East Asian Dance at Alanis Gallery in Xaara

Alanis Gallery in Xaara held an East Asian Dance on March 10, 2015. Linda looked ravishing in an Orients Dress by Muneria that I had first seen in Lori Novos' blog, while I wore a Japanese Samurai kimono outfit that I had bought a long time ago, with a katana strapped to my back for any pesky griefers that might dare show up.

Laura Audebarn (Laura Demonista), who hosted and set up the dance, also had quite a lot of themed photos for sale, and interestingly enough, me and Linda unknowingly bought the exact same item! Fortunately, Laura was kind enough to gift us another painting, a beautiful picture of cherry blossoms.

Linda also had pairs of decorative chopsticks adorning her hair, and when I clicked on them, her blonde locks fell loose in long flowing waves. She's a stunner, my girl.

One thing I noticed was that although the event was called an "Asian" dance, most if not all of the other people in the crowd were attired in outfits hailing from China or Japan. That was an interesting observation because it seems to confirm the view that when Americans think about that region of the world, they tend to think about the Chinese or Japanese (or less likely, the Koreans), all of whom are northern peoples with similar cultures and physical traits.

If one looks south though, one will find many other cultures, some of which have traditional outfits that are just as beautiful as the kimonos and qipaos from the north.

For example, Malays in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines have batik clothing and traditional costumes for women such as the kebaya, and traditional outfits that are still heavily used like the barong tagalog for men.

Kebaya

The Thais too have their outfits, as do the Cambodians and Vietnamese. All these southeast-asian groups have their own unique dress and attire.

Barong Tagalog

Hopefully, the next time you think about dressing up for some Asian-themed party, you'll consider some of the less well known national costumes from that part of our world.