Bellydance Basics Class 2 Notes

Ladies,
Thanks for a great second class of the series. Looks like everyone is getting a better hang of it. Hope you feel yourselves improving!

After reviewing the movements from the first class, we added these new movements to our repretoire:

1. Exterior Hip Circle, or hip circle for short. If you're practicing this, warm up with hip slides out to the sides, then sliding the hips forward and back, all while keeping your shoulders squared and head in the same place in space. Remember that your needs are bent and parallel, meaning one knee should not be more or less bent than the other. After warming up, start your hip circle to the front, then right, then back, then left. Keep the path a smooth and rounded shape. Then practice going the other direction.

2. Body Wave. This movement is essentially the exterior movement to the undulations we covered in the first class. Leading with the head, we lean forward, lift our entire torso up, the pull back down.

3. The 5-Count. Step right foot behind left, step left in place, then right-left-right in place like a "cha cha cha" move; Step left foot behind right, step right foot in place, then left-right-left in place like a "cha cha cha".

A variation of this movement is to utilize the "cha cha cha" part to take a 3-step half turn. You can do this on every-other or on every "cha cha cha".


4. The 8-Count. Start with body and toes facing left diagonal. Feet flat, step right, left, right, left, right, left; step on the right ball to do a half turn, step left. Repeat this to get back to facing front.

You can pair this with arms: starting both arms up, gradually lower the arms to shoulder height. Then on count 7 (or when your right foot is on the ball), snap the arms back up.


One of the ways to work on your undulations is to stand in front of a wall with your butt cheeks gently touching the wall.
1. Lift the chest up and you should feel some part of your shoulders or arms touch the wall.
2. Then drop the chest by contracting the upper abs. You should feel the middle of your back touch the wall. Shoulders no longer touching the wall.
3. Then pull the belly button into your spine or your lower abs contract. You should feel your low back touching the wall.
4. Relax back to the starting position.
When practicing, keep the sections separated. Don't be in a hurry to connect everything together. Isolation is tough!

Look forward to seeing you next week!
Lily