Bellydance Basics May Series: Class 1

Greetings!

I really enjoyed this first class of this 5-week series. It's the first time that I'm offering a mini intro to tribal fusion style. So thank you for taking it on!

Here's what we covered today:
1. Posture
- Feet are hip socket distance apart or closer
- Knees soft and not locked
- Pelvis neutral
- Chest lifted and neutral
- Shoulders relaxed and elbows back
- head stacked on top
- In proper American Tribal Style (ATS), the elbows are lifted to the height of shoulders. Forearms are perpendicular. Energy from shoulders through the finger tips. Remember, even though the arms and elbows are lifted, the shoulders are relaxed and down.
- Resting position for the arms: hands at hips, top of hand is facing forward, energy remain through out the arms. The arms is soft yet strong. Elbows are pointing directly out to the sides.

2. Movements
The terminology used below is from the American Tribal Style (ATS) movement repertoire by Carolina Nericcio of Fat Chance Belly Dance.

- Taxeem: It's a vertical figure 8 without any horizontal twist at all. Drop the hip down first, then push it out and draw it up using your obliques, before switching to the other side. The movement is based on the natural movement of the hips as you walk.

- Arm Undulations (tribal arms): Arms at classic tribal position, gently push the right hand away and the head tils left, eyes looking to the right hand, left forearm slowly pulls in. Then left hand pushes away towards left side, head tils right, eyes looking to the left hand, right forearm slowly pulls in towards body. Try to keep the height of which your elbow moves at a minimum.

- Torso Rotation: Imagine a heart shape on the floor. Starting center with arms out, upper body leans forward and to the left, round out to the back, then to the right and rounds out leaning forward and to the right, finally pull back to center. Arms remain in classic tribal position, elbows up and pointing out. There is a gentle bend/flex in the arms as your torso moves around.

- Camel Walk - Step with the right foot onto the balls of the feet as you press down with the right hand and raise the left hand overhead. Keeping all your weight on the right foot, bend your right knee and extend the left foot to the side. Right arm goes up and left hand reaches toward extended left foot. Straighten your right leg as you draw the left foot in, and layer an arm undulation over a small torso rotation to bring you back to center. For long lengths of time, manage your arm movement so that the hands flow gradually to their full extension.

The music we are dancing to is called "Naga" by Solace, from the album "Nagari".
You can find this on iTunes, Amazon, or on his website: http://www.empcds.com/solace-nagari.html

Here is what we have so far for the song:

Camel Walk

Torso Rotation (right)

Taxeem and Arm Undulations (slow, then quick)

More details next time!

We'll add more movements to our dance repertoire next week.
Thanks for a fantastic class!
Lily
www.LilyBellydance.com