Entries Tagged 'Beginners' ↓

Cassiopeia has many instructional videos on YouTube for all abilities. This is one of her beginners’ videos aimed at showing some basic moves - in this case hip lifts while pointing your foot in front of you and while moving, plus some arm movement.

You can learn more about Cassiopeia at her website http://bellyrolls.com/index.html and I hope to bring you more of her videos soon.

This is quite a short video on Snake Arms but I wanted to introduce you to someone I found through Twitter (if you use Twitter then follow me at (http://twitter.com/bellydancing). VelvetMoxie on Twitter has a website called The Gypsy Kiss where she has a number of tutorial videos - some showing basic belly dance moves and others showing how to do Tribal makeup and costuming. These videos have also been posted on Youtube so I may feature some more in the future but in the meantime you can head over to her website and take a look at: http://www.thegypsykiss.com/

Here is the video:

Focus on moving each part of the arm in the order described - at first it will seem quite stuttery, but once you have the movement you will be able to create a fluid motion.

In the previous video, Queen Cassie showed how to perform Mayas or Vertical Figure 8s. In this video she gives a clearer view of the legs and hips from different angles (please note, that she has donned shorts to enable a clearer view - for the students’ benefit).

She also shows how to lower these closer to the ground in dancing and useful exercises that will make these easier

Vertical Figure 8s or Mayas are performed by moving the hips up, around and down - first on the left and then on the right. The hips remain facing forward (so that you could perform this movement with your body flat against a wall or lying on the floor, without having to lift your hips).

This video from Queen Cassie is a little dark and the audio is low, but she shows in slow motion how to put the elements of this move together.

In the next video Queen Cassie shows the leg and hip movements for Mayas more clearly.

I love Figure of 8s (or is it Figure 8s or Figure of Eights?). They look so beautiful and flowing.

Here is a video of Meital from 5min.com demonstrating how to perform them. She actually goes beyond the basic Figure8s which is why I have posted it under Intermediate as well.

If you are a beginner, concentrate on the basic move both back to forward and then forward to back. Try to make the mo

Now that you have the correct posture, it’s time to learn some more simple belly dance steps.

Aubre shows you how to do both static and moving hip raises:

If you are new to Belly Dancing it is important to remember to isolate the upper and lower parts of your body. That means that when you are performing a move in the lower part of your body - such as these hip raises - it does not impact on your upper half and vice versa. You can see that Aubre is moving her hips but her torso remains still. Evetually you will be able to perform separate moves at the same time in isolation from each other.

As with many Belly Dance moves you may hear these called different names. In this case they are often called Hip Snaps, or Hip Accents.

It is important to get the correct posture before starting to Belly Dance, and then consciously reviewing it during your dance lessons until it becomes second nature.

Stand with your feet hip width apart, knees soft. Pull in your pelvis, bottom tucked under. Lift the rib cage, shoulders down….and relax!

Sounds too complicated to be relaxing, I know, but it will soon become natural.

Here is Zahira again from Expert Village demonstrating the posture, and then teaching one of the most basic moves of belly dancing - the hip circle:

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I hear this all the time: How do I shimmy like Shakira?

Well, that will take a lot of practice (after all, she has been dancing since she was a child), but learning the basic shimmy is quite simple, and once you start practicing it everyday it will become like second nature.

This video from Kimber on YouTube shows you how to get started with your shimmies and then incorporate shimmies into different moves:

As Kimber shows, you need to start off doing the basic movement quite slowly and then build up speed. As soon as you feel like you have lost the flow of the shimmy, slow it down and speed it up gradually again.

Kimber says you should never lock your knees, and this is excellent advice in all your dancing, as locked knees can often cause injury. If you were to take classes in Egypt you would find some teachers insist on straight legged shimmies (and some dancers find it easier to shimmy this way) but personally I think it is better to avoid unnecessary injury - and shimmies with unlocked knees look a lot more relaxed and effortless anyway!