Thread: 'Fessing up - I LOVE noisy hip scarves!!!

OK, what's with all you non-jingly-musn't-make-noise party poopers?.p:: I'm gonna say it loud and proud - I love to jingle in class! And even better, I just love to hear all my students making a shimmy-shimmy-shimmy noise with all their scarves (in time, of course). Bellydancing's just nowhere near as fun without the sparkles.,r:;

Of course, it's not good form to jingle those noisy scarves while your teacher's talking, and I don't wear my noisiest scarf when I attend workshops, but really, why not have a bit of colour and movement and sound?

So who else is a closet noisy-hip-scarf lover?

Yes ma'am! I love my noisy, semi noisy, and swishy beaded hip scarves. I feel positively naked if I go to class without one:-)

Rebel!

I believe coin belts arent good for class for many reasons.
The first and most serious is that students cant listen to the music, and we are dancing to the music, not the the coin's noise.
Second not all have good coin belts (or can afford them) so during the class all the falling parts create problem with barefoot students.
I have banned coin belts from my Arabic I and II level, some in Basic Arabic still wear them, but they have found now fantastic belts with fringe and they are all happy watching the fringe moving up and down and around lol

Maria Aya..g.:

Maybe we have the music nice and loud because we never have trouble hearing it, also there is only 5 of us in our group and we do chop and change our hip scarves, so not all of us have coins on every week. I also love swishy fringes.

The problem for me really is to find nice scarves without coins!
If I go to Istanbul and buy a load of scarves for one of my teacher friends, I have to bring home coin scarves because there simply is nothing else!
Hm.
A bigger buyer than me should order non-coin scarves from them and tell them that this is all she will ever want to buy... So they might come into fashion again ..g.:

Bead-only scarves are only available in Cairo and I don't intend to go there very soon.

Of course, for myself I have so many, I don't need to buy a new one in the next 30 years or so.... I prefer light weight textile-fringe scarves. Better for travelling.

MEISSOUN

i understand that it makes many students feel more "belly dancer -ish"

however, i find them distracting to the educational process of beginning and intermediate dancers. the stage costumes usually don't make noise so why should they train their ears on a noisy scarf?

and as a migraine sufferer, incessant loud, high pitched noises can actually induce a migraine. its irritating to me on the same level as a baby toy that makes one squeeky sound over and over til you wish it would break!

@ Meissoun: If you go to the Orienta in Frankfurt, go to Amel from "Tanz und Glanz". She has new hip-things completely beads. small and very beautiful. I ordered some this week...

I get my students away from noisy scarves by reminding them that I can tell when they're NOT isolating! If we're working on shoulder shimmies and I hear your hip scarf then I know you don't have it. Amazing how many of them then switch to plain.

On finding non coin scarves: back in the dark ages when I first started, the premade hip belts didn't exist. OMG! How did we dance? We bought shawls! And this is the time to find pretty, sparkly, metallic, fringed and paillette shawls, scarves and evening wraps for fairly cheap at stores like Macys.

Kitty

I own up. I bought a beauty in Bodrum...aw sounds like a song title...red velvet with sparkly bits and awesomely loud rows of gold coins. It's for performance and class when I want to show a hip scarf can do..it's NOT for general class wear and workshops...killjoy yup but my students can wear what they like as long as they can hear me above music and coin .

I like my noisy scarves, I always have, I can tell by the sounds or lack there of if I'm doing it right, I don't always wear them though, when I'm not wearing them I do feel a little naked. Unless it's tribal them I'm fine.

I like them too- once a beginner student gets a hipscarf (and all the cheaper entry-level scarves have coins), she starts to feel the part, she's made a commitment to this dance, to classes.

Even in a big class, full of students with coin scarves, the music is loud enough (and I'm loud enough!) to be heard, and it provides solid aural feedback to the student of what she is doing, and to me of what they are all doing.

And they like them.

However, I go for belts that are less noisy, for myself, just as a personal preference.

Originally Posted by mish_mish

Rebel!

YEAH! Wait, what are we rebelling against? ..g.:

On topic: I like noisy hipscarves. I remember when I first started dancing, how magical everything was, how I felt when I got my first real hip scarf and veil and finger cymbals, and I think that the coin scarves that my students purchase helps them to "feel" like belly dancers, and perhaps helps them commit to practice at home and come to class regularly.

I understand the need to be serious about dance, but I don't want to rob my students of experiences like I had when everything belly dance was new, exciting, and different and I felt like I was transforming myself from "regular me" to "belly dancer me."

I love noisy hipscarves, and most of my students wear them. We have no trouble hearing the music. I love watching a beginner put on a coin hipscarf for the first time and listening to herself jingle. However, knowing how others feel, when I take workshops, I wear a velvet fringed scarf. And I'm glad I learned from Bhuz how annoyed others are by lots of jingling. I guess this thread just shows the amazing diversity of our dance....

I like them too. Almost all of my students come to class in sensible exercise wear, and a jingly hipscarf is one of the things which makes it unlike your average exercise class. I remember how much I loved my first "proper" hipscarf covered in coins, I'm not going to deny them that fun!

Being able to hear when you're not isolating your upper body, or out of time with the music is a useful thing, for them and for me.

Originally Posted by beafarhana

I like them too- once a beginner student gets a hipscarf (and all the cheaper entry-level scarves have coins), she starts to feel the part, she's made a commitment to this dance, to classes.

Even in a big class, full of students with coin scarves, the music is loud enough (and I'm loud enough!) to be heard, and it provides solid aural feedback to the student of what she is doing, and to me of what they are all doing.

And they like them.

However, I go for belts that are less noisy, for myself, just as a personal preference.

all of this, exactly! I couldn't wait to get my first hipscarf when I began taking classes, and put a lot of thought into which one/color/style. Last night, I brought hipscarves for my beginner's class (I just started teaching regular classes at the Jersey Shore, never had time in the Bay Area), and the look on their faces was *priceless*---they all immediately became more confident, more understanding of the movement----they were enjoying things already, but this was icing on the cake.

In workshops, it's another matter, but the gym where I teach has a mega-sound system, and it's not hard to hear me or the music...and they can hear themselves.

Originally Posted by beafarhana

Even in a big class, full of students with coin scarves, the music is loud enough (and I'm loud enough!) to be heard, and it provides solid aural feedback to the student of what she is doing, and to me of what they are all doing.

This reminds me of when I first started taking classes years ago. When I was at home practicing hip movements, I listened to the rhythm jiggling of the coins and beads and assumed that I was executing the movements properly because the hipscarf was making the same jingle patterns in class. It was quite misleading. I wasn't the only one doing that.

However, presently I find my jingles quite intoxicating!..l;,

I can't imagine our teacher not allowing coin scarves in class. That is the reason most people signed up when they heard of the bellydance class and coin scarves. They wanted to INSTANTLY look like a bellydancer. Now I fully believe that the ladies who stick around for several years will loose the excitement of the noise and take the serious road with the shawl or fringe scarf around her hips. Nothing wrong with that at all. Most of us know that with expeirence comes knowledge and it just looks more professional with the coins. But they are FUN, FUN, FUN!!

I have several GORGEOUS non-coin scarves for sale for my students and nobody wants them! They all want the coins. I don't mind them in my classes because it helps them work on isolation, but I've noticed that the more advanced the class, the less coins there are in it. I have several coin scarves that I like to wear, but if I'm teaching a new movement in class, I'm usually in a non-coin scarf just because I tend to walk around the classroom and I don't want to throw off the tempo (I make sure the coin swishes match the music).

I personally don't even need a hipscarf when I practice anymore, but for beginner/intermediate students, I think it's nice.

I allow/sell them in class and even wear one myself while teaching! My music and I are loud enough, and class size small enough that the students have no problem hearing me or the music. I do mention to them that if they go to a workshop, though they should leave the coins home because a) not all teachers feel like I do about them and b) there's a BIG difference between 12 people with hipscarves and 70 people with hipscarves.

I've had a few beginning students who said that they didn't feel like they were moving much at all until they heard their hipcscarf jingle. A lot of my students need to build strength before they can get a really visible shimmy going, and the sound and movement of the coins keeps them from getting discouraged.

Originally Posted by miriamgamal

I have several GORGEOUS non-coin scarves for sale for my students and nobody wants them! They all want the coins. I don't mind them in my classes because it helps them work on isolation, but I've noticed that the more advanced the class, the less coins there are in it. I have several coin scarves that I like to wear, but if I'm teaching a new movement in class, I'm usually in a non-coin scarf just because I tend to walk around the classroom and I don't want to throw off the tempo (I make sure the coin swishes match the music).

Ooh, I'll buy a couple from you!!!

Seriously, I need another hipscarf like a hole in the head. ;)

I love them all. Is that weird? I love the noisy ones, and the non-noisy ones. I too have difficulty finding non-coined scarves...but I love my jingly ones!

Can I threadjack for two seconds?

Does it bug anyone else that everyone and their sister in the general public has a coined hipscarf now?
Seriously...at ren fairs, I see girls in Ren. "wench" garb, with COIN SCARVES around their hips. Um...NO PERIOD! THANKS! ;)

Just last week, I saw a girl using a coin scarf as a bathing suit cover up here at the Bellagio...they're EVERYWHERE!!! I used to think that a coin scarf made me special!!! ;) lol


Ok...back topic.
Noisy is fun. :) I do appreciate those who would prefer non-coined scarves in a workshop setting though..sometimes it can be distracting. I try to wear non-coined scarves in workshops, but sometimes I forget! :)

About 6 months ago I suddenly figured out that part of my issue with BD was that I wasn't having FUN any more. When I first started dancing, we wore big skirts and coined scarves. Long and short. I go to upper level classes and it gets a little sterile. So I wen out and bought myself a long beaded hip scarf! It had added a certain something back into the mix. I still want coins though.

{{{HUGS}}}

Oh man, I've got a super-nice Cat's Paw coin belt that weighs like 25 pounds and I LOVE the sound it makes. (It's not a scarf -- it's a big old mean chain mail thing hung all over with real coins. real savage-like. LOL)

Ruric-Amari, a Louisville dancer, wears one too, and she's said she views hers as an additional musical instrument she wears on her hips.

Sometimes I think you gotta sound like a dancer before you feel like one...

:)

edited to add: I don't wear coin scarves in class or workshops -- just at home. For the reasons mentioned here.

I have to say though 2 students wearing ultra noisy ones were a damn nuisance in a JoY workshop especially the one who came in late and took 10 mins to get bedecked. I would vote for the quieter version or no coins in a workshop, sorry.
Class and hafla...clatter away girls

I never wear one. I abandoned mine when I learned to isolate and accent different muscles in my bum-errr is that too much information!!!!..g.:
My students wear them though- if they want. I used to be a Primary School music teacher,you can't scare me with noise!!

I've never grokked teachers who don't allow them - both of my "primary" teachers INSIST on one! And I love 'em!

I used to love coin scarves. now i can't stand them most of the time. i only seldom wear one. usually i wear no scarf or just a beaded one. i feel like a grown up dancer. it's what we called neos in my sorority. when you're a neophyte you have to wear all of your paraphrenalia: your jacket, key chain, t-shirt scrunchy etc. once you're a prophyte you seldom wear any of it.

Originally Posted by lizajuk

I have to say though 2 students wearing ultra noisy ones were a damn nuisance in a JoY workshop especially the one who came in late and took 10 mins to get bedecked. I would vote for the quieter version or no coins in a workshop, sorry.
Class and hafla...clatter away girls

AMEN!!!! I wouldn't mind noisy hip scarves half so much IF people didn't move when the music stopped. But what generally happens is we dance a bit, the music stops, the teacher tries to explain something but I CAN'T HEAR IT clearly because someone in a darn coin belt is still jingling away somewhere in the room. I have been in workshops where the teacher has told everyone to take off their coin belts because it was simply too distracting.

My teacher actually took off her new hipscarf and set it aside on Monday because it was TOO noisy. It's beautiful, and just plastered with coins (you can barely see the fabric), but we couldn't hear her talk over it.

I don't mind the jinglies in class, but generally I find the stretchy crocheted ones stay in place better. The heavy coin scarves start to orbit my hips.