Belly Dancing Movement Styles

2008-04-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

So you wanna move like Shakira? By understanding basic moves, your belly dancing will exceed to higher levels by expanding your awareness of how to be creative and expressive with steps and how to apply them to. Although there are thousands of authentic moves, the majority of belly dancing derives from the principle of isolation techniques to become an accomplished belly dancer in all styles. One major motto is to keep whatever body part your moving isolated. Isolation is key to making it look as good as Shakira.

Just a couple of things you should do before dancing:

Do warm up exercises such as stretching before dancing
Know how to stand.Feet should be planted firmly on the floor (make sure they are pointing forward to protect your knees) bare or in shoes that are flat and cover the complete sole of your foot. Feet should be hip width apart, with knees nice and loose. Stand on one leg and make small circles with your feet, then travel up to do circles from your knee and then the whole leg.

Next make some small circles with your hips, as you are doing this, imagine a cord attached to the top of your head holding you upright. Do the circles each way.

Use your stomach muscles to 'pull' or lead your hip movement; the lower back should not have a large arch. Some schools insist on the stomach pulling from the start, in order to train your stomach. Improper posture can cause problems in the lower back it to the right and then the left and do several of these.

Lift and lower your shoulders, do not let them drop, do this several times. Next let your head fall forwards onto your chest, then take it to the left over the left shoulder, then back to the front, then to the right over the right shoulder. Do this several times.

Next still standing with your feet hip width apart - go onto the ball of one foot and raise the same arm in the air close to your head, hold the wrist of that hand with the other and stretch, you should feel a good stretch down that side round the waist area. Do one more on that side, then do two at the other side, repeat two more times each side. Finish this short warm up with a good shake.

SMILE

Below is a few belly dancing moves and terms a dancer should know to obtain proper body form.

POSTURE EXERCISE

Stand, back to the wall, with heels, buttocks and shoulders touching the wall. Your head does not have to touch the wall. Imagine the back of your neck lengthening-think up and forwards as you do this, keep your chin level. Imagine the back of your rib cage widening. Let your heels take about 70% of your weight. Allow your hands to hang lower and lower on your thighs. Take a few quiet breaths and feel a new sensation of balance and relaxation. Now you are ready to walk away from the wall! Your new stance will feel strange at first, but with practice it is possible to acquire a new set of posture reflexes which will discharge stress rather than store it.

HANDS & ARMS

The key is the art of Making lovely movements like a Pharoah arms. Hands should look elegant and graceful moving in circular motions of eight while fingers are spread and curled to suit the person and the music. Find a good pose for your fingers when holding a position: a hip drop can be accompanied by the opposite arm to the dropping hip, being raised close to the head with either the index or little finger raised.Eights using hand, wrist and arm can be done horizontally or vertically as can circles. As everyone moves differently, you will find some movements look better for you than others. do not stiffen up your arms and hands, keep them relaxed at all times and don't make your arms too fussy. Remember 'less is more'. Bring arms in one at a time or together and cross them over your chest. To leave this movement, lower your arms into a circular movement either together or individually. Shoulders should be very loose, so practice raising them up and down alternately, no jerking, then forget your hands and take the movement into your elbows so your elbow and upper arm comes up and out to the side along with the shoulder lift. With practice this is a beautiful flowing movement that can be done on it's own or combined with upwards figures of eight to make a body wave. The movement can be done with the arms coming forward or upwards. The movement can be deep or shallow, the latter.

SNAKE ARMS

Very similar however the lower part of the arm is turned on descent so the arm comes down palm first. You will encounter both versions, so practice them both and be prepared! hand and arm movement are to be graceful with fairly large circles or eights, with the right arm down at thigh level and to the side, then you can raise your arm, pass it under your chin and use it to frame your face. Then take it back under your chin and down ready to start again. When you are proficient at this try the other side, then try both at once, alternating arms.

HIP CIRCLES

As in the warm up, just about all the movements you do will be with your feet hip width apart (forget the fat, remember the bones)Don't worry about the arms just now, we are going to concentrate on the hips, keep in mind that invisible cord holding you upright from your head, this is a simple movement that can be used in many varying ways throughout the dance. Now you are standing with your feet in the correct position, push your hips around in a circle horizontally, your knees should bend as you do this, the movement should be from the ankles upwards. Your upper body should not move any more than necessary. When you have become proficient at going one way then try the other.Hip circles can also be done in the vertical plane. Using the same stance and keeping the upper body as still as possible, make circles by bending the knees and rising. This is not as easy as the horizontal circles. It looks pretty effective by alternating sides when doing them front to back. Both these circular movements should be kept small. Next we are going to do some bigger circles. First using the stance, holding your arms at hip height, swing your arms together forwards and backwards, so they make a circle right round your body, then gradually introduce your hips into a horizontal circle, bigger than we did before, try to make the two movements fit together as one simultaneous move. You can bend into this circle, however don't forget to keep your head up. Next we are going to turn within our own circle. Again the same stance, start by shifting your weight from one foot to the other, slightly lifting the foot as you take the weight off it, as you take the foot off the ground move it forwards to start travelling in a circle, at the same time, make the small horizontal hip circles we did earlier. The circles should both be in the same direction.You can add shimmies and with the larger circles including arm movements, you can eventually add an extra circle while your hands are doing just one circuit of your body. It is all a matter of coordination and not to be rushed into.

KNEE DROP OR BOUNCE

Standing with feet flat on the floor and knees bent slightly - suddenly straighten your knees with a jerk or bounce. This can be done in reverse, start by standing with heels slightly raised and drop suddenly. In both cases let the movement travel upward through your body. This can be useful when you just have an extra beat to fill, or want to add a little extra to the finish of a series of movements.

FRONT BACK STEP

Keeping your left foot in one place and keeping time to the count of 1 & 2 & 1 & 2 & 1 & 2... move the right foot forwards and backwards. Each time you step on the right foot, the left should lift slightly, keeping the timing going. When you are ready, change feet. After a bit of practice, you will be ready to use this as a travelling step, leading with the foot that is going backwards and forwards. You can also move in a circle or use quarter turns to take you in a square. The leading foot is on the outside. Try adding a lift and a wiggle to your step by going onto your toe on the foot you are stepping backwards and forwards with. Advanced dancers can add shimmies giving a wonderful effect.

HIP DROPS

Using the usual stance, keeping the left foot flat on the floor, raise your right foot onto the ball, then push, or lift your right hip - then let it drop. Your feet should still be in the same position. Your knees should not be locked out rigidly, they should remain loose. Several hip drops can be done at one side before changing to the other side. To change feet simply lower the right and raise the left. Hip drops can be done double speed and half speed as well as normal speed. To suit your dancing and interpretation of the music.Advanced dancers can move the hip in a semi circle - doing 3 drops each side. Shimmies can also be added. Hip drops can be done to the back by starting with the leg you are going to drop behind you. The angle of your foot will make a considerable difference to how the movement looks.Try taking your foot a step to the side and then dropping it, bringing it in for the next drop, do doubles and singles, shimmies and straights. You can also try a kicking hip drop, as your hip comes down lift your foot and do a small kick with your foot pointing outwards. Or instead of a kick, just take the leg across in front of the other.

EIGHTS

Standing in the same way as for the hip circles, picture in your mind an eight drawn on the floor going from side to side in line with your hips. Think pivotal point somewhere in the centre of your belly - maybe six inches below your belly button. Take your right hip forwards and round to the side, as you move to the back, your other hip should start to come forwards and round to the back and you will alternate each side into a figure of eight. This movement can be done in reverse, taking the hip back and then round to the front. A bit more effort is required to alternate the hips to obtain a good figure of eight. However the result is well worth the practice.
Hip eights are also done in a vertical way - by using your legs to push your hips out, up, in and down alternately. This can also be done by going up, out, down and in. These are also known as Mayas. Eights are also done with the chest only both in the horizontal and the vertical plane.

CAMELS

Lovely full body movement. Take a small step onto the right foot, push your butt out, then thrust your pelvis forwards and up, then step onto your left foot, again pushing your butt out. Continue moving forwards in this manner, your abdomen should make a fluid front to back circular movement as you proceed. Your tummy should roll as you progress. This movement should be slow and undulating, however it can also be done using smaller faster steps. It can be done to the side, you can cross one leg over the other, you can do a large or small camel on the spot (or several) It can be a camel walk, and advanced dancer can add shimmies. You can do kicking camels, as the butt goes back, your foot does a little kick. And last but not least it can be done backwards just by reversing the movement.

HIP SHIMMIEST

Hip shimmies are easiest to learn. Place feet hip width apart, knee flexed - keeping your body upright, slightly flex and then straighten your knees alternately. Start off slowly and gradually build up your speed. Allow the momentum to travel up into your hips. This should give you a successful hip shimmy or 'shiver' as many dancers like to call them. Another variation is to imagine you are resting your butt on a very small ledge and just move your hips slightly backwards and forwards getting faster and faster as you apply the coordination. It may be easier to do your shimmy in a vertical plane by adopting the usual stance - feet flat on the floor and without actually lifting you feet, let your weight transfer from one heel to the other, speeding up as you get the idea.With both hip and shoulder shimmies it is important to try to separate the top from the bottom. This is known as isolation technique. Some dancers are very good at this - however many dancers including myself never fully master the effect. By isolation I mean - when doing a hip shimmy, the upper body stays relatively still, and when doing a shoulder shimmy the lower bits move as little as possible. I find it helps with the hip shimmy to imagine a clamp on your shoulders and to do something with your hands and arms, also lift the rib cage. Keep these shimmies very short as they are quite impressive.

CHEST AND RIBS

Chest slides or side to side movement. With the usual stance - holding arms loosely at your sides and without tilting your shoulders - lift your rib cage and slide over to the right, then back to the centre and over to the left. After a bit of practice, you can try going twice to each side to give a double hit. This is useful when there is an extra beat to fill usually between chorus and verse, or at the end of a piece of music. You can try two chest drops, followed by a shoulder circle.

TUMMY ROLLS AND FLUTTERS.

Concentrate on the muscles in your belly, pull them in and out and up and round, until you achieve a rolling motion, the roll should be from bottom to top. You can make them large or small, however it is good to do smaller ones to develop a tighter belly.Tummy flutters are small contractions of the belly done fairly fast. Watch your breathing when doing this, you will be concentrating very hard and it is natural to hold your breath. Try to relax.

HEAD SLIDE

As we did with the chest, we are going to do with our heads. Do not twist or tilt, keep facing in absolutely the same direction. Keeping the shoulders as still as possible, stand wedged in a corner if you need to, that will give support to your shoulders as you are learning, don't do it when you are dancing though! Now try to gently slide your head from one side to the other. Do this very slowly, you can also make figure of eights in this manner, both forwards and back and side to side. The head slide look effective when done with your arms above your head and your hands palmed together pointing upwards.

SHOULDER CIRCLES

With your arms limply at your sides - lift the right shoulder up - to the back - down and to the front and so on. With practice your shoulder should move in a small circle. You can also make this movement in the opposite direction. Do try to keep your arms relaxed.

SHOULDER SHIMMIES

By now your shoulders should be pretty loose - try pushing one forwards and back, then the other, gradually getting faster and faster, until it becomes a shake, shimmy or as many dancers prefer to call it a shoulder shiver.Try to imagine a clamp on your lower parts keeping you fairly still. It will help to lift your rib cage when doing this movement. This is called isolation. When doing this, relax your arms and shoulders, it is impossible to do with stiff arms.

HIP SLIDES, BUMPS, TWISTS AND SWERVES.

As we have previously covered head and chest slides, it should not come as a shock that there are also hip slides. Take up your stance and remembering that invisible cord holding you upright, gently slide your right hip to the right, then back to the centre and over to the left. Try to keep it as smooth as possible.Same stance - imagine a wall two inches from your hips on each side, try to bump the wall with your right hip and then your left, practice this awhile, then try to do two each side. This can also be done up and down. To do a similar movement to the front would appear diagonally or with a twist, that is exactly what it is a hip twist. You can step on this and it becomes a hip swerve. Don't let your arms move in unison with your shoulders, keep your hands relaxed and open.

PELVIC TILTSI

Take up your usual stance - push out your butt, concentrating the movement into the pubis - next bring the lower part of the pelvis sharply forwards and up, then back again. The emphasis is on the upward thrust, you can also do this with the emphasis on the downwards thrust.

SIDE STEP

The easiest travelling step to learn is the simple side step. It is simply step together, step together and so on. This is just a basis for adding other movements to. You can do small circles, figures of eight (horizontal) camels, and add shimmies etc. etc.

SHUFFLE STEP

This is done diagonally, just step with the right foot flat on the ground and close the left foot up to it. Alternate sides, and do doubles or singles.

LIMPY SIDE WALK

Go onto the ball of your right foot, leaving the left flat on the floor and do the step together routine we have already covered. This gives a nice twist to the movement and look most effective. Basically you are walking like a lame duck

CHOO CHOO

These are small fast forward steps with a hip shimmy

ARABESQUES

Taking normal steps to a one, two and three timing, on three point your foot behind and to the side and repeat. You may like to do just a pair of these or several in sequence. There are many other types of arabesque that you will come across on your journey through the world of belly dance.

EGYPTIAN WALK

I have heard it said that there as many as fourteen Egyptian walks, there could well be more than that, however for our purposes we are going to learn a very simple one that you can add to as you develop your dancing. Start with a hip drop to each side on the spot, getting the movement as fluid as possible. Then as you gain confidence, step forward as you go. You will find your hip drops have changed into a step wiggle type of movement, as you get more into it, it will get better.

PIVOT TURNS

In your normal stance, start to do small hip circles, when you are ready cross the right foot on the ball over the left (if your circles are to the left) and push your self around finishing the movement still doing the hip circles. You will find your butt sticks out as you do this properly. It is a fairly difficult movement for some dancers, so take your time and relax into it.

SPINS

You can do spins in any way you like, however you may like to try, as you move across the floor, turning within two 180% steps. So you are back facing the way you started. You can also just push yourself around on the spot.You are free to find whatever type of spins suit you best. Ballet dancers find to avoid dizziness, if you pick a spot to look at every time you turn, it will help to stop the wobbly feeling. You do get used to it also.

JUMPS

This is something that you may not notice a dancer doing very often, it can be very discreet. Some of may not ever want to do it, regardless this is a way you can use jumps in your dancing. As you are doing a fairly fast walk across the floor, you can suddenly stop, jump and do a small shimmy. Try it sometime. You can also do a small jump barely lifting your feet from the floor to finish a move or series of moves.

ATTITUDE WALK

As a woman learns to dance, her walk changes, or so my husband tells me. She becomes more graceful and conscious of her movements, and her posture improves. Step out onto the ball of your right foot and gently stroke the floor as you lower your foot. Your left arm should be moving forward as you step on the right foot, if you are just doing a straight walk, be careful not to lift your arms above hip height. Lift your head and put some attitude into this. You are a dancer and proud of it. You may like to do some nice hand and arm movements to accompany this walk, or stop occasionally for a circle or a figure of eight, arabesque, whatever. Experiment and let your imagination take hold. You really do have an occasion to

FINGER FLICKS AND FLUTTERS

Finger flicks are done by closing the hand into a fist and very quickly letting go, so the fingers go shooting forwards.Finger flutters, as you do your lovely hand movements, try also with straight fingers to flutter them, you should only need to concentrate on the index and middle fingers and the rest will follow of their own accord. This can add just that little something to what is already a lovely movement.

DROPS

This is a simple drop. As you are moving forward, drop down from your waist, then come up slowly, head and shoulders first. There are in belly dancing some amazing drops, the most famous is the Turkish Drop. I would not recommend any amateur dancers to attempt this. It is a drop to the floor going backwards, with the knees bent, it is done suddenly. When the dancer is down, her legs are bent under her. Not only can this be very dangerous to do, it can also be rather ungainly to recover from. Leave this one to the professionals please.You can try 'dropping' in a figure of eight.