bellydance Concert 2009[/ame]

1. Black jazz pants and coloured top of students' choice and style (but one colour only, no patterns). Then a colourful patterned square of lycra cloth as an overskirt, with a hip scarf on top. The overskirt is a 1m square with hole cut in middle. Non-sewing students could just pin this to pants (hidden under hip scarf). Or sewing students could make a wide waist-band made out of a folded-over rectangle of same cloth. See second photo on youtube.

2. A variation of the basic black: Black pants and singlet top, with coloured chiffon crop top and matching hip scarf. Can also tie matching chiffon veil around hips. My students managed to make or source such tops on ebay/local bellydance suppliers and they looked really pretty in varied pastel hues. See photo 5,

LRose troupe deal. You get a skirt, veil, harem pants, and a half top for $100. Add a hip scarf and you're done.
I never dictate the colors, but I strongly suggest jewel-tones and I tell them why.

After we did that for a while, we added bellbottom jazz pants and half tops with drapey sleeves to our wardrobes so they would have something to change into.

Now we are at real bedlehs. Yay!

I try to help my students build a costume wardrobe, year by year- advanced students know they will be required to purchase a coin bra/belt set when they move up, & expecting that expense a good year in advance of the recital seems to help- I figure a basic coin bra is versatile & can be used for both tribal & classic oriental.
I like going with same style, range of colors, but other local instructors have done the opposite- same color, different styles (usually skirt & choli combos, but there is a lot of room for personalization in that)
the last few years in my student troupe: green circle skirt, matching "Spanish" scarf & veil in floral tones (goldenrod, rose, lilac) with green choli; black/gold sparkly straight, slit skirt with black, fitted tank top & red/yellow/orange coin scarves; red circle skirts with orange, brown & yellow sparkly fitted tunics (which one of the students volunteered to bead for us); different color stretch velvet mermaid skirts with matching sleeves, black hip scarf & black tank top.
when we have students who sew, we did trumpet skirts with matching sleeves (could to an Lrose order for that too) with the coin bras, but could use sleeveless cholis too, one year we had simple beledi dresses made in colors the students already had coin scarves for.

My beginners don't perform & I try to keep intermediate costuming costs in the $60-$80 range
My advanced students, I ask in the fall what they are willing to spend for the spring recital & we try to find something to fit everyone's budget- one of these days we're going to get everyone into a beginning pro costume set. Biggest challenge is finding something for our guy that matches on the glitz level.

Here's a page I put together for my students (I notice one link is broken, need to find a new pic!)

Belly Dance Stuff - Student Costume Ideas for Beginners

Circle skirts, in satin or chiffon, can be had for as little as $25. (Satin is often preferable, as chiffon can be quite transparent and needs to be layered).

When I have a group of very inexperienced students, I will have them wear black tanks and skirts or yoga pants with a colorful hip scarf.

I give them a little more freedom in my intermediate levels. I find students can take more responsibility for costuming themselves after they've been to several haflas and shows. If I give them that freedom too early, they don't know what's appropriate and what isn't. It's too much work to align their vision of a 'bellydance costume' with MY vision. LOL

My repertory group members have full freedom to costume themselves for solos, but for our group numbers wear bra/belt sets with L. Rose mermaid skirts and gauntlets -- same silhouette, different colors and different bra/belt sets -- or Hannan beledi dresses (again, rainbow of colors) and we're about to add circle skirts to our collection.

Have you checked out the dancer designs on the Dahlal website? They have some great, no or minimal sew looks, and you don't necessarily have to get the supplies from them if they are too spendy, but the ideas are very nice!

I use Mode Mystique for simple (and very reasonable!) circle skirt (comes with a veil!) and top. Much under $100 and can give many looks. Their website can go down but he is great at getting all orders through. Nice quality skirts, veils, and tops!

For an informal nursing home gig recently my intermediate students wore the costume of their choice as long as they stuck to our color theme, which was burgundy and black. Everyone wore a burgundy rose in their hair. Each person got to wear what she liked - people lent items to one another - and no one had to spend any money. We looked reasonably pulled together. We don't perform often enough that I feel I can ask my students to spend money on a troupe costume.

When I have danced with student groups at the studio I have been studying at, we genreally do black pants with a coloured hipscarf and a matching top and veil. For me it was black pants, purple hipscarf, lavender top and purple veil. Some groups chose to all have the same colour top / hipscarf. This works because it usually allows everyone to simply reach into their closet.

Some groups ventured a little further away from this model but not too far.

In Jewels slide show, there was a group which had coordinating printed 'skirts' over yoga pants, with solid colour coordinating hipscarves and tops. That is a very sharp look.

{{{HUGS}}}

I've just outfitted my class with one of my students' designer lap-laps, and it's come up so well I thought these could work for others. The lap-laps are colourful designs printed on panels of fabric, and the students are wearing them over their own skirts, then using strips of fabric to cover their bras. It's a good basic idea - have one strong, common piece (in our case, lap-laps) and allow students to build individually around it.

Here's the artists's site, which has lots of pics that give good ideas on how to add your own underskirts, pants, bras, decorations, etc. artfabrics

Here's a vendor's site which accepts purchase in US$ (they're made in Australia): Seventh Veil Belly dance Supplies, though I think the artist may accept purchases direct, too.

Forgive my spruiking, but these are really lovely and have made costuming my class this time round so much easier!

Originally Posted by tahiradancer

In Jewels slide show, there was a group which had coordinating printed 'skirts' over yoga pants, with solid colour coordinating hipscarves and tops. That is a very sharp look.

{{{HUGS}}}

Yeah, I was so pleased with this. One square of fabric with a hole cut in the middle, BYO pants, top and scarf. Freedom for students, so easy and it looked so effective! Wish it always worked that well :-)

I put on 2 student recitals a yr. It's a challenge for me to get a reasonably priced/easy to sew/available costume that flatters the group - and have some variety! {As they progress, they are expected to invest in components}
I am fortunate in that my length in Bellydance has provided me with a large supply of loanables; I sew; and people donate stuff to me from time to time to loan out.
For early levels classes: I rotate mix & match with these concepts - for the pieces, they must always get their own Tops, no tops loaned. I provide links for purchases, simple online patterns, or I sell ones I have made or used ones.
Midriffs always optional covered or not: covered: body suit, panel, or leotard. [In the 80's, student classes around here always did leotard, sash, circle skirt: pretty!]
Bottoms: Same as tops except I have a huge supply of harem pants, straight skirts, and circle skirts for loaning for a very small donation for my decorations and supplies.
Hip sash: coined or decorated/or plain cloth w rayon/chainette fringed : same as bottoms.
Dress or tunic over pants: same as tops.
Combos I rotate from year to year:
1. Velvet top, sash, bottom variations
2. Cloth top, " "
3. Shift dress (basically a long rectangle)with coined or fringed scarf, head band scarf
4. Color schemes: most any top or bottom in a particular color scheme. I've used: black/red w/gold accents; purple/red/black; blues/purples, white, silver.
Some fun variations:
-Harem pants or flare style with a lg. triangular fringed shawl, coin sash over that.
-Handkerchief skirt (sheer is nice) over bottom: basically a square with a hole or slit in center! Also may not need sewing depending on type of fabric
-Confetti foil dot rectangle [doesn't even need to be sewn] tied like sarong over black pants or straight slit skirt, sash over. Makes a sparkly look for stage recitals.
-Drape sheer veil over circle skirt under sash.
-For me, I don't do black pants and black top together, our stage has a black curtain backdrop.
- Jewelry and head treatment can vary a simple costume: Have all wear large silver or gold hoops with a sequin headband [this stuff available dirt cheap in dollar stores, claire's, thrift stores, etc].
As I said, we are happy to help & loan to new students, but after that, like any fairly serious hobby, they are provided info on where to get their own. I am always looking for ideas!
Happy dancing & costuming!

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

I've just outfitted my class with one of my students' designer lap-laps, and it's come up so well I thought these could work for others. The lap-laps are colourful designs printed on panels of fabric, and the students are wearing them over their own skirts, then using strips of fabric to cover their bras. It's a good basic idea - have one strong, common piece (in our case, lap-laps) and allow students to build individually around it.

Here's the artists's site, which has lots of pics that give good ideas on how to add your own underskirts, pants, bras, decorations, etc. artfabrics

Here's a vendor's site which accepts purchase in US$ (they're made in Australia): Seventh Veil Belly dance Supplies, though I think the artist may accept purchases direct, too.

Forgive my spruiking, but these are really lovely and have made costuming my class this time round so much easier!

Gonna check this out! thanx!