COSTUME HISTORY At her absolute best, a dancer is a visual expression of music and an open vessel of emotion ranging from the dramatic gamut of a deep love lost to the celebration of joyful love found. These signs are clear from the expression in her eyes and the personality of her dance movement. But there is an additional tasteful component of expression that represents a dancer's style: the Costume. Historically, various belly dance styles have their own costume. The most common ones found on stages today are Egyptian, Turkish, American Cabaret and American Tribal.  Classical Egyptian Raks Sharki costumes are typically the most theatrically elaborate with jewels, sequins, and fancy trims. The costumes worn by Egyptian dancers on the silver screen in the 1930's and 1940's consisted of bejeweled bras, belts that had a slight U shape in the back, and flowing chiffon circle skirts. During that era, the navel was covered by fringe or jewels to meet the cinema censorship code. Even today, Egyptian law requires dancers to cover their stomach, and many dancers meet this requirement by wearing a mesh body stocking. Recently, there has been a trend in Egyptian costumes towards minimalism, with vibrant colored lycra replacing traditional chiffon skirts and striking decorations using little or no fringe. Leading the way in these daring costume changes is Dina, an Egyptian dancer well-known for wearing tight lycra costumes.  Turkish costumes differ from Egyptian costumes most significantly by the longer fringe decoration and the V shaped belt. Turkish costumes typically use less rhinestones and jewels than Egyptian costumes. The Turkish dance style is much faster and flamboyant than the graceful and refined Egyptian dance style. With the many leaps, drops and rhythmic accents in Turkish dance, the longer fringe flies! American Cabaret grew in popularity in the 1970's, predominately in California. This style of dance is typified by a lot of veil, zill, and floor work. During this time, Egyptian costumes weren't as easily available in America as they are today through established vendors and the Internet. As a result, dancers often made their own costumes. They looked to posters, paintings, books, and festivals such as Bal Anat for inspiration.  American Tribal costuming stemmed, in part, from a movement away from the glitzy two piece costumes of Egyptian, Turkish, and American Cabaret. In its most basic form, Tribal costuming is typified by elaborate antique silver jewelry from Afghanistan and surrounding countries, face markings, black harem pants worn under a colorful thread skirt or panel and either an Indian choli or coin bra and belt. In its early stages, Tribal dancers wore turbans; the style has since evolved to elaborate hair accessories, including flowers, yarn-locks, and head bands. Egyptian Folkloric costumes are for the more traditional Middle Eastern dances represented by a typical beledi beat and larger, earthy movements. These dances include the Malayalef, Saidi, Kheligi, Gawazi, Falahi, Dubke, and Shamadan to name a few.  Dancers wear costuming such as galabayas, or long caftans, with slits over one or both legs. Sometimes, dancers wear head scarves and occasionally dance with a cane or basket. In Egyptian Folkloric dance, male and female dancers occasionally dance together.