Took the week off last week

I was on “vacation” last week (though if you are retiling your bathroom I’m not sure it should count as vacation) so I didn’t do my regular AM and noon time workouts. I did however attend my Monday and Saturday yoga classes and teach.

So last week in Beginning Belly Dance, we covered weighted hip twists, hip twist (washing machine) shimmy, weighted hip lifts, hip lift shimmy, unweighted hip lifts (aka choochoo in group improv)  and unweighted hip drops. We also did single hip lift and single hip drop walks.

In Intermediate we learned one way to play chiftitelli rhythm on our finger cymbals, reviewed our ¾ up and down shimmies, learned the vibration shimmy. We also reviewed all beginner level arm moves and learned the arm figure 8. We then started working with our veils learning the matador, half matador and the figure 8.

As requested, here is the list of the arm exercises we have been doing in Advanced. In addition to the below, we have also been doing our regular leg exercises and glutes – singles, ¾ and segmented.

Standing:

·         Wall pushups

·         Wall pushups hands turned in

·         Wall pushups feet further back

·         Hands at sides, bring up to shoulder height, rotate hands, take up to 5^th, then back down (I’ve told you about this one, but since it requires weights we haven’t been doing it in class)

Seated:

·         Arms out to side, palms up, fingers ripple in then back out, leading w/pinky

·         Shoulder rolls backwards together – 2 ct, 1ct

·         Shoulder rolls backwards alternating – 2 ct, 1ct

·         Shoulder rolls forward together – 2 ct, 1ct

·         Shoulder rolls forward alternating – 2 ct, 1ct

·         Shoulder arcs – hands out to side – up front up back, 1 side at a time – 2 ct, 1 ct

·         Rope pulls to the side

·         Hands straight forward, pull back, elbows going behind back

·         Rope pulls down

·         Hands pull down from 5^th position to shoulder height

·         Hands to side, palms down rotate elbow back and forward

·         Arms to side, palms facing back in blade, down and up

·         “Make a muscle”

·         Cow face pose (Triceps stretch)

·         Eagle pose

On the Floor:

·         Backward crunches

·         Lie on stomach and lift arm and opposite leg, keep head down

·         Cat/cow

·         Rotate cat/cow

·         Pigeon pose (after glute exercises)

Wednesday's Program

Started the morning with my AM Yoga routine. For lunch, I did the 30 minute workout from Bellydance Fitness for Beginners: Hip Hop Hip Drop. It is mostly based on what I consider beginner level moves. Unweighted hip lifts, unweighted hip drops, horizontal hip circles, chest drops, hip bumps and basic Egyptian. Combinations four and five start getting into intermediate level territory, but they are easy enough I think beginners, especially if they have a session or two under their hip scarves, could figure them out. Combination four uses a move I hadn’t seen before, that I would describe as a reverse gush, it seemed a bit awkward. Combination five is drop-kicks. There is no mention of proper posture, so make sure you are checking your own. Some of the moves could hurt your back if your pelvis comes un-tucked.  This DVD does not teach proper technique. In some instances it describes the easiest way to create the move, but not necessarily the one I think makes the most sense or would recommend using.  All in all it was a descent workout, but not overly challenging. The DVD has two bonus features, two costumed performances and a 10 minute arms, chest and back workout.


That was it for the day, didn't even work on bellydance related projects in the evening.

Tuesdays practice and what was covered in class

Started the morning with AM Yoga, my left arm was still bothering me for the poses like cobra and downward dog, so I decided not to do yoga at lunch time again. Instead I worked with Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss: Bellydance Boogie. This 30-minute workout uses up-to-down undulations, vertical and horizontal figure 8s. I would recommend this for my students who have started intermediate and up. My biggest complaint with this workout is the snake arms. The vast majority of them look sloppy. This is because they are performed too large and/or too fast. My recommendation is to do the snake arms at half the speed they are presented, or to do them as arm ripples at the tempo presented. This will keep the movements controlled and graceful. This workout wasn’t as intense as the one in cardio shimmy, but it defiantly keeps you moving. I was pleased there wasn’t as much hopping; it focuses on the smooth bellydance moves. There is little to no instruction on proper dance posture on this DVD so if you decide to use this one, make sure you check your own posture periodically. This DVD also includes two costumed performances and a 10-minute dancer’s legs workout as bonus features.

After work, it was off to teach for 2.5 hours. In Beginner we discussed the history of bellydance and Middle Eastern music, specifically, the Fallahi rhythm. We then reviewed plies, releves, glute squeezes, tummy pushes, hip slides and rib cage sides. We also learned rib cage forward and back, keeping the shoulders still, rib cage circles, hip circles, snake arms, medusa arms, Persian arms, low snake arms, katia arms, fish tail and tribal snake arms.

In Intermediate we discussed bellydance ethics: respecting others, reviewed the three beginner level rhythms and learned about the chiftitelli rhythm. We warmed up with 3s then learned to play 7s on our zils, practicing it with our smooth bellydance moves (slides, circles and undulations). We reviewed our up-to-down and down-to-up undulations, added stepping flat-ball-ball-ball to up-to-down undulations (aka Arabic 2) and turning in personal circle. We reviewed ¾ on the up and ¾ on the down and learned the heel drop shimmy. We worked on traveling with the single and double camel walks. We also learned the u-turn undulation. In group improv, we learned the Happy Birthday Grapevine combination by Unamata and then reviewed all GIC stall moves and combos using a traveling circle.

Monday's report

Started the day with my AM Yoga. I have a couple of other AM themed yoga programs, and I really will try a different one some time soon, but I enjoy the familiarity of doing this same program every day. Also, I need something to slowly wake me up, which this one does, some of the others I have are a bit more vigorous. 


At lunch time, I decided not to do yoga and to only do bellydance as I had issues during my AM practice with downward dog in particular because my left arm and shoulder are sore from being knocked over by one of my cats on Sunday and the 15 minute results DVD is heavy on arm supported poses. So I did Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss: Cardio Shimmy. The 30 minute workout uses Egyptian shimmy, shoulder shimmy, choochoo shimmy. Most of the moves are taught in my beginner level classes, the exceptions being the Egyptian shimmy and the gush (King Tut walk). Also, Rania does not name her hip shimmy, so beginner level students might not realize it is different from the hip lift shimmy taught in class. Beginner level students could use this video if they substituted the hip lift shimmy for the Egyptian shimmy. This video has a lot of hopping in it, something I don't care for, but is certainly effective in getting the heart rate up and makes a good workout. More advanced dancers could change it up by changing the type of shimmy they use each time they use the video, for example, replace the hip shimmy with a twist shimmy, replace the shoulder shimmy with the 3/4 shoulder shimmy. The bonus features are a 10 minute “waist cincher” workout (rib and hip slides, horizontal and vertical hip figure 8, up to down undulations and vertical rib cage circles) which I did not add in to my lunch time practice and two costumed performances which I watched while eating my lunch.
 

I was supposed to go to yoga class Monday evening, but because of my arm and shoulder decided to stay home and rest the muscles and joint. After all, over doing it will only make it worse and take that much longer to heal.

Over the weekend

Ok, for purposes of this post, Friday is part of the weekend. Friday I did my AM Yoga first thing in the morning and the lower body workout off of 15 minute results and the yoga fusion workout off Bellydance Body at noon. The yoga fusion workout includes layering up to down undulations with both vertical and horizontal figure 8s. It also has up to down, down to up and u-turn undulations while standing in tree pose.  I went to my nieces first dance recital (she is 5) Friday evening and then stabilized the other side of my feather fans  while Bri and I watched Lethal Weapon 2.

Saturday I went to my yoga fusion class. Turns out Cyra and I are the only ones enrolled and Cyra wasn’t there, so it was a private lesson. The class focused mostly on yoga with a bit of tai chi and Pilates thrown in. I was hoping for a more even mixture, we will see what the future classes hold.

Sunday I spent the day cleaning so unless you consider cleaning exercise (which I suppose it could be) I didn’t do any workouts. 

Thursday's Workouts

AM Yoga to start the day, followed by 15 minute results – upper body and the jazz workout on Bellydancer Body at lunch time and then Advanced and troupe for 2.5 hours yesterday evening. I think the Jazz workout is my favorite on the Suhaila DVD (at least of the 3 I’ve done). It starts with weighted hip twists, then basic Egyptian, Basic E 4pt turn, Basic E 2pt turn. Next up is ¾ twist, then adding it to basic E, so you get a ¾ basic E. This was done moving forward, backward and while turning at various speeds. This workout felt more like dancing than drills. Both the Buns and Pilates workouts felt like drills.

My Workout Report and Stabilizing a Feather Fan

Yesterday wasn’t that great for working out. I did my AM Yoga with Rodney Yee first thing in the morning, but then my dad wanted to take me to lunch, so I missed my lunch time workout session. I also have Wednesday nights as a “free night” partially so I can work on other belly dance projects, sewing, choreographing, website updates and so forth. So I stopped at hobby lobby and picked up the materials I would need to stabilize my feather fans and then started on that project while Bri and I watched Lethal Weapon last night. The technique I used to stabilize the fans is outlined below.

To stabilize a feather fan:

You need to pick up adhesive backed felt, felt glue, E6000 (hobby lobby wanted $14 for this, looks like amazon has it for $5), loose feathers or 2 feather boas that match the color of your fans and cheap water color paint brushes from the craft store.

Open the first fan as wide as it will go – use a pen or pencil and a piece of paper to make a pattern of the area of the fan staves not covered by feathers. Remember to make a notch in the bottom for the space where the staves all come together.

Trace your pattern four times onto the felt and cut them out. I could only get 3 pieces per 8.5 x 11 piece of felt. When I spoke to Gaitri, she said she got all four on her piece. I don’t know if she found larger felt or if her pattern was smaller or if she is just better at making it all fit.

With the fan spread to its fullest potential, put E6000 on one side of the bare fan staves (you can use water to smooth the bottom part of the feathers already on the fan back away from where you are working). Once you have the E6000 on the fan staves (it does not need to cover them) peel the backing off one felt piece and apply it to the area.

Next, use a paint brush to paint a thin layer of felt glue all over the felt and apply your feathers. I used a boa because I couldn’t find loose feathers that matched my fan. I followed the arc with the first pass of the boa, curved up followed it again and finished with a final pass straight across the bottom of the fan (small arch over the place where the staves join together).

Set it aside and let the first fan dry over night. Repeat with the second fan. After both fans have set over night, you can repeat the whole thing on the other side and both sides will be stabilized and covered with pretty feathers.

I'll talk about decorating the fans in another post. I also plan to upload the above instructions (with pictures I took while doing it) to the website at some point.

What was covered in class last night AND what else I did in my exercise program

Ok, so I wrote things in the reverse order of the title, but you can skip to what was done in class last night if you want, just skip the first paragraph, or if all you care about is the work, skip the last two paragraphs. :)

I started the morning with A.M. and P.M. Yoga with Rodney Yee again – I’m probably going to use this one all week as my morning starting point. I have a couple other AM yoga DVDs that I’m previewing to see if I want to mix it up next week. Then at lunch I did the lower body segment off of Rodney Yee/Mariel Hemingway: 15-Minute Results Yoga. Again it was very vigorous. They really work at getting your heart rate up and getting you moving. I like Rodney Yee, but I’m finding Mariel Hemmingway to be a bit distracting with her comments. I’d probably prefer this if it was just Mr. Yee, but it is workable. After I finished the yoga section of my lunch time workout I did the Pilates section of Bellydance Body for Beginners with Suhaila. This one includes pelvic locks, glute squeezes and interior hip squares (segmented omis) all while stepping, again more intermediate level than beginner level. I then taught for two and a half hours in the evening.

In Beginner class we covered: what to wear to class and the format of the class. We then learned proper dance posture and warmed up our ankles and legs with pliés and relevés. We then sat down and found our glutes and worked on isolating the individual sides. Next we worked on tummy pushes. We then learned hip slides and ribcage slides. We finished the evening by going over many of the arm positions used in belly dance.

In Intermediate we warmed up with 3s on the zils then learned how to play 5s and what kinds of movements to pair 5s with. We then practiced our ¾ shimmy on the up and broke down the ¾ shimmy on the down. Next, up-to-down and down-to-up undulations were covered, both while standing still and while rocking from foot to foot. We also discussed the mechanics of belly rolls. We then did a review of all group improvisational moves that are covered in beginner and learned the cues for Arabic, reverse Arabic, reverse Ghawazee, drop kick and Turkish 4 point turn

Report on yesterday’s exercise program.

Session 1: I got up at 5 and did 20 minutes of yoga with Rodney Yee (A.M. and P.M. Yoga – AM track with Rodney Yee). This was my very first yoga purchase way back when. I really like the way the AM session wakes you up. I originally purchased this on VHS and have since replaced it with DVD (though I think I still have the VHS version around somewhere). The AM Yoga practice starts with breathing and what Mr. Yee refers to as conscious relaxation. Then there is 15 minutes of moving yoga poses and finally 2 minutes of meditation. This routine really helps me wake up in the morning. I’d almost say it’s better than coffee, but I really don’t want to give up my coffee!

Session 2: Over my lunch break I did the upper body routine off of Rodney Yee/Mariel Hemingway: 15-Minute Results Yoga. The upper body workout is like yoga aerobics! It includes things I never really considered yoga before but it gets the heart rate up and I actually broke a sweat. None of the poses are too challenging for a beginning yoga practitioner. However, I had to look up on Youtube the difference between upward dog and cobra (its subtle). After I finished my yoga session, I switched gears and did the 10 minute Buns workout off of Bellydance Body for Beginners with Suhaila. (By the way, this DVD is advertised as for beginners but I would only recommend it for Intermediate and up). The buns workout starts with glute squeezes then uses glute squeezes to travel with hips on the up, hips on the down and ¾ hips up and ¾ hips on the down.

Session 3: After I got home from work and had a snack, I did about a half hour of shimmy drills with Celeste using her DVD produced by IAMED: Turbo Shimmy with Celeste: Instruction Belly Dance Series. I did not do the entire DVD (I just didn’t have time) but I did the strengthening exercises she starts off with and her technique break down of three shimmies (Egyptian aka straight leg shimmy, ChooChoo aka marching shimmy and American (bent knee) aka hip lift shimmy). I also did the first shimmy drill, which is about 10 minutes of Egyptian Shimmy. Since I don’t particularly care for the Egyptian shimmy, I was tempted to do the drill with hip lift shimmy, but since my Egyptian shimmy is weaker than my hip lift shimmy (see the part about not liking it as well) I decided to go ahead and drill the Egyptian. The drill consisted of slow, medium and fast speeds, doing each speed with both legs and then with all the weight on one leg then all the weight on the other leg. I had no trouble at the slow and medium speeds (both legs and single leg varieties) but noticed my Egyptian shimmy started to sputter and loose rhythm on the fast speed – now I know I need to drill this more.

Session 4: After I finished my shimmy drills it was time to head to my yoga class at Crestview. If you live in Topeka, I suggest you find time to try and take a yoga class with Mimi. She has several available through Crestview. This was an hour of what I consider endurance yoga – get into a pose and hold it! It was very relaxing and a wonderful way to end the day.