Snippets and Clips - Belly Dance Books on Google Book Search

Hello Gang,

As some of you know, I've been working on my latest book, Period Impressions: Costumes of the Maghreb 500ce - 1500ce - For Middle Eastern Belly Dancers and Musicians. As this book nears completion (I'm in the drawing phase ~ yeah!) I've been checking and double checking my research and conducting a literature review. And wow - what a discovery I've made!

Google Book Search, a feature of Google that I've been using to check some old sources, has quite a few snippets and clips of belly dance books. If you are in the process of building your dance library, you might want to visit Google Book Search and check out samples of excellent books. Below I've included a few links to books that I recommend and include in my "Reading List for Dancers." Take them for a test-drive and enjoy!

~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina

Bellydance by Keti Sharif - This is the first 22 pages of this introduction to Middle Eastern Belly Dance. This portion of the book includes a great introduction to Middle Eastern instruments, and this is definitely one of the better belly dance history books.

Bellydancing for Fitness by Rania Bossonis
While I don't recommend trying to learn belly dance from a book, I started my own career by reading a book. There is something tactile and wonderful about looking at a book, memorizing the poses, reading the hints and tips. While videos are great, and classes even better, a book can hang out next to the bed, be easily pulled from a shelf, and shared with dance sisters away from TVs and computers.

Ancient Egyptian Dances by Irena Lexova'
This is the first 18 or so pages of this classic book that systematically analyzes Egyptian paintings of dancing girls to create a theory of ancient dance. I find this book fun and entertaining, challenging me to consider my own theories.

A Trade Like Any Other by Karin van Nieuwkerk
This is a fantastic book, recommended by many dance scholars as a must-read. In this 16 page sample, you get a sense of the voice, tone and point of view of the author. She presents her theories and methodologies in this introduction, so if you like what you read, you can seek it out and buy it. I have a copy of this one on my shelf!

Women's costume of the Near and Middle East by Jennifer M. Scarce

One of my favorite costume history books, this is essential for any researcher of Middle Eastern costume history. This sample skips all over the book, randomly providing a page here, a section there. Definitely worth looking at in this sample if you are interested in historical reenactments.

The Virtual Costume Exhibition

I love museums... In fact, while I was in graduate school I worked in a museum studies program, and used my education to provide excuses to visit as many museums as I can. My main focus, of course, is costuming; in my pursuit, I have been to London, Rome, Paris, New York and beyond seeking out exhibits.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of textiles, most costume exhibitions do not allow visitors the opportunity to take photos, and few museums have enough cash to create illustrated exhibition guides for sale. However, the web is mighty, large and mostly free, so many museums share their exhibitions with us via the web. Yeah! So periodically I surf the web looking for exhibitions and here is a crop of my recent discoveries.

From Paris to Providence: Online Exhibition of Fashion, Art and the Tirocchi Dressmakers Shop, 1915-1947. This exhibition is focused on one design house and is filled with both images of garements and details of the elaborate beadwork that was part of fashion during this era. Be sure to check out the amazing collection of flapper-style beaded dresses in the Art Deco section - Yum! Right: 1930's handbag from the exhibition.


Gothic - Dark Glamour - Fashion Institute of Technology - I've got friends who embrace the Goth style and integrate it into their costuming and daily wear. I found this exhibition and recommend it whenever someone buys patterns made by the Goth Dance Diva, Tempest. There are so many inspirations throughout this lush exhibition website, but be prepared to really explore, the site itself is a work of art - and just note - turn down the volume on your computer!
Image Left: Dress by Yoshiki Hishinuma from the exhibition.

Chic Chicago - Modern Fashion from 1861-2004. This exhibition is filled with lovely lovely photos of some fantastic garments. Especially look out for the Worth and Pingat gowns. Visit the Website to read about the exhibition, but more importantly, view the Slide Show!

New York City Ballet - Bedecked Bedazzled and Bejeweled: Costume Ornamentation at the New York City Ballet - This is a great exhibition of photographic details of the embroidery, beading and applique work crafted in the costume shops of the ballet. There's an introduction to the exhibition and a flash slideshow with images of their costumes.

Versailles - Fastes de Cour et Ceremonies Royales
Okay - Take a peek at this video of the curators and exhibition designers at work setting up an amazing exhibition of French courtly dress at Versailles. There are some stunning glimpses of the courtly wear as they appeared in the exhibition. This website has some amazing photos of the palace too!

LACMA - Images of Fashion from the court of Louis XIV - Like this amazing mantua on the right. Explore the virtual Exhibition. More information about the Mantua on the right circa 1700. This is an amazing garment, and I had the pleasure of seeing it in person when I was doing research at the Doris Stein research for my undergraduate degree. If you like more modern clothes - Check out: Breaking the Mode: Contemporary Fashion from the Permanent Collection.


Of particular interest to me, as I work on the upcoming Period Impressions book, I found a copy of the illustrated book "Habitus Variarum Orbis Gentium"(Costume of the Various Peoples of the World) by Jean Jacques Boissard 1581. His illustrations are charming and full of detail. Especially of interest to me is plate 46, "North African Women", located at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In this plate, you can really see the shape and hang of the Haik, a rectangular overwrap, a descendent of the Roman Palla that is still being worn in parts of Morocco today.