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Friday, July 31, 2009

Tribal Fusion Bellydance July/Aug Series - Class 5 Notes

Hi there!
We covered a whole new section of the piece yesterday. Essentially, the fundamental movements are:
  • hip twists
  • chest circles
  • hip drops (or hip downs)
  • shimmy

With style, body placement, feet placement, we have the following movements:

1. Basic Egyptian - This is an ATS (American Tribal Style) movement. Starting with the right foot, right hip comes up the same time the ball of the right foot makes contact with the floor. Place the right foot back in place. Following with the left foot, left hip comes up the same time the ball of the left foot makes contact with the floor. Place the left foot down. This movement can be done in place or walking. For the choreography, we do the right hip, wait, left hip, wait; then, right, left, half turn, right, left, and half turn to the front.

2. Two-hip-drops and Chest circle Combination - Facing the left diagonal with right hip to audience, right hip drops twice, followed by a chest circle starting left-front-right-neutral. Use the momentum of the chest circle as it travels from left to right to pivot your body to face the right diagonal. Now with the left hip to audience, left hip drops twice, followed by a chest circle starting right-front-left-neutral. Use the momentum of the chest circle as it travels from right to left to pivot your body back to face the left diagonal. Repeat both sides again.

3. Shimmy with back to the audience - This is exactly how it sounds. We will take 3 counts to face the back; then shimmy for 9 counts. I'm leaving the 'style' of shimmy open to you, whether you want to go for the Egyptian leg shimmy or keep it at the hips (or a combination of both); explore and find your comfortable shimmy spot.

Here are the new sections to the choreography:

1:42 Basic Egyptian

1:48 Arabic Arc (with arm, see last week's notes)

1:55 Basic Egyptian

2:03 Two-hip-drops and Chest circle Combo

2:10 Hip Downs 2,3,3,3 (see last week's notes)

2:17 Take 3 counts to walk back starting left foot, turn over right shoulder. Shimmy for 9 counts. Then pivot on left foot, turn over left shoulder back to face front.

You are all doing great! Keep up the good work!

Lily

http://www.lilybellydance.com/

Friday, July 24, 2009

Tribal Fusion Bellydance July/Aug Series - Class 4 Notes

Great class everyone!

In addition to reviewing the combinations we've covered so far, we also introduced a new "lock" combination...

I'm calling it "The Drawer" combo, starting feet parallel, arms down and forearm up, bent at the elbow. The head slides to the right (just a tiny bit!) on count 1, chest slides to the right on count 2, and hip slides to the right on count 3. Realign effortlessly back to neutral on count 4. Repeat on the left.

You can drill this as is or focus on just the individual slide lock. For example, just the head slide lock to right and left, just the chest slide lock to right and left, and just the hip slide lock to right and left. Remember the key is to make the stop of the action sharp!

Here is the choreography so far:
0:00 Intro "Rakataka" - wait
0:14 Choochoo Hip singles 16 counts.
Pivot Hip Doubles 16 counts, 1/4 turns around.
0:29 Intro "Rakataka" - hip articulations to the rhythm. 2 small hip singles to the right and left.
0:44 Choochoo Hip singles 16 counts.
Pivot Hip Doubles 16 counts, 1/4 turns around.
0:59 Locks: Interior hip squares starting front clockwise 5 accents. Interior chest squares starting front clockwise 5 accents. (Repeat this 4 times. Each time alternate the direction.)
1:13 2,3,3,3: Hip downs in the asterics formation (except the first set with just front and back corner).
Double omi. Emphasize the second omi by bending more at the knees. This combo repeats 4 times facing forward. After the 2nd, arms come up to shoulder height. After the 3rd, arms raise straight up in preparation for the next movement.
1:27 Arabic Arc. 16 counts. Remember to face the left diagonal first and the right arm draws back, down, forward, and up; face center; then face the right diagonal and the left arm draws back, down, forward, and up; face center. The feet are continuously R, L, R, L, etc.
On the last 4 counts, instead of coming back to center, we will turn over the right shoulder as we drop the arms as a transition.
1:34 The Drawer combo. Right side, left side, right side. On the last 4 counts we do a pivot turn on the left foot: step right foot forward on 1, left foot steps in place on 2, right foot steps to the back on 3 (face back), bring right foot to meet the left at center; all the while, the arms drop down and raise up in preparation for the Basic Egyptian!

For those of you interested in performing this, I will be emailing you directly with the details.

Remember the next (and last series for the year) starts August 27th. The dates are: Aug 27, Sept 3, Sept 24, Oct 1, Oct 8, Oct 15.

Class size will be kept small, so please register and pay in advance:
http://www.lilybellydance.com/instruction/index.shtml

Thank you for your enthusiasm!
lily

Friday, July 17, 2009

Tribal Fusion Bellydance July/Aug Series - Class 3 Notes

Hi Ladies,

Thanks for working so hard last night! Here is a recap:

1. Review of pelvic locks and hip singles.
2. Putting together the pelvic locks and hip singles into an interior hip square.
3. Smooth out the internior hip square into an interior hip circle, also known as "omi".
Practice starting front and going in both directions!
4. Hip downs (also known as hip drops). Using the asterics points (right front corner, right side, and right back corner, left front corner, left side, and left back corner) drop the hip at each point.
5. Arabic Arc. Starting with the arabic undulations with weight change right/left foot. On count one, step the right foot diagonally to the left front corner and bend the right knee (level change) as you swing the right arm back down, chest lift here. On count two, weight change to the left foot (both legs straight now) as you pull the arm through front and back up, undulation down here.

Here is the choreography so far:
0:00 Intro "Rakataka" - wait
0:14 Choochoo Hip singles 16 counts. Pivot Hip Doubles 16 counts as you take 1/4 turns around.
0:29 Intro "Rakataka" - hip articulations to the rhythm.
0:44 Choochoo Hip singles 16 counts. Pivot Hip Doubles 16 counts as you take 1/4 turns around.

0:59 Locks: Interior hip squares starting front clockwise 5 accents. Interior chest squares starting front clockwise 5 accents. (Repeat this 4 times. Each time alternate the direction.)
Side note here... I had previously said 6 accents on the hips, but after listening to the music carefully, the bass (low tone) accents is really 5. Sorry!

1:13 2,3,3,3: Hip downs in the asterics formation (except the first set with just front and back corner). Followed by: _breathe_ omi+omi

1:27 Arabic Arc

Listen to the music... it'll tell you what to do!
Good work everyone!
See you next week!
lily

Friday, July 10, 2009

Tribal Fusion Bellydance July/Aug Series - Class 2 Notes

In Class 2, we focused on locks. What are locks? Conceptually, locks are muscle contractions that are held. This is in contrast to pops, which are quick muscle contractions that are released.

We covered:

Hips
1. Pelvic locks front (lower ab contraction)
2. Pelvic locks back (lower back contraction)
3. Pelvic locks forward, center, back, center
4. Pelvic locks forward and back
5. Right hip up
6. Left hip up
7. Alternating right/left hip up
8. Pelvic lock forward, right hip up, pelvic lock back, left hip up (clockwise) - also known as "Internal hip squares"
9. Pelvic lock forward, left hip up, pelvic lock back, right hip up (counterclockwise)
For all of these hip articulations, be sure to keep your weight centered (no shifting weight as you go from one side to the other).

Chest
1. Chest up (upper back contraction)
2. Chest down (upper ab contraction)
3. Chest up, down
4. Right chest tilt up (left oblique contraction)
5. Left chest tilt up (right oblique contraction)
6. Right, left tilt
7. Chest up, right tilt, chest down, left tilt (clockwise) - also known as "Internal Chest Squares".
8. Chest up, left tilt, chest down, right tilt (counterclockwise)

For both the hip and chest movements today, think of the energy as "internal". Your body movements are not moving outward. Instead, direct the energy inward. Additionally, the movements are compact and precise. There is some level of finesse here as you are not throwing your all into it. It's definitely not about how "far" you can go, but gauging where you need to stop the movement and contract the muscle.

We added the Internal hip squares and Internal chest squares to the choreography.

We also modified the Pivot Hip Doubles to so that we do a 1/4 turn on count 4, pivoting on the back leg. The Choo Choos are performed facing forward for 16 counts.

Here is the Rakataka choreography so far...
(wait the initial "Rakataka" drum section)
Choo Choos (front, right hip) - 16 counts
Pivot Hip Doubles (1/4 turns to the left, right hip) - 16 counts
[Rakataka] Fast hip singles (articulating rhythm) - 16 counts
Choo Choos (front, left hip) - 16 counts
Pivot Hip Doubles (1/4 turns to the right, left hip) - 16 counts
Internal hip squares (6 counts) + Internal chest squares (5 counts) - Repeat 4 times


Hope this helps!
See you next Thursday!
Lily

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Finesse

I have expressed this before in workshops I have taught, but I think this quote is much more eloquent:

You are not learning how to do steps. You are learning about control and discipline; both the discipline of force and learning to be focused and to concentrate. I look at it as a wonderfully sensitizing process, because to get it right means that you are paying tremendous attention to detail and to a particular physicality. Your awareness of where you are in space is a tremendous asset. (Harkarvy in Hunt, 1992, pp. 54-55)

This quote is from the book "Psychology of Dance".

The discipline of force... think about this one. An analogy I like to make is "driving a car". When you accelerate, you don't just push the gas pedal all the way down. You push the gas pedal just enough to get the car going; you guage how much acceleration you need. When you need a faster acceleration, you push the gas pedal down more. But during the course of a drive, you have the gas pedal down in varying degrees and there are stops. This is the same thing in the muscular aspect of dance. You use your muscles in varying degrees and there is a time to relax those muscles too.

Lily
www.LilyBellydance.com

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

2-Hour Bellydance workshop this Saturday, July 11th


Bring a friend or two... and get into the evening show for free!
Email info@sabayabellydance.com to reserve your spot!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Tribal Fusion Bellydance July/Aug Series - Class 1 Notes

Welcome! Summer is hot, and so is this choreography! It's fast, so we will be drilling A LOT!



Here are the movements covered in this first class of the drum solo series:

1. Hip Singles - start slow, then speed up. Faster speeds mean smaller movement in the hip. Starting on the right hip up on the downbeat, then left hip up. Practice with weight on one leg (and the other leg too). Practice switching weight from right leg to left leg.



2. Hip bumps - The right hip goes up-down on the beat. Left foot flat, and right foot on the ball in front of the left. Shuffle the back foot to travel. The right foot remains on the ball the entire time. Left arm straight up, right arm straight out in front with elbow bent. Torso is turned slightly to where the right hip is facing front.



3. Pivot Bump Doubles - The right hip goes up twice to the front, then up twice to the back. Right arm up, left arm forward when right hip is front, right arm forward and left arm up when hip goes back. Torso is turned slightly to where the right hip is facing front.



The name of the music is called "Rakataka" from Hossam Ramzy's album Sabla Tolo.



Happy 4th of July!

Lily

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Sabaya Bellydance 101 workshop on July 11, 2009

Hi Ladies,

Sabaya is offering a 2-hour bellydance workshop... 4 teachers and 30 minutes on each topic...
isolations, tribal basics, egyptian stylization, and shimmies. To reserve your spot, email info@sabayabellydance.com. See you there!

http://sabayabellydance.blogspot.com/2009/07/bellydance-workshop-wsabaya-july-11th.html

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