Summer term week 3

Sorry everyone, this week has been a bit extra. I wasn't quite as prepared as I would like. So with apologies for the delay, here is the Week 3 post. 

We used the Warm Up dance as a chance to practise the Hip Hit combinations from Week 1 and the Circle combinations from Week 2.

The Veil work started with a bit of a recap of the Walking and Wafting from week 1, and the Twirls from week 2, as it's always good to practise what you know, and reinforce your knowledge and skills. We then moved on to a technique I'm calling the Neck Drape and Angel Wings. It's a way to drape the veil in front of your neck and down behind your shoulders, so that you can get on with some non-veil-related dancing, safe in the knowledge that you can get the veil back into action very easily. Alternatively, while your veil is in the neck drape, you can pick up the edges and swish them around like wings. 

The step combinations today were brought to you by the Hip Drop.

• Using all hip drops
• Hip drop R x 4, then Drop Kick (R) x 2. These can be done swapping sides every time, or every second go, or randomly, it's your choice!
• Double Hip Drops (sometimes called Swings) RR, LL, RR, Drop Kick L. Then LL RR LL, Drop Kick R.
• Drop with a Dip. This is done over a count of 4 rather than 8. Drop RRR, then on 4th beat do a hip drop R with a dip. 
• Using hip drops combined with other moves
• Hip Drop with Single Sided Hip Circle. Hip drop R x 4, then on count 5678, single sided hip circle (horizontal) on R. If the music count is quite slow, you can try doing 2 circles in the 5-8 counts. 

Spring Term - Week 4

Tonight we practised the choreography first, and moved towards the ending, working on the final verse, and the final choruses.

The choreography notes are here. I've tried to set up the file so that anyone with the link can view it and download it, but if you need to ask for permission to see it, I'll try to do that as quickly as possible.

We then went on to Hip Drops and Single Sided Circles as our Technique for the day.
There is a Single Sided Hip Circle in the playlist, which also covers technique that we haven't yet covered (the vertical versions), that we'll come onto in the next couple of weeks.

The Hip Drop video is in the Playlist:

Beginners - Week 3. Now with Bonus Sha'abi music/dance

 This week we used our existing technique:

• Circles, Figure 8s, side hits, hip drops, shimmy

And we covered new technique:

• Hip Drops with the forward or backward body twist.
• Forward Back Step, including the pivoting version, and the seamless changeover of the lead foot.

We used our basic techniques from the previous weeks to do a warm up dance, and the new material in our group dance at the end of the session.

I have updated the Youtube Practice Playlist with the Forward Back Step video - it's another oldie!

HOME PRACTICE

Practise the Hip Drop, trying to make sure it's a drop, the accent is on the Down.

Remember there is a Hip Drop practice video in the Practice Youtube Playlist.

This is also a really good hip drop technique video by an American Bellydance teacher, Sahira (Beginners can ignore her reference to the glutes, but if you're experienced with hip drops, give it a try):

EDITED TO ADD

We used some Sha'abi music for our Group dance at the end of the lesson, and also for the cool down. Sha'abi is Egyptian street music, and it's equivalent to hip hop or grime, in that it's created by young working class people, it's quite subversive (and can sometimes be very lewd /sweary or political, so you need to be careful about songs where you don't know what the lyrics are about) and it started off very much as an underground style but has gained mainstream popularity over the years. 

The music we used for the group dance was El Ab Yalla, by Oka & Ortega:

The music we used in the Cool Down was Dawla by Enba (a bit more chilled):

I've tried to find a couple of clips to show how sha'abi is danced by ordinary people (rather than pro dancers). It's not that easy! Here are some boys dancing. Dancing sha'abi with knives and machetes is a thing. Don't ask me why. It just is.

And to balance things out, here are some girls: