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Fabulous Full Figures, Part 1: Leyla Lanty

© Shira

One of the wonderful things about belly dancing is that it's an exercise form that works for bodies of all shapes and sizes. Some workouts are fine if you're already well-toned and fit, but can lead to injury for those of us who want to get into shape but aren't there yet. Aerobic dance and jogging can put stress on the knee and ankle joints. Ballet is impossible for women with "mature" figures. In contrast, belly dancing provides an exercise starting point suitable for even the most challenging bodies.

Many women with baroque bodies have contacted me to ask whether there are any costume options out there suitable for their voluptuous figures. They hesitate to show as much skin as their slimmer sisters, yet they would like to participate in the many benefits this dance form can offer.

In the "Fabulous Full Figures" series of articles, I'll feature photo galleries of graceful, talented dancers with abundant curves who have found flattering fashions for their full-figured physiques. I approached individuals whose sense of style has impressed me, and invited them to submit photos of themselves to provide inspiration to others with similar body types. The only guideline I gave them was to select photos of themselves wearing costumes that they believed looked great on them with their body types.

In this article, Part 1, I've chosen to showcase Leyla Lanty who dances in the San Francisco, California area.

A Colorful Baladi Dress

In this first photo below, Leyla is dancing in a black baladi dress with vertical stripes of multicolor metallic threads and gold sequins and beads and long, voluminous triangular sleeves. Photo by Marcia Morris Conklin, one of Leyla's dear friends.

This costume is a baladi dress, so named because of its association with folk dances of the country people. When used as an adjective in Arabic, "baladi" can be translated as "country" or "of the folk".

Leyla wears it when she's going to dance in the Egyptian folkloric style of people who live in the southern part of Egypt around Luxor known as "The Sa-id". The costume is similar to one type of everyday woman's dress, but adapted for the stage with diaphanous fabric, a lower neckline, open seams on the sides of the skirt and considerably more embellishment.

Here's how Leyla describes this costume:

In 1994, in Cairo, Egypt, this costume caught my eye and then almost jumped off the rack onto my body. I bought it from its designer, Mahmoud Abd el Ghaffar, at his atelier El Wikalah in the old market area of the city known as Khan el Khalili.