Dolls and Dance

[tatabatata]

Me, being the Addy sucker that I am, was going to bring her African Dance up, but you beat me to it!!!!
So, in replacement I will suggest Bahian Candomble dance. Not because it is incredibly popular in the US (it ain't) but because the dresses are soooooo pretty! Imagine sea foam in the form of a dress and you've got it! Originally from Brazil it included all-white very ruffly skirts and blouses. Very beautiful!
Any other Latin American folklorical would also be cool.
Ana [img]graemlins/wilted.gif[/img]

[Kathy Henning]

DH and I do Country Western Dancing. I have many denim type outfits for my girls to wear. I bought Molly's western outfit when it first came out. I took one of my dolls to the dance with this outfit on and people tried to buy tickets on an auction for her!

[dornroeschen]

Considering the Flapper Dress only one dance comes to my mind: the Charleston.

Felicity would have danced the minuet and the quadrille at the Governor's ball wearing her beautiful blue dress.

I can see Kirsten wearing her dirndl dancing some traditional Swedish dances 'around the may pole' on midsummer's festival or wearing her 'new American dress' at a barne dance.

Molly wearing her Dude Ranch outfit and any other girl wearing the horse lovers outfit I can see Line dancing or some other American folks dance.


Speaking of the quadrille, in Austria it's still tradition that at most balls there is a midnight quadrille, exactly at that time of the night and it's usually 'slightly' chaotic and lots of fun - not just trying to dance it but also just watching it.

[Lissiefan]

I agree with the Dance 4 Chocolate person. A Lyrical outfit would be REALLY cool. My daughter's 2 years ago was BEAUTIFUL. It was all white with a super-full floor-length skirt that was translucent, and a white leotard. When they would spin the skirts went WAY out. I have some awesome pictures! [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img]

Of course, we all know AG missed the boat on the folklorico thing. The dresses around here are so bright and colorful. But I'd LOVE to see a genuine Spanish flamenco dance outfit! One of the ones with TONS of ruffles around the shoulders in the typical red with white polka-dot materials. Some people call them sevillana dresses. My girls each got one while we were in Spain. Breathtaking! [img]graemlins/star.gif[/img]

[Dancingfewl423]

I think they had what they called a "modern" outfit at one point (it was a blue leotard with little green and blue sleeve things and a green and blue skirt - it was more like a ballet outfit really). I think they should have a modern outfit with those cool shoes... I think they should have jazz sneakers, too!

Yay! I love this topic! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[PrincessRuthie]

Josefina NEEDs a folklorico dance outfit! I know she was too young to dance in the books, but I don't want Marisol to have one because it'll be retired before you know it.

Also, I agree that we need a scottish highland dance outfit!!

[Sakurako]

Gee, doesn't anyone remember the Nutc-rac-ker ballet Sugar Plum f-air-y costume that was released with the brand new AGOTs in 1995? It's been on ebay occasionally. Pink with a tiara, a wand, short very full tutu and pink satin bodice with pearls, as I recall. I had one and foolishly sold it a long time ago.

I suppose the newest Kaya powwow costume would work for the traditional style Indian dance but she really ought to have a shawl folded over her arm and a feathered fan with which to beat the time. From what I've heard, that costume isn't really authentic, either. I would like a traditional style dance costume with a lot of fringe all the way around. This is such an elegant style of dancing, perfectly suited to Kaya's somewhat serious expression. 99% of the beauty of it comes from the swaying of long buckskin fringes as the dancer takes infinitessimally steps (almost dancing in place) in cadence with the drum beat.

I suppose the poodle skirt Halloween costume would work for 1950's rock and roll, but you'd need lots of extra crinolines under it.

And don't forget Molly's Victory tap dancing costume, as well as the Victory sisters tap costume from the AG Revue (and the jitterbug outfit from Circle of Friends, mentioned above).

Laura, I was thinking of making Ruthie a fandango dress when she visits. Any preference for costume colors?
(edited to avoid the censor!)

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ August 18, 2005 12:00 PM: Message edited by: Sakurako ]</font>

[Sakurako]

Oops, I forgot -- the other style of Native American dance that would be gorgeous (I know because I've made some) is the grass dancer costume. I believe grass dancers were the predecessor of the fancy dance that are so popular in competitions now, but you can still see dancers wearing costumes adorned with long loops of yarn to represent the tall grass which had to be stamped down flat to make the dance ground.

I like to use a caftan pattern from Vogue as the basis for my version of a girl's grass dance costume. I use long ribbons of various colors to represent the grass, or sometimes narrow ricrac. I like to tie small bells to the ends of the ribbons to weigh them down enough so they hang straight. The ribbons are attached to the shoulder and the bottom edges of the yoke, then cascade down to the doll's feet. I bead the hemline of the dress or sew the same tiny bells onto it, and make matching boot-style moccasins.

Edited to add: for examples, see photo #2 in my album Collection, 1999. The girls in the second row on the stairs are wearing this kind of dress. The Josefina wearing glasses has a beribboned cape on over her dance dress. #16 in the same album shows more details, plus a good view of how I modified Kaya's jingle dress to include more jingles and extra fringe.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ August 18, 2005 12:14 PM: Message edited by: Sakurako ]</font>

[vgdag94]

Modern! Character!