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TBA
This paper critically investigates the socio-cultural meanings and implications of the hyper-feminine aesthetic of belly dance performance costumes. Specifically, it examines costuming in terms of the constant and complex slippage between belly dancing as symbol of female empowerment on the one hand, and patriarchal figurations of the female body as sexualised spectacle on the other. This paper argues that belly dance costumes function in part, to resist traditional concepts of femininity. The low-slung belt used in belly dance for example, allows the abdomen to sit unrestrained over the waistband rather than be supported or controlled. The costume, which is often heavily beaded with fringing accentuates the movement and becomes itself, part of the performance. Integral to the notion of empowerment is the sense of the female body in motion.
Furthermore, this paper examines the significance of the recent popularisation of belly dance accessories in the general market for young-adult women's fashions. Sequined and coined hip scarfs with bare midriffs are an increasingly familiar sight across both popular culture texts and in the general population. Belly dance is socially constructed as feminine, percussive, 'sexy' and above all, perceived as culturally 'other' to Western norms. In this sense, belly dance and its fashion paraphernalia are commodified and consumed not only as relating to the popular dance style, but also as a marker for the production of culturally 'othered' identity.
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