Spring Term - week 11

Tonight was the last session of the term, I hope I'll be seeing you all again when we come back on 27th April.

This session was a combination of my original plan for this week (Veilwork) and a recap of last week, when the bad traffic made it difficult for everyone to attend (123-EE move).

I use silk veils mostly, because they have a beautiful movement and you can really show off with them (and there's nothing I like better than showing off!). I will add a post later about how you can buy silk veils for bellydance, but PLEASE don't buy anything until we know for sure the course next term will be going ahead. Don't worry - I have plenty of Loaner veils, for you to borrow in class.

Tonight we covered the Golden Rule of Veil Safety, which is:

• Don't tread on your veil (or on anyone else's).
  They are super-slippery, and you could end up falling head over heels.

The next rule is more about your personal comfort, and that's:

• Lift with your Back, not your neck.
  Your back muscles are much stronger, so this will allow you to keep your arms aloft for longer, and it will look much better.

Finally, this is more about Aesthetics, try not to bunch up your hands into fists:

• Keep your hands long
  Hold your veil with a finger weave, or delicately with your thumb and finger.

We did a lot of Walking and Wafting, adding in accents with wrist flicks and hip level wafts. We did some Overhead Flips and some Half-Twirls. 

To be honest, you can probably get away with a 4 minute routine using nothing but these techniques! But next term we'll look at more techniques and tricks, and about how you can put together a more varied routine.

Finally, I recapped the 123-EE technique that I started last week. 

Spring Term - Week 10

Remember we only have one more session left, before the Easter break. If there's anything you want to go over, let me know and I'll plan it in for next week.

I started with some shimmy practice, including an exercise in varying your shimmy to suit your music. I used the start of this piece of music, by Hossam Ramzy:

The point of the exercise was to listen to the rise and fall of the music, and adapt our shimmy intensity accordingly. If the music was high-pitched or quick, the shimmy was smaller and tighter. If it was slower, deeper, then the shimmy was slower and looser. Try it! Nothing fancy, just listening to the music and trying to respond to what you're hearing. This exercise works with the first 3m 25 seconds of the piece, before the other instruments and the beat come in.

By the way, this musical instrument is called an Oud and it's basically a lute. Fun fact - the word "lute" comes from the arabic, el oud. 

This week we did a bit of technique work on Hip Twists - not too much because twists can lead very easily to getting a stitch! We did some twists on the spot, briefly, mainly for practice, and then used them as an accent, with a shimmy or with a walk. Then we used the twist as a travelling movement.

We also worked on a movement combination that I call a 1-2-3-Ee-Ee(!) This isn't a move I use very often in itself, but I really should, because it's nice and swingy. We did this on the spot and travelling.

Edited, at long last, to add the video clips...

I said the videos would be coming, but I was rather late with them, so my apologies about that. Here they are now. First the Hip Twists:

And now the 123-Ee-Ee

Spring Term - Week 9

The lesson observation last week went very well and my manager was very impressed with how you are all progressing and how much you have gained from your studies. Well done, and thank you for shining right when I needed you to shine! 

Tonight we did a bit of recap work on the Camels and Shimmy Layering from last week, as part of the warm up. 

The new technique we covered were Hip Lifts and Shoulder shimmies (not together!)

Hip Lifts are part of the Sharp Family of Moves, but it can be hard, sometimes, to get that sharpness, because they aren't quite as punchy as other Sharp moves. They are closely connected with the Hip Drop (remember when you have to do your prep for the drop by lifting the hip), and also the Hip Push (because it's another way of making the "empty" hip move upwards for the accent). The Hip Lift is more muscular and intense. It's not a move we use very often on its own, but it works really well as a travelling move.

Shoulder shimmies are lovely addition to your upper body repertoire. Remember the movement is rotational, so your shoulders are moving forward and back. Try to keep your shoulders open, by focusing on the backward part of the move. Otherwise you can get quite hunched up. Don't worry about the speed so much - this is a much harder move to speed up than our hip shimmies. Shoulder shimmies are usually used as an embellishment, or an accent in most bellydance, but it is used quite a lot in Saudi (Khaligi) and Iraqi dance.

Spring Term - Week 8

This week, we worked on Shimmy Layering, and we were building on the Abdominal work we did last week, to move towards the Camel (or Undulation).

Layering is essentially where you have two (or even more) things going on at once. So a Shimmy layer is where your basic movement is the shimmy, and you add something to it, in this case, a sideways extension or a body twist. To start with, as with any other shimmy, we can do it nice and slow and easy, so that we can see how the shimmy and the layer work together. Then we can build up speed.

The camel is one of the loveliest bellydance moves (well, *I* think so), and it really is "belly" dancing! The abdominal work with weight shift that we did last week is the base for the camel move, and the key to it is the pelvic roll generated by the combination of the weight shift back and the abdominal pull in & release.

Home practice - try either the Shimmy layers or the Camel.

Spring term - week 7

This week we recapped the Single Sided Circles from the last couple of weeks, including the horizontal versions (circling the "empty" side and the "weighted" side), and the vertical versions (circling forwards/backwards, like wheels on a bicycle, or out to the side, like the hands on a clock). I posted the video for this last week, but here it is again:

The new material we worked on was Arabesque Walks.

We also did some more Abdominal work, focussing on adding a weight shift to the move.

 

Finally, I tried a different Interpretation exercise tonight, on how we use different Arm Styles, to create a different impression, or a different mood.

We used different music, to create showy, dramatic, powerful armwork compared to more playful, cuter, more intimate armwork.

The first music I used (powerful, showy) was Mawood, a modern interpretation of a classic piece of music. I've used a different version of this before. I just love it! I haven't been able to find this version anywhere on Youtube or Spotify, so I uploaded it myself.

Also, here's me dancing to it, a long, long time ago!

For the cuter, more intimate music, I used MesayTara, by Lamis Kan:

 

You can see from her video how she's expressing cute playfulness!

Try dancing to the different pieces of music, and see how they make you feel. 

You might find that one way of dancing feels more comfortable for you, that it suits your personality well. We did end up talking a bit about how there are different feminine archetypes. You might be a Dall'aa (coquette, flirt) or a Ma'alima (boss woman - that's me, by the way!) or a Bent el Balad (countrygirl, young girl) or a Sitt (a lady, wise woman). If you know your dance personality, you can allow it to shine through, and be your authentic self. Or alternatively you can use your acting skills to take on another persona - to be honest, though, that's a bit harder to do!

Spring term - week 6

 Tonight we recapped the Drop-Kick (hip drop with a foot release), and the Single Sided Hip Circles (horizontal). This led onto the Vertical Single Sided Hip Circles.

Here's the Drop Kick video - the drop-kick section is at 5 mins 16 secs, this video starts at that point, but it contains other hip drop work.

And here's the Circles video. Again, I've started it at the Vertical Circles section, 4 mins 15 secs, the horizontal circles are earlier in the video.

We also did some improvisational work, to start thinking about how we can play around with our mood. I'll update this when I'm home after class, to reflect how that went, because a lot of the learning about this side of the dance will be coming from you!

Edited to add...

I said I'd update this. I'll be honest, I was overly ambitious about how far I thought I could take you! I will be a bit less demanding for the rest of the term, and build up your Improv skills more gently!

If you want to try this one at home, the exercise was to try and dance with a different mood in mind. I suggested trying a simple move like circles or figure 8s, or a forward back step, and dancing for a minute or two at a time.
The first time we were dancing with happy thoughts, telling ourselves a nice story about having a lovely day...
The second time we were dancing with slightly sad thoughts, nothing too sad, just maybe a bit wistful or regretful...
Finally we were dancing with proud and powerful thoughts, feeling strong and in control...

You'll probably find that the sad dancing is hard, because it's a more vulnerable state of being, and it can be difficult to open yourself up to those sort of feelings. I think that's where I made it a bit too hard on you!

But if the sad dancing is a bit too much for you, you can find plenty of positive emotions to be thinking about while you dance. You could try dancing with Serenity, with Excitement, with Hope, with Modesty, with Kindness...

Spring term - week 5

Sorry it's a bit late today, everyone.

It's half term next week (no classes next week - see you on 23rd Feb), so as usual I opened the Technique part of the class to Student Requests. Fortunately, the requests turned out to be Hip drops, and that's what I'd already planned to cover. We recapped the basic hip drop (very quickly), and the drop 123-kick that we did last week.

We also went over the hip drop with the twist to the front or back. The key thing to remember with that one is that the twist happens in between the drops, when the hip is lifted up and ready for the drop.

We also worked on Arms & Hands. We started with a basic drill which can work with any hip action:

We used a piece of music that I love. It's called Mawoud, and this version is by a singer called Sherine:

We just used the first part of it, because it's got no rhythm behind it, and it's quite flowing and a bit emotional, so hopefully it's nice for you to use for arms practice.

I wanted this to be a bit more than just Technique, so we did some exercises to think about the energy that we can bring to our hand actions:

They're a bit silly, perhaps, but hopefully they give you some new ways to think about how you use your arms and hands when you're dancing.

Home practice ideas over half term:

Try the Arms Drill video and the Silly Exercises video.

Or keep working on the Choreography to Hayatak Fi Soura.

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:

Taster Workshop - 28th January

In this Taster workshop, we covered some Beginner level technique:

• Circles & half circles
• Figure 8s, plain & reverse
• Hip Hits (aka Side to Sides)
• Forward Back step
• Hip Pushes, including the Step-Push travelling variation
• Hip Shimmy

There are practice videos available for all these moves in this Youtube Playlist.

We used all these techniques in a final improvised dance.

We used a gentle warm up to mobilise our joints at the start, and some stretches at the end of the session to get any muscles that have tightened up back to normal.

If you enjoyed this workshop and would like to continue learning to bellydance, you can join the Beginners classes that run at Guildford Adult Learning Centre, on Thursday evenings. Don't worry, if you've done this workshop, you should be able to catch up fairly easily.

The course details are here, but don't enrol online. Instead, phone the Customer Service Team on 0300 200 1044, as they should be able to reduce the course fees, pro rata, because you've missed the first three sessions.

Spring Term - Week 3

Today we started with a bit of Abdominal work, pulling in using different speeds, and also using the Halfway hold and continue.

Then we practised the Choreography a bit more, consolidating the first half.

The last technique work we did was on Grapevines and Cross Steps. There's a Grapevines video in the playlist already, and here's the Cross Step video.

Home practice suggestion

Work on your Abdominals, use the videos in the playlist, and try to practise in a mirror, so you can check that what you think is happening is actually happening. You can click on the Abdominals tag to the right, in the Labels word cloud. 

Edited to add:

I said I'd put the music video for Ma Tigi Hena up. This is the music we used for the warm up dance and the final Follow Me But With Some Improvising dance. 

The singer is Nancy Ajram. She's Lebanese, but sings in Egyptian Arabic. She's had loads of hits, and her music is very danceable. You could try practising to Ah Wa Noss:

Or Ya Tabtab:

Spring Term - Week 2

Today we worked mainly with Sharp Movements.

We worked on the Step Push. This video goes through the basic Step Push, the Cross Step Push (from 2m20s), and the two new versions, the Twist Step Push (from3m50s) and the Pivoting Step Push (from 6m02s). I didn't include the stepping backwards options, but you can do this yourself very easily with the basic and the cross step versions.  

We also worked on a new member of the Sharp Moves family - the Taq. This is a hip hit that moves vertically upwards, rather than sideways like our usual hip hits. The key to the Taq is that it is powered by straightening your knee, so you need to make sure you have a soft bend to the knees in the first place. Also, remember you are straightening UP, not straightening back. You don't want to wrench your knees, you're going to need them for the rest of your life! The last thing to remember is it's a flat footed move.

This video covers Taqs from 3m39s. I've added the video to the Playlist.

Home Practice - Choreography to Hayatak Fi Soura

Try different ways to learn/practise the routine...

You can try practising the choreography mentally - run through it in your head, note where you struggle to remember what comes next, so you can tell me about it, and we can practise that. It's usually the transitions that are hard to get. I find that once I've started a section, I can usually remember it to the end of that section - the problem is getting into it in the first place, or remembering what the next section is! 

You can walk the routine through, using the choreography notes, without the music, so that you can do it at your own pace.

You can listen to the music here on Spotify or here on Youtube, and make sure you know which section is which, and visualise what you're doing in the different music sections.

You can talk with someone else about the routine. Telling someone something is a really good way of cementing what you know about it. If you have a patient partner, who doesn't mind hearing all about your classes, you can tell them. Or maybe you have a pet you can talk to! 

Still thinking about Auditory learning styles, you can "sing" the routine while you dance it. 

Or you can watch the video, here, and copy along:

Spring Term - Week 1

Welcome to new students! Welcome back to returning students!

This week was a consolidation lesson, just to get us all back into the swing of things after the Christmas break. We worked on:

• Figure 8s, horizontal and vertical
• Hip drops and hip pushes

We also ran through the start of our Choreography to Hayatak fi Soura. This music is in the Youtube Playlist, as well as the video of me doing the routine with my back to the camera/class. There are Choreography Notes for the routine too, if that will help you remember:

Click on this link to bring up the pdf file, or Right-click on the link and select "Save link as ..." to download the document to your device.

Home Practice

The theme that joined all the tech work was making sure we're doing the move that we think we're doing! It's very easy for our bodies to default to a move we know better, when we're trying something new or something we're less familiar with. So the home practice suggestion for this week is to try and build up your "body consciousness" about which move you're doing.

Either practise Figure 8s, or hip drops/pushes. Just one at a time.

Fig 8s - Are they horizontal? If so, are you circling backwards, or circling forwards? Are they vertical? If so, are you circling in towards your middle, or outwards?

Hip Drops/Pushes - Drops? If so, are you pulling the hip up with your side muscles (obliques)? Are you letting the hip drop on the beat? Pushes? If so, are you pushing up on the beat? For both, are you keeping your torso upright?

Practise in a mirror, if possible, so that you can check what you see in front of you is actually what you think you're doing.

Use the videos from the YouTube playlist, to remind you of the moves, and think back to what you remember from the class.

And finally, if you don't have time... do a 30 second burst of just one of these moves, but be clear about which one it is. You can do it while you're brushing your teeth, or while you're waiting for the kettle to boil. You don't need to change into practice gear, or find music to work with. You don't even need to take your shoes off. Just do 30 seconds. If you can do 30 seconds, twice a day, that's 7 minutes over the week. It all adds up!

Edited to add:

The music we used in the Practice session was Badala Zamana by Zohra. Feel free to use it for your own home practice. It's only 3 minutes....

Happy New Year!

Bellydance Beginners classes - Thursdays, 7.00-8.15, starting 12th January

Classes will run weekly from 12th January to 30th March, with a half term week off on 16th February.

We will be developing Technique, with new variations on the moves we know, and some new moves, as well as reinforcing the basics from last term. We will be working on our choreography to Hayatek fi Soura. We will also be starting on some more personal improvisation work, with some exercises to build up your personal dance confidence.

Mini-show

I'm planning on holding a mini-show, just for friends and family, so that we can actually "perform" our  Hayatak dance, and so that you can show what you get up to on a Thursday night! I need to get confirmation from the Guildford centre that it will be ok, but assuming it is, I'm aiming for it to be on Thursday 23rd March, after our class, at 8.30. It would only be short, maybe 20 minutes or thereabouts. It will be very low-key, no pressure. Participation is entirely voluntary, but I hope you'll find it's fun.

Admin

On checking back over last term's blog posts, I found the embedded videos have got all jumbled up. I'm going to go back to try and tidy things up, probably posting some of them as links rather than as embedded videos to stop it happening again. Please bear with me while I'm doing the editing - it might take a bit of time!