Floorwork in Belly Dancing

I think floorwork is my favorite part of belly dancing. Obviously, you have to have the right type of place to perform. I remember watching knee spins and  body waves and finding it the highlight of the whole performance. I think most of the audience will appreciate the classic belly dance moves but what they remember is good isolations and floorwork. I found some great teachers for floorwork is Amira Mar and Delilah. It's a great workout for your quads, back and abs as well! ;)

Belly Coin Rolls

You should definitely try this at home! It wipes you out. :)


Coin Rolls & Flip
Uploaded by zhirou. - Click for more funny videos.

Dance for the Ten

"I have performed for thousands when they found me exotic, the vogue, daring, but I have danced, at any given time, for about ten people. They were the ones that left the theater forever different from the way they were when they came in. All of my life I have danced for those ten." — Ruth St Denis

This is so true. Every show is different, you'll have big wonderfully appreciative crowds and small family parties, or uptight city folk desperate to show how unimpressed they are by the world, but there's always those few who you connect with, who you can make smile and have fun.

To clarify you should not make eye contact with men especially when performing in close quarters such as restaurants, but you definitely should make eye contact with the woman, if you as a performer choose to go into your 'zone' and ignore them they'll reciprocate by ignoring you and the feeling will be mutual aloofness. Not the vision.

If you look like you're having fun, you'll be fun to watch. Find those few people in the audience who want to have fun with you and enjoy the connection.

Thoughts On Weight Loss

I'm not sure if I can attribute my recent weight loss to Belly Dancing alone because I think other factors such as being very happily married and turning 30 may have played a part. Still, I thought it's worth mentioning since I've always been an exercise buff and love running, Tae bo, I did the advanced video for almost 10 years and still think it's the best ab work out and general fitness video around (apart from Insanity Plyometrics if you have good knees) as well as weight training and enjoy going to the gym. I was rather distressed when things got busy and with moving into my new house and setting up that I didn't do any exercise other than my 1-2 shows a week.

I make healthy food choices (low fat milk, lean meat, etc..) but definitely don't diet and I enjoy doritos, tiramisu and coffee shakes once in awhile. I guess when you're older you're just happier tasting something yummy and don't need to consume the entire box. I get full very quickly so like to eat often but can't eat too much at once.

Anyways, I'm happy to say that apart from that, belly dancing has just been wonderful, it gives you a waist line, tones you all over! Those shimmies are fantastic for your legs and butt as well and the toe shimmy is pretty much a graceful football drill. Holding your arms gracefully at shoulder height in many variations gets your arms and shoulders strong and you don't notice you're working them they just don't get tired anymore.

I don't bother weighing myself much as I think the mirror is a far more accurate judge, and how your clothes fit you but I now weigh what I did at the end of my 10 day Master Cleanse Lemonade detox. Which is the only time I've been less than 'that weight' that you seem to never get past. Most ladies know what I'm talking about. I guess the best part is I'm not making any major effort, just dancing my heart out and being sensible. :

A lot of people who don't know me from before don't know I was 'on the meatier side of the scale' and like most curvy people I didn't keep the most telling photos and I alway cropped them artistically so I'll try to find something revealing here for your enjoyment and encouragement. I went through a lot of eating disorders and dieting and it just gave food waaay too much importance. I'm much better off eating when I'm hungry and not worrying about it the rest of the time. That's where the happiness factor comes in, I think when you have other hobbies and interests that keep you busy the love of food stays in it's proper place.

Ta Da!

All that to say, don't give up!

Secrets Of Success

by Despina

What does it take to be a successful belly dancer?

Passion
If you love your dancing and nothing can stop you from doing it, you have the first ingredient right there.

Break Old Habits
Develop these. Do something different today - something that you usually wouldn't do. If you usually listen to Setrak in the car on the way to work, then listen to Mostafa Sax instead. Get to know some music in your collection that you're not very familiar with.

Go The Extra Mile
If you think that practicing twice a week is enough, make sure you practice three times a week. Make that extra effort and it'll pay off. During a show, give it all you've got! Make sure you have eye contact with people all through the show. Looking at the ground or the ceiling or at the wall (it sounds silly, but I've seen it done and, in my less grand moments, have done one or more of the above myself) even for a few seconds breaks your focus. Your focus should be on your audience and when I say eye contact, I mean eye to eye, not eye to forehead or eye to nose. That's the oldest trick in the book--looking just above someone's eyes or just below. And it does give the illusion of eye contact, and your audience won't necessarily pick it up, but it will make a difference to their reaction. Look the audience member straight in the eye and for those few seconds make the show just for them. For those of you who don't believe me, experiment. Try for yourself and you'll see the difference.

Attitude
Everyone has bad days - the difference between those who grow from the challenges and those who give up is attitude. Decide to be positive. Positivity must become part of your mindset. Control your mind: it's the most powerful tool you have after all. There will always be the odd nightmare gig where the audience is full of losers, you don't remember your choreography as well as you wanted to, they've changed the setting of the tables and there isn't enough room for you to comfortably use your veil. I could go on forever!! There are little things that can happen in any given show. Like using a stick in a restaurant and sending a tray flying. (I had no idea the bloody thing was there… and lucky it was empty!… before I realised it was a tray I had whacked, I figured I must have knocked a vital part of the building and the whole restaurant would come crashing down on me any minute. A little unlikely, but in hindsight I believe that's what I hoped had happened: to end the blasted show - it wasn't the only little slip-up of the night). So what did I do? I laughed. As far as I was concerned, it wasn't funny at all - it was a disaster - but I have a rule: even if you don't feel like a trooper, you've got to act like one! It was the first time I'd ever danced at this restaurant, the show had to be good. Stranger than trays flying in the air was the fact that the restaurant called me a couple of days later for another (very successful) show. Phew!

Speak To Other Successful People
If someone is successful without hang-ups they will most definitely be happy to impart their knowledge to you. Not just in belly dance, but in any field. Study what they do, read books or articles that they've written--they're at the stage you want to be. Find out what got them there! This doesn't mean copy them, it merely means: pick their brains and then make your own plan of success.

Goals
Make a plan! If you fail to plan, you plan to fail as far as I'm concerned. Two percent of the people in each field have most of the money and success. Studies of these people over the years have come to certain similar conclusions and one of those is that they have a vision of what they want to happen in the future and they write down their plan. Write your talents down - what makes you unique, what are you particularly good at? Then write down your liabilities--your negative traits, the obstacles you're likely to encounter on the road to success. Next, write how you'll overcome these obstacles--everyone will have different ways of tackling complications. Now, having said this, not everyone wants to become a famous belly dancer and that's okay. Everyone's perception of success is different--what you want is what's important.

Applaud Others' Success
Don't be stingy with your praise. That only shows your own insecurity. When you're watching someone else's show, don't be bitter and twisted about their success. Have a smile on your face - clap, encourage them. You don't like having someone sitting in your audience with a sour face, so don't do it to someone else. Even if your personal opinion is that the show is a piece of rubbish, there's no need to show it. Others in the audience might be having a great time, and there's no need to ruin it for them--everyone is entitled to her own opinion.

Give Your Dance a Face Lift

by Jasmin Jahal
Spruce up your dance with exciting, new feeling by trying the following suggestions. You’ll be surprised how you can revamp, revise, and re-inspire yourself! However, before we try anything, you have to have the right mind-set. You have to think ‘outside the box’. Yes, that’s right. After all those classes where you struggled to get your technique just perfect, I’m telling you now you have to be a little creative and expand on that repertoire, right down to the most basic step. Of course, this does not mean get crazy and become totally unauthentic. Just open you mind and experiment a bit. Have fun!

1.Change the SPEED of a movement. For example, from all even Right-Left-Right-Left, 1-2-3-4 to Slow-Quick-Quick that counts 1…2…3-4. Try it with big Hip Circles (changing the speed throughout), Figure 8’s, almost any kind of Turn, and even Undulations!

2.Change the HEIGHT of a movement. Don’t be boring. Sometimes add a surprise by kneeling or squatting down briefly, or quickly rising to releve’. Try a height change within a particular step, such as in Triplets, Turns, Hip Drops, and at the end of a Body Wave.

3.PAUSE occasionally. Less in more, at least it’s more dramatic! As a dancer, it’s hard to just stand still, but those are truly the most exciting moments.

4.Change the SHAPE of a movement. You know you can Figure 8 vertically, reversed, horizontally from front-to-back or from back-to-front. Now mix them together! Get out of a rut. Notice if you tend to shimmy always the same way, like always standing still. Then add to it a plie’ or releve’, change your feet into a pose, or sway your hips side-to-side or in a circle. A little can go a long way to add a new spice.

5.Add unusual ACCENTS. You always can do a bump, a drop or a sharp lift in the hip, but how about a forward or backward movement with or without a twist, or what about performing an inward contraction? When it is least expected, avoid the hip movement altogether and use instead a shoulder thrust or shoulder drop, a stomach pop (outward), a flick of the hand, a head toss or turn.

6.Here’s a fun experiment. Add a FEELING to each segment of your routine. For example, most routines open with a happy mood that blends into a taxim that is intense and intimate, and culminates into a powerful drum solo. This is the standard. Now add feeling changes within each section. Play with it to see what would change if you went from the happy mood to haughty to content/peaceful to aggressive. Worst case result, this will work on your facial and emotional expression, and we can never emote enough. Best case, you will be surprised how much more interesting and alive your dance will be.

7.Last but not least, take combinations within a routine and change the FLOOR PATTERN. Move the entire combination in a square shape, circle, diagonal or figure

8.Or, if you are very used to doing this already, DON’T make patterns. Make each combination unpredictable. After all, that’s the best way to keep the eye of the audience glued upon you!

For an excellent article on improving your improv dancing visit this site.