Autumn term - week 7

I hope you all had a good half term. My holiday in France was very stormy, windy, rainy... But it was still good to have some time away with my sisters!

Tonight was really about consolidation, making sure that what we did before the half term break is still there in our memory! We recapped the hip drop with release/kick. Remember, the key with this is to be really strong on the standing leg, and not put any body weight into the dropping/releasing/kicking leg. As soon as you even up your standing weight, your body won't want to do the little release/kick, because it takes you off balance. Also remember to keep the supporting knee soft, and don't pop the supporting hip out.

We also brought in the hip push (a very close relative of the hip drop) and used it to create travelling moves (we're going to need them in the choreography soon).

This covers the basic hip push and the on-the-spot twisting version. The Travelling versions are in the video below:

We also did some abdominal work - the usual pull in & release, but varying the speeds. Quick pull in, slow release, or slow pull in, quick release. 

• Use a slowish count of 4.
• Count 1, pull in the abs quickly
• Count 234, relax the abs slowly and smoothly
• Or vice versa
• Count 123, pull in the abs slowly and smoothly
• Count 4, relax the abs quickly to let them pop back out.

We also recapped the Akteb Aleik choreography Introduction, and added Verse 1 to our routine. I remembered to take both phones (one to film, one to play the music) so here's the dance to date, so you can practise it:

And in Music Corner... El3ab Yalla, by Oka & Ortega

I found the lyrics, to make sure I'd explained it right to you, and thankfully I did!

If you want to check out the words, they are here.

Autumn Term Week 3

Tonight we worked on some new material, the Forward Back stepping pattern (aka box step, aka Pas de Bourrée). This can be a bit tricky to "get", but you just have to remember it's not a walking forwards step, it's a staying on the spot step, it's a case of balancing the forwards & the back.

For the more experienced students, we used the Forward Back step with a range of accents, to give it a bit of variety.

We also recapped the Hip Hits, and shimmies. 

We also added a heel lift to our Figure 8,

==================

I was also trying to gauge opinions on my choice of music for the class choreography. I'm hoping you all like Ma Tigi Henna, by Nancy Ajram (Lebanese, but she sings Egyptian style!)

But then you voted for my second choice of music, Akteb Aleik by Fadel Shaker:

For the Shimmy practice I used a drum solo called El Tablaa from a very old cd, called Delta Festival Vol II. I've done a bit of a Youtube search, and I can't find it. I'll keep looking...

I found a couple of tracks from the cd, but not El Tablaa. This one, Adomma we Tekka, is good:

The account I found that track on, TheBellydanceVideos is a goldmine of old school bellydance music and videos. It's definitely worth having a look at her videos.

The tabla drummer on is Khamis Henkish, one of a family of excellent drummers. There's a playlist of one of his cassettes here. Sorry, I don't read enough Arabic to tell you anything more than what's on the track titles.

==================

Home Practice -
For the new students, work on EITHER the Forward Back step, OR the Figure 8 with heel lift.
If you're one of the more experienced students, work on Vertical Figure 8s (especially on trying to work out the difference between the Up & In 8s and the Up & Out 8s)

My Warm Up Music

 I had a request for sharing my warm up music, so here's the info...

I have a standard set of three pieces of music, that I use all the time. It helps me to judge my timing, it creates a sense of familiarity and comfort, it helps everyone get into their dance zone. It's the music that I use for the basic Mobilisation part of the warm up.

The first piece is Caravane, by Radar and Christophe Goze
Spotify link 

The second piece is Marco Polo by Loreena McKennitt
Spotify link

The third warm up song is Desert Dancer by Nickodemus (feat. Andrea Monteiro)
This one is quite hard to find - this is a remixed version that comes up in searches, but I'm afraid I haven't been able to find an online version of the mix that I use in my warm ups.
Spotify link

After the Mobilisation part of the warm up, I go on to the dance warm up, which is about pulse-raising and practising basic technique and hopefully revisiting moves that were covered in the previous week(s). That music changes every week, depending on my mood and maybe on the musical styling I want to focus on in that lesson. 

If I'm using music that you like, and want to know what it is, just ask! C is always asking me about music, and I can usually find it in Spotify on her phone at the end of the class, and if I can't find it immediately (usually because it's a song in Arabic, and I need to use a bit more searching, copying and pasting than I can easily do on someone else's phone!), I can email the details later.