The Melaya Luff - a black modesty wrap - was once just an article of woman's clothing worn in urban areas of Egypt from the 30s through the 60s. The costume includes shib-shib shoes, ankle bracelets, face veil, and the small headscarf with pompoms or other decoration.

Mahmoud Reda used the Melaya as a dance prop in the 60s in a production and since then, it's grown into a popular character dance.There are several Melaya characters. The dance is a fun dance because a culturally knowledgeable audience knows that the dance is comedic and the dancer has a lot of freedom - thus, normal boundaries can be pushed. Common character that we see wears bright print dresses and shib-shib shoes with decoration. Dress is too tight (but not too short) and constantly tugged at. One character wears a galabia for a more baladi look for a strong woman.

Music recommendations (per Sahra Kent) are as follows: CD - Music for Egyptian Dance has the song "Melaya Luff" which tells the story of a young woman shopping in the market - shopping for a husband not a boyfriend & a man asks for her and she defends her honor until he asks her to come to his family. Other good music is happy music from the 1930-50s such as Abdel Halim Hafez's "Ala Hisby" (high class) or songs by Ahmed Adawia (working class, soulful) or for a modern twist, Hakim.