midriff cover mandatory??

[anala]

So I'm trollin youtube again..thanks to Bhuz...not an activity I have engaged in till now. The things you find!! I have been told that midriff covers are mandatory in Egypt these days...yeah right! How does this escape the morality police...and to think I was raggin on "Bordello Belly" just the other day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXmZx_xTl0E

[reyhan]

You are right, the midriff cover is still mandatory in Egypt, however, it is not enforced in all places. Strictly watched are the night clubs, the clubs in the 5 stars hotels are able to skip it - and certainly the big stars are able to pay eventual fines without problems.

[Azhia]

me loves that costume!

i think one can skirt it by also wearing the belly chain? that "technically" covers the midriff?

[khalilaNZ]

omigod. she must be glued into that bra. gobsmackingly amazing. my old girls would fall outa there like beer foam over a glass....

[*Shira*]

A couple of thoughts...

It's possible this video wasn't made in Egypt. It may have been made somewhere else, such as Lebanon, that doesn't have such laws.

The belly chain is NOT considered a sufficient replacement for the net.

The laws apply to performances that are open to the public. Dancers have more leeway when performing at private parties.

A dancer who is rich enough and powerful enough, with the right family connections, can use "influence" to get away with stuff that lesser souls could not. Plus, if she's rich enough, there's always bribery...

Dina can certainly get away with stuff that other dancers could not, due to her influential connections.

[tattood1]

to my knowledge dina has never worn one. now to me she used to wear her skirts really high, across the belly button & maybe that sufficed. does anybody wear them anymore over there?? tina

[lizajuk]

Randa doesn't wear one. Sometimes the dancer will have a skirt worn higher or a dress with a cut out and yes, successful and well off and you get away with it! Money talks.

YouTube - 3 Dancers Late Night in Cairo

These gals in my favourite Youtube wouldn't, I'm sure get away with a bare midriff.

[anala]

That costume looks like an embelished bath towel from a Motel 6
Does anybody know the name of that juicy song and the artist?

[Monica]

Originally Posted by tattood1

does anybody wear them anymore over there?? tina

You will not see bare bellies in most of the small clubs or in outdoor festivals or parties. You will probably even see them in 5-star hotels on regular nights. I believe even Randa wears them on her dinner boat shows.

[lizajuk]

Originally Posted by Monica

You will not see bare bellies in most of the small clubs or in outdoor festivals or parties. You will probably even see them in 5-star hotels on regular nights. I believe even Randa wears them on her dinner boat shows.

Not when I saw her in 2002 but it will probably depend on the costume.Then she wore a skirt higher and a derss with a cut out on the belly area..navel well exposed!
I would think if a dancer goes more for a "trad" bedlah she'd get one. the other dancer I saw on a boat then did wear one.

[*Shira*]

Originally Posted by lizajuk

Not when I saw her in 2002 but it will probably depend on the costume.Then she wore a skirt higher and a derss with a cut out on the belly area..navel well exposed!
I would think if a dancer goes more for a "trad" bedlah she'd get one. the other dancer I saw on a boat then did wear one.

I think the rules for "dresses" may be different from the rules for "bedleh". Which is why so many costumes are essentially bedleh but with the bra and belt minimally attached somewhere to make them suit the rules for a "dress".

Maybe we should try to coax Outi into this discussion! She works there, so she'd know!

[leylalanty]

The Dina clip was taken in the Mena House main ballroom, but it looks like a private party, e.g. wedding, anniverisary, or the like. As Shira said, dancers have more leeway at private parties held indoors. If ta party had been at an outdoor place where the general public could see her, Dina would probably have worn a higher waisted skirt with a bit more body coverage and/or her belly chain and paid the fine (if any) later.

[zot buffalo]

I don't mean to hijack this thread but this reminds me how much I just don't get Dina. I've looked at lots of her videos and although she is a beautiful woman, her dancing and especially her costumes leave me cold. Oh well, I never got Michael Jackson, either....

[laura 2]

I asked Tarik Sultan about this when he was giving his lecture about MED in Milwaukee. He concurred that many of the dancers we see without midriff covers are likely wealthy enough to pay the authorities to look the other way.

[anala]

So in the socio economic realm of things...it will be..or is aldeady...a status symbol to be able to dance without a midriff cover. The smaller the costume and the bigger the fine..the more famous (infamous) the dancer. Hmm, it used to be who could drag around the biggest orchestra, yes?

[zumarrad]

I think it's interesting that Egyptian dancers are getting more and more overtly transgressive in the face of increasingly restrictive attitudes towards sexuality. You have the dancers who wear super-scanty costumes that definitely break all laws, and the men, like Tito, who are performing definite BD in the public arena. It almost looks like a red rag to a bull in a way.

When you think about successful *foreign* dancers, they're very conservative - Nour's costumes are extremely modest and Caroline Evanoff, whose costumes are also not very revealing of flesh, was telling us all about the pages and pages of stuff she had to comply with. I guess the top local girls can potentially get away with more because they know the right people, have mad bribery skills, understand the subtleties of doing business in Egypt in the way a foreigner might not be able to negotiate, etc.

[theresa2]

When I was in Cairo about a year ago I didn't see a midriff cover on any of the dancers we saw in the hotel nightclubs or boats. We didn't go to the lesser known places, though.