Warm Up with MissBellydance.com

Warming up before a dance class is extremely important. Especially during these cooler parts of the year. We’d like to remind you to not take chances on your health. Use legwarmers, wear longer warmer workout wear and be sure to wrap up well as you head out in your costumes. We have velvet Thobes with a dynamic print that you can wear over your bedluhs and beladi dresses. You can also wear these great modern thobes with the hood during the day when it’s slighty warmer and the sun is out.

Legwarmers are important as well. Use these in class and keep them on until you’re done. You may even want to wear them when you get back in a cold car after dancing up a sweat. Going back and forth from cold to hot can jar your system. We’re not doctors and this isn’t official medical advice but instead tips that have worked for us over the years.

Let us know how you’re doing in your classes and progress in the art. If you’re headed out to a raqs conference or a show let us know! We happily support our fans and encourage lifelong learning.

Thanks for reading!
-Team MBD

October 19, 2016 0

Autumn Fashion Haul from MissBellydance.com

Autumn is officially upon us! That means really gorgeous costumes and accessories for upcoming gala shows and more. We’re stocked and ready to deliver. Just have a look! You can find all of these in our skirts section.

http://www.missbellydance.com

Expo wear

Fan veils can represent water

Bellydance Evolution’s “Alice” posed in a MBD costume for us. She looks great!

Tell us your favourite costume and why. Post it to our Facebook page and get entered to win a new accessories set from our online shop. We look forward to hearing from you!

-Team MBD

September 26, 2016 0

Dancing, Dining and Diversity

Top Egyptian Star Returns to the City
Last year Sorraiah Saied came into our personal lives and stole our hearts. She is by far one of the most amazing instructors we’ve ever encountered and we are overjoyed at her return to Essence of Bellydance 2016. We hope she continues to be a featured star and sister to this outstanding Raqs Conference. Get the schedule here

class — Classes are comfortable and the crowds are friendly…

We hear so many stars, fans and conference attendees rave about Essence and how they can’t wait to return. We agree. It is one of the top notch stops on the dance calendar that we prepare long in advance to attend. The hotel is incredible with modern condo style luxury suites at phenomenal prices. It’s situated in the heart of a very happening and upbeat city that is diverse and easy to navigate thanks to local transit and car services. Most restaurants close around 2am-3am and really famous southern spots stay open all night with 24/7 menus like The Diner franchise located at pulsepoints around the city and deep into the suburbs. Atlanta is one of the best places to host an event and it is home to our favourite annual dance events.

One of Soraiah’s top pics – Photos by Studio Jaki

Atlanta is also home to our main HQ, MissBellydance.com. For over 13 years we’ve been raqin’ out with fellow Atlantans and keeping our prices low because we make a lot of our costumes ourselves. Come say hi to members of our team at Essence of Bellydance. We’d love to meet you in person. We’ll be doing trivia and other fun things online that weekend. Those who are present will be able to pick up prize packs and discounts on their favourite costumes. So much to look forward to this September. We can’t wait to spend it with Sorraiah Saied, Team Essence and YOU!

Keep it Raqin’
-Team MBD

August 18, 2016 0

Competition Couture from MissBellydance.com

There’s so much going on in dance! In particular, there are opportunities to enter competitions in dance this fall. From coast to coast dancers have the opportunity to make a name for themselves through presenting their best of bellydance and raqs sharqi. Showing off your top skills is best done in a great costume.

MissBellydance.com bedluh’s are custom made to fit all dancers in a variety of sizes, it’s tailor made.

Some competitions require dancers to submit one video where they are wearing regular dance clothes and not a costume. We have understood that this is for judges to see the bare skills at the preliminary level before narrowing it down to the top 10 for competition. We suggest wearing something that still makes you look and feel good like frilly cute things. Be sure to check all of the requirements. You may have to wear something very plain but if you don’t have to then go all out with some awesome casual and cute raqswear.

For men in preliminaries, a great shirt, a vest and or cool harem pants will do you fine. Pair it with a great hipscarf and a comfortable t-shirt. You can raqs ’em and flatter ’em with cute styles and still stay within the rules. We wish everyone the best as they compete this summer and fall!

Hope to see you all at upcoming shows and more!
-Team MBD

August 3, 2016 0

Schooling Your Classes on Skirts

SKC102-2T — Learn more about the Kaleidoscope skirt

There are several types of bellydance skirts. The ones we’ll focus on are long traditional ones used in performance and short ones that are often for fashion. Recently one of our favourite dancers, Aziza Nawal wore this skirt during the Atlanta Fusion Bellydance Show. It was incredible. She matched it with a lovely red wrap top and her students followed suit in gorgeous combinations, many in MBD.

It may be common sense to some but for new people to the art it’s hard to know exactly what types of skirts look best. If you’re doing a solo show, a skirt with a slit in the side is quite dramatic and accentuates your moves as a soloist. In group numbers and to give a cohesive look you’ll want to do long skirts that flow and spin as you all move. The synchronicity of it all is absolutely beautiful.

Short skirts , we suggest, are best used in a variety of art. Modern Dance, some Latin choreography, some parts of Rroma adaptations and the list goes on and on. We want to know where and how you’re wearing your skirts. Send us photos!

Thanks for reading!

Team MBD

May 27, 2016 0

Fashion Updates from MissBellydance.com

CS126a-6T — Beilasi worn by Karma Karmelita of Atlanta

With BDFW2016 under our belts we’re ready to get going on to the next big thing. In the meantime we’re showing you some of the items that were a big hit at the week’s event. That includes spinning skirts, casual lifestyle raqswear and printed ensembles.

Printed skirts are always a hit in this genre of dance. We see that they are being used not only in raqs sharqi/bellydance but in modern dance and modern art as well. These designs tell a story as they swirl with the dancer and float effortlessly across the stage.

If print is not your thing, try this in a variety of other colours including solids.

Next week we explore the cool fabrics that can be found in lifestyle wear from MissBellydance.com. Don’t miss it! Subscribe to our blog.

May 2, 2016 0

Aziza’s Got Performance Skills!

Join Aziza Nawal today at Atlanta Fusion Bellydance during Bellydance Fashion Week as she demystifies becoming a professional Belly Dancer and teaches performance skills. This workshop will discuss musicality, how do engage with a variety of audiences (on stage, restaurant setting, outdoors, etc…), costuming, stage presence and more!

Aziza Nawal has been involved in Oriental Dance (belly dance) for over 15 years. In addition to regular and guest appearances in restaurants and stage shows throughout the U.S., Aziza Nawal was the winner of the Middle Eastern Dance in North America competition in 2002, placed Third at the 2005 Double Crown Competition and finished 3rd Runner-up at the Belly Dancer of the Universe Competition in 2006. She has appeared on WGCL’s “Good Morning Atlanta”, Fox Television’s “30 Seconds to Fame” and recently featured on “Yildiz Yagmuru”, a live variety show filmed in Istanbul, Turkey. Aziza Nawal has always continued to enrich her dance education by pursuing many styles and has proven her diversity by becoming member of Awalim Tribal Dance Company in 2009.

As an instructor, Aziza Nawal has taught ongoing group classes and specialty workshops in the Southeastern United States since 1998. She was a featured instructor and performer at the Annual Mabruk Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and has also taught workshops in Seattle, Washington, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Click Here to learn more about today’s Performance Skills class during Bellydance Fashion Week. Use code BDFW2016 to save 10% on orders this week. Stop by in person and stock up on accessories, costumes and more at http://www.missbellydance.com’s in-house boutique.

#KeepShimmying

-Team MBD

April 21, 2016 0

Spring and Summer Deals of the Week

Stick around all this week and next for Deal of the Week. Get an extra 10% off cool, colourful and creative costumes. You’ll use code DealWeek2016 and choose from 3 costumes that week in the sale. It’ll be awesome, you can even get one for a friend.

As we head on into the breezy days of spring and hot summer nights, dancers will travel to festivals and big events around the globe. These costumes we are offering will be light and comfortable cuts and designs that are easy to roll up into your suitcase and take on the road. We’ll have fashion bags and other carry alls soon that will let the world know you’re a serious dancer and keep your fashion stash on board. We’re excited about the fun summer festivals. Tweet us, post a photo and let us know where you’re going in your MissBellydance.com ensembles, accessories and costumes.

Check out this week’s deals.

Adaasania comes in several colours.

Crystal Casbah is a timeless classic in raqs art.

April 11, 2016 0

BDFW 2016: Designers That Dance & Are Devoted

Another great thing about Bellydance Fashion Week will be our featured designers, Eshta and MissBellyDance.com are actually people who are ensconced with their dance community and customers. Both designers attend events, go to shows and are a part of the dance world. When you buy from them, you can guarantee that they are not doing cookie cutter designs and working based on one body type. They are going the extra mile to provide something you’ll love and can be proud to wear.

Eshta Amar creates stunning, beautiful costumes that do not compare to anything else in the industry. Look closely at her work and see the fabric, intricate details of the skirt and the uniqueness in her work. No other designer is doing what she does. She creates costumes for a variety of dancers, her work is featured on many top talent and loved raissat all around. Her Etsy store is also a testament to her talent. Another awesome attribute is that she isn’t terribly expensive. Imagine, someone working diligently on a costume just for you and you didn’t pay $2,000 for it. That’s a bonus! Check out her work here and engage with her online. We’re excited to have her with us in a few weeks.

MissBellydance.com is looking out for every student and teacher in the world. You want some colourful dance pants, hipscarves and custom made professional wear for troupes? You can come to the team and they’ll get to working on it right away. The CEO, staff and volunteers work really hard to create something that is affordable and looks and feels good to wear. They specialize in plus size and petite. There is also custom sizing available and ultra fast shipping for those last minute needs. With MissBellydance.com you get quick service and people ready to cheer you on as a sponsor and fan of your raqs team.

Meet Eshta and members from MissBellydance’s team this coming month at Bellydance Fashion Week. Join us for the panel discussion which will feature dancers, MBD and others. On the weekend, Eshta will be in town for classes and costume discussion. This will be the meeting of the minds! Register here!

See you soon!

Team MBD

March 22, 2016 0

Bellydance Fashion Week – Why Now?

While the world focuses on New York Fashion Week, we here in Atlanta’s Mideast and African dance community are working hard to bring our community and guests a week of Raqs Couture to remember! Our resident archivist and raqs enthusiast explains.

I was literally visiting the warehouse, surrounded by fabric, sketching designs and couture desires in my head when it hit me that we don’t have a dedicated week for raqs and bellydance fashion. There are so many costume designers out there and so much creativity in our art that goes completely unshowcased. We see a show, the dancer turns around and we see the amazing work that a hard working seamstress did…then it’s over. That needs to change. We need a second look. There are so many people that make raqs art what it is today and often it’s not just the artist but all those involved in the process to get these stars where they are. I want to talk about it all. I’m so happy to see others want to talk about it as well!
-AA

Bellydance Fashion week is designed to highlight the creative side of raqs sharqi (Bellydance) beyond the amazing, skilled performance. It’s a look at how people become successful and what part the visual side of that comes into play…in other words, sometimes the clothes do make the man so to speak. A lovely costume on an amazing dancer is a recipe for success. You can’t have one without the other. We’ll even go further with a look at fans and how they dress up and get ready for shows. This is one industry where everyone wants to look good. Many thanks to Faaridah of Atlanta Fusion Bellydance for leading the organization on this event and Babylon Cafe for their support.

For more information and to register just click here

Coming up: The Bellydance Fashion Panel on Monday April 18th 2016 at Babylon Cafe – What to expect. Subscribe to our blog to keep up with updates on this event and so much more.

Thanks for reading and see you on the runway!
-Team MBD

February 15, 2016 0