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,

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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.

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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)

Autumn term - week 2

I'm going to be using this term to build up your technique repertoire, so there's a lot to work on. I'm going to be teaching the basic moves to the new, less experienced students, and more challenging variations for the more experienced students. My advice to those new to bellydance would be: stick to the basic versions for now. There will be plenty of time to work on more sophisticated variations, when you have the basics firmly in your control.

Tonight we were going over the circles and figure 8s from last week, adding the half circles and the reverse figure 8. I'm afraid I don't have a video for the reverse version. I'll try and film one next week.

We also recapped the Shimmy, and worked on building up that "muscle memory" (it's more nerve memory, but hey!). We're trying to build a smooth, even movement. That means small moves, and keep breathing.

One new move that we used was Abdominal Pull-Ins. This is a really good move to create muscular control, that will help with posture and strong core balance.

The other new move we worked on was the Hip Drop. 

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I would suggest for your home practice you pick one video and use it for practice several times over, to get the move into your body. When you feel you can do the move without using the video, then you can go on to another move.

Welcome to a new year of Bellydance!

I'm delighted to be teaching you bellydance for another year!

For those who are new, thank you for giving this a try. I hope I can make you fall in love with bellydance! 

For those who are coming back, it's lovely to see you again! I hope I can move your skills forward and make you love bellydance even more. 

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Tonight's class is starting with basics. I know the more experienced students can't be there tonight, so I can focus fully on the new starters.

We worked on some foundation moves: Hip Circles, Side to Sides (sometimes I call them Hip Hits), Figure 8s and Shimmy. 

I have set up a YouTube Playlist with practice videos for the techniques we cover in class. For Home Practice you can pick one and watch it through and work with it, several times over. They're only short videos. But work on one thing at a time, to give your body the chance to get used to the move.

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If you want some music to practise to, you could try this song, for more flowing technique (circles, figure 8s):

 

Or this one for more percussive sharp moves: 

 

And the music I used for the Shimmy practice was this one: 

 

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For the more experienced ones, who were not here tonight, here's some inspiration for you - the wonderful Sahar Samara...

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Summer Term - week 11

 Our last session of the term, and the year! I hope to see you again in September.

Tonight we worked on the folkloric style again, using Sticks. Last week was all two-handed holds, but this week, I risked one-handed holds. I wasn't sure how flexible everyone would be in the wrist, but we did some Twirling and Figure 8 stick work, and combined that into an improvised dance, to Amouna Fi Al Said, by Bassem Yazbek:

The main focus for the evening was the Veil work, and putting together a routine for the whole of Windows of the East, remembering it's just a Roadmap, not a choreography. I was drawing the map, but you could find your own way of getting from A to B. The main elements were 

• the Entrance
• Travelling with the Veil
• Dancing on the Spot with the veil as a frame
• a couple of "tricks" as highlights
• Dancing without the Veil, and of course, 
• the dramatic Finale (being aware of the "boom, boom" ending).

I hope you've all enjoyed playing with Silk!

Have a great Summer break, and I hope I'll be seeing you again in September.

Enrolling for the Autumn term

Enrolments are now open for the September term.

The term runs from Thursday 14th September to 7th December. The timing is still the same, 7.00-8.15pm.

Click here to go to the Belly Dance page on the Surrey Adult Learning Website

You can enrol online on that page, or you can phone the Customer Service Team and enrol by phone.

As I've mentioned, this term I'm running this class as "mixed abilities", to encourage some new beginners and boost our numbers. I will make sure the more experienced students are still learning new stuff and being challenged!

Summer Term - week 10

As we're winding down to the end of the term (😢), we're going all out for Props - Veils and Sticks (not together!)

We started with the Veils, and putting together a kind of routine, for the music Windows of the East.

The structure of the music goes:

Introduction, includes a bridge into the main melody

Melody A, twice, but the second one has a big orchestral whoosh at the start

Melody B

Melody A again, the one with the orchestral whoosh

Melody C & Melody D

Melody A, twice, like at the top, the second one with the orchestral whoosh 

Finale, winds up to a very clear finish 

Last week we worked with the first half, this week we were using the second half, from C&D, into A (x2) and the finale. We'll put it all together next week.

We continued with our folkloric technique work, Egyptian Sa'aidi style. We recapped the Heel drops and Horse Steps from last week, and added some Stickwork to go with those moves. We also added the Side Step (sometimes called a duck step), to build a bit more folkloric repertoire.

The main Safety rule with the stick, when you're new to it, is give yourself LOTS OF SPACE. Don't let other people get into your dance space. Try not to let go of the stick, but (and I know this is going to sound contrary) don't hold it too tight.

A bit of background/context for the stick work. Here's a video of men doing Tahtib, a martial art/dance game, which is what Stickwork in dance comes from:

Here's Tito Seif, who is using the sticks (yes, plural) more as a dancer. 

And now to see how the girls dance with a stick - much more playful and feminine, using those basic Sa'aidi moves.

And a duet to show how a masculine style and a feminine style are different, even when doing the same moves.

Summer Term week 9

This week, we started on some more Folkloric (Egyptian Sa'aidi style) dance.

We worked on Horse Steps with and without heel drops. We'll add some stick work next week. 

For the veilwork, we've got plenty of technique under our belts now, so we started working on how we can put a routine together. It's not a choreography, you don't need to remember any particular moves. It's more like a Road Map. The routine is just a journey through the music. We worked on Introductions and building up the drama. Next week, keeping the audience interested, and nailing the finish.

We're using the music, Windows of the East, by Ron Goodwin.

I think the Spotify link is here.

It's a nice short piece, 2½ minutes, so it's not too long.

Here are some inspiration videos...

Solo veil - Maria


Nice routine, well choreographed, but she did a throwaway ending, where I would probably have done it a bit more dramatically!

Group Veil piece - Ensemble Lina


Lovely group choreography, good use of movement vs stillness.

Group Veil piece - Banat al Medina


They’re using the head wrap intro that I have warned you against! They include some Floorwork for interest. They include a good “veil pick up” from the floor, which works well with their dramatic ending. I really like this one!

Summer Term week 8

It's still warm, so we're taking it carefully, drinking plenty of water...

For our Veil work, we worked on how we can discard the veil beautifully (not just scrunching it up and throwing it away). We now have enough of a repertoire to think about putting a routine together (not a choreography, more a sort of road map!) so that's what we'll be working on in the rest of the classes this term.

We *were* going to practise the same exercise as in previous weeks, using a basic move & finding ways to vary it

• changing your arms
• changing which direction you are facing
• changing the speed of the move you're using
• changing your level

And also throwing in a step combination that we've got in our toolbag.

... But ...

It was hot and we were tired so we did some seated ribcage work, basically taking our warm up ribcage exercises and making them a bit smaller and snappier. Then we did a Musical Statues game, which brought out some interesting thoughts on balance and hand positions. 

You can practise the improv exercise, at home. Try using this music, pick a basic move and see how you can adapt it, using the changes above, or by using a variation of your basic move that we've done in class.

Summer Term week 7

Another warm night, so we were taking it easy.

We worked on some "double veil" techniques, but with just a single veil. We practised getting into the Double Veil position, a couple of techniques we can use while we're there, and how to get back out of it again.

We used the same exercise as last week, for finding ways to make a single move look different, and for including one of our combinations, to bring in something different.  

PS, if you're interested in some Double Veil Inspiration, take a look at these clips:

   

Summer Term week 6

Tonight was hot so we were taking things a bit easy.

We started with Combinations, taking it gently. The exercise was to work with a basic move, then every so often throw in one of the combinations (we used the Forward Back with side step, from week 4 & also week 5) for a couple of gos, then go back to the basic move.

We also worked on some Veil Tucks/Drapes:

• Greek style drapery, using the straps of your top to hold the veil. Can be done with the veil in front of you (version 1), or with the veil behind you, and the ends brought round to the front, and tucked into the straps (version 2), or with the veil wrapped from the back to the front and crossed, then tucked in at the straps (version 3).
• Over the Shoulder. Fold the veil over one outstretched arm, tuck the bit next to your neck into the strap of your top (optional, but it gives a bit more certainty).