Dancing with a veil as an accessory, be it a single or double veil routine, gives an amazing element of fluidity to your performance. Veils are usually made of silk, chiffon or georgette, all light and semi transparent materials, the silk veils have a shine to then, so often reflect in the light you are dancing in, adding to its beauty, chiffon and georgette are not so reflective but still hold the air when being performed with.

The veil is held pinched between the index and middle fingers, this helps when performing and also give an seamless appearance from the hand to veil, it let you still utilize the beautiful hand undulations in belly dance and stops you gripping the ends like you are clinging onto your veil for dear life, this might be the case but we don’t want our audience to know this!

When practicing with a veil it is always worth practicing (accidently!) dropping one end at a time, when you do this you should calmly run your fingers from the hand you are still holding to the end that was dropped. The general hand positioning on the veil is to hold it out taut arm to arm with equal drop (if there is any) either end. This will enable you to easily recover your veil if you ever loose an end whilst performing. Also note some veils have small embellishments/embroidery on them, this can catch on costumes, so always practice with you equipment and costume before you perform. Some dancer like to have a heavier edge to one side of their veil, so if completely dropped , or when doing a double veil routine, you at a touch know what is the top and what is the bottom.

Veils come in two shape types, a semi-circle veil, or the more common rectangular veil. Size will vary, but usually for a dancer 5’5” or below you would have 1.5 meters length with a drop of 36”to 45” for a taller dancer you would usually have 2 meters.

The ‘Egyptian’ style of entering with a veil is to drape it behind you on the floor, the style that has come about with more of the ‘Fusion’ styles is to have it tucked (correctly) into your belt, this enable you to do other non-veil moves before hand, and then WOW your audience with pulling out a veil from literally no where!

One of the correct ways of tucking a veil in a belt is to find your correct taut hand position (veil behind your body, so running it across your back) and tuck where you would hold the veil lightly into the sides of your belt, so your fingers can easily retrieve them, then pick up the centre of the top of the veil, and tuck this into the back of your belt, then take the bottom, or mid way down the material either side of the tucked centre back, and tuck that either side of the tucked back, this should stop it dragging on the floor. So when you pull the side out the full veil should follow.

Veil Routines are taught by Belly Dance Elements – your instructor will notify the class a few weeks in advance if a veil routine is planned. This should enable you to have time to find a veil. If you cannot find a veil please notify your instructor and they can see if one is available to borrow for that class.