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.