Love Donna Flora Raqs!
As I was setting up my own merchandise for the Love Donna Flora! event, the first cart I passed was Bellydance Goddess' display for a saidi dress (pronounced sah-ee-dee.) For a moment I was floored and unsure of what I was seeing. A saidi dress? But that's what it was - or described as. To be honest, it doesn't look anything like a saidi dress, but more like a beledi costume....okay, sorry. I'm running off with my thoughts and probably you have no idea what I am rambling about.
The thing is I almost fainted because I was so excited to see it! The dress is a full-perm template gown with some custom attachments, but throw the name saidi or beledi on it and I can't give my money away fast enough. Many of you know - and some of you don't - that I am a (for now) retired bellydancer in real life. Retired because I developed severe asthma while living in a house that was infested with toxic mold for the past two and a half years (I finally moved recently. What a mess that situation was.) My dance, my troupe, my classes, my weekends away to various intensives fell into life's waiting bin. Dance was my passion for a very long time and not having it in my life while getting the asthma under control (it's getting there) was very disheartening for me.
Most bellydancers specialize in a particular style and I am no different. The folklore styles really called to some ancient place in my soul and I loved performing beledi, saidi, sha'abi, zaar...the list is pretty long, really. Seeing this glamorized version of Eyptian folklore gives me great joy.
That's one of the things I love about Second Life: you can be anything you want to be. This includes being a bellydancer, which you can do at Bellydance Oasis, where you'll find a store dedicated to costuming and many venues to socialize and dance with dance sisters from all over the world. It's a very popular place and I've always enjoyed dancing there when I just wanted to dance but could not in real life.
Credits:
Dress Ensemble: .:BG:. Bellydance Goddess - Saidi Gown New!~Love Donna Flora!
Hair: .:EMO-tions:. - Mystery (Intensive Red style A) New!~Hair Fair 2013
Hands/Feet: SLink
Eyes: IKON - Ascension eyes (Nymph)
Skin: League - Jen (Natural Medium)
Pose: HENMATIONS - Saidi Dance Pack
This is a good example of modern Saidi dance (or raqs assaya.)
The cane this dancer ues is a mockery of the canes men use in the
men's dance. This dance form originates from the nomadic tribes of
upper Egypt. Moves and music are still prominent in sha'abi, sha'abi
being everyone's dance. Pop music is often called sha'abi.
This is me dancing saidi in early 2011
(Yes, I had a foot injury there.)
