Let's Muddle through this Friday Challenge :)

For this week’s challenge let’s work on the muddle. If this has a widely recognized name, I have not run across it, but my advanced students decided we should call it a muddle.


Let’s start with a basic interior circle pepper grinder. The interior hip circle is also known as the omi and involves hip lift, pelvic tuck, hip lift, pelvic release. The interior rib cage circle is sometimes called a torso rotation. I don’t generally teach it by itself in my classes as we usually use the flat/horizontal rib cage circle. The interior rib cage circle is like an omi with the rib cage, you contact the muscles in a circle around the base of the rib cage causing the rib cage to tilt to the side, forward, to the other side and back. The basic interior circle pepper grinder will use one interior hip circle followed by an interior rib cage circle.

Next, we are going to do a corkscrew aka the squishy. Do the omi and the interior rib cage circle at the same time with both circles traveling in the same direction and in the same position around the body at the same time, so both left, both front, both right both back. This will cause you to “squish” as you go around, hence the nick name “squishy”.

The third step for this challenge is a full interior circle pepper grinder. Here we are going to do the omi and interior rib cage circle at the same time, in the same direction, but at opposite points around the body, so when the hip is lifted on the left, the rib cage is tilted down on the right, during the pelvic tuck, the ribcage is tilted back, hip lift on the right with rib cage tilted down on the left and finally pelvis released to the back with the rib cage tilted forward. (You can try this with a regular horizontal rib cage circle first and then add the tilt once you have that figured out.)

The final version of this is the muddle. Here we are going to take the omi one direction and the rib cage the other direction. So for example, both are to the front (pelvic tuck, rib cage tilted forward), they then go to opposite sides (hips right, rib cage left) both to the back (pelvic release, rib cage tilted to the back) and then opposite sides (hips left, rib cage right). Again, try it with a horizontal rib cage circle first if the tilt on the rib cage is giving you trouble. Then go back and add the tilt once you can do it with a flat circle.

If you really want to take your mind for a loop, alternate between the squishy and the muddle by changing the direction of your rib cage rotation every time it reaches a certain point (ie the back).

I recommend starting with segmented versions of all of the above and work towards smoothing them out, start slow and gradually speedup as you gain proficiency. Also be sure to try all of the levels in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions

Hip Lift-Egyptian-Vibration Round Robin Shimmy Drill

Today’s shimmy drill is one I use occasionally in my intermediate class. We are going to work with the hip lift (bent knee) shimmy, Egyptian (straight leg) shimmy and the vibration.

The difference between the hip lift and Egyptian shimmies can be found in their secondary names. The hip lift shimmy is performed with the knees maintaining a bent position. This keeps the shimmy in the hips and belly. The Egyptian shimmy is performed with the knees in a straight (but not locked) position which causes the shimmy to travel up the body. The Egyptian shimmy also has more of a side-to-side direction to the vibrations while the vibrations in the hip lift shimmy move up and in towards the center of the body.

For beginners, this exercise is virtually the same as the one from last week. Work up to the shimmy like we do in class, starting with slow hip lifts, alternating every two counts, then going faster to alternating every count, up to alternating twice per beat of music then all the way to a shimmy. Check and make sure you are keeping your knees bent and maintaining a hip lift shimmy. Watch the vibrations to see how they are traveling, notice if it feels like your whole body is shaking or just your hips and belly. Finally, as another test to make sure you are doing this shimmy correctly, if you try to bend forward at the hips, you should not be able to keep the shimmy going. Try to keep the shimmy going for as long as you can, if it peters out start back with the slow hip lifts and speed it back up. Keep this up for the whole song.

Intermediate and advanced students start with the hip lift shimmy for 8 counts, switch the Egyptian shimmy for 8 counts and then move on to the vibration for 8 counts, keep the round robin going throughout the song. You could also do the rotation using 16 or 32 counts for each type of shimmy.

A stretch you can learn from your cat

Today’s stretch is one I enjoy. We will start with basic cat/cow. Begin on your hands and knees. If you want to take this into your feet, you can curl your toes under; otherwise, you can have your toes pointing back away from your knees. Start with your back flat, then arch your back (into cat pose – looks like an angry cat), tucking your head down and tucking your tail bone. Next allow your belly to drop creating a sway back (cow pose), pulling your tail bone up and looking straight ahead. Be sure to maintain strength in your belly as you move into cow pose and not just let your tummy hang.


You can modify this by moving the torso in a circle, first one way then the other passing through the cat and cow positions but also passing through positions which are arched to the sides. Another way you can modify these two poses is by, starting in cat pose, shift your weight back, stretching through the shoulders, then bending the elbows as you move back forward and into cow. Straighten your elbows as you move back into cat. To me this feels a lot like you are doing a huge undulation.

Three ways to play 5s

I noticed last week that in the email version of the blog, the formatting that keeps the counts and the zil strikes lined up was lost. To see the lined up version of the below zil patterns from the emailed version of the blog, please click on the blog title in the email which will take you to the actual blog post.


Let’s take a look at 5s. In intermediate I teach what I call 5s, but should probably be more appropriately called syncopated 5s. Needless to say, this is not the only way to play 5s! Today we will look at some of the other options out there. If you are an intermediate student and still don’t have the 5s I teach in intermediate figured out, just concentrate on that version so as not to confuse yourself. If you can play syncopated 5s without problems, here are a couple other options for you to play around with.

Syncopated 5s
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 RLR L R RLR L R RLR L R RLR L R


Skipping 5s are similar to the way we play 7s, but since there are two few zil strikes, there is a longer pause between repetitions of the pattern.

Skipping 5s
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   RLRLR   RLRLR   RLRLR   RLRLR

Running 5s are also similar to how we play 7s. They are also basically the same as the skipping 5s are played except instead of maintaining a three quarter beat pause between repetitions, only a one quarter beat pause is used which means you will want to play running 5s for multiples of eight counts so that you transition to a new rhythm at a logical point.

Running 5s
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   RLRLR RLRLR RLRLR RLRLR RLRLR

Next week we will look at some of the ways we can combine 5s with other zil patterns.

New 'workout' combo

This is another combination that gets used from time to time in my workout class. Again we will use the circle and a half but instead of traveling side to side, we are going to use it to turn a quarter turn so you end up facing the diagonal. This is another 16 count combination.

1-4 circle and a half to the R ending with an unweighted hip lift on the L, arms in 2nd

5-8  four drop typewriter with the L hip (so hip drops forward, middle-front, middle-back, back turning you to face front) arms in S with R arm up and L arm down framing hip.

9-12 circle and a half to the L ending with an unweighted hip lift on the R, arms in 2nd

13-16 four drop typewriter with the R hip (so hip drops forward, middle-front, middle-back, back turning you to face front) arms in S with R arm up and L arm down framing hip. 

Try this combo out to Time Is Now by Oojami

Practice Tip

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday.

Here is your practice tip for the week. Sneak practice time in while you are doing other things! Glute squeezes while you drive, tummy pushes (or belly rolls) when you are on the phone, standing in dance posture while you shower, isolation drills while you do your hair and makeup and chest isolations while you sit at your desk are all ways you can get some practice time in while you are doing something you do every day. All of these will add up to you practicing the basics and not having to make additional time in your day. If you make some of these a part of your every day routine you will see improvement.

A Time of Peace

It’s Christmas Eve, so I thought some Christmas music seemed appropriate. A Time of Peace is a CD by the Brothers of the Baladi it contains 15 Christmas songs played on Middle Eastern instruments and with Middle Eastern rhythms. The really cool part is you can recognize the songs being played, but they have a definite Middle Eastern sound to them. If I ever have an opportunity (and time) to perform around the winter holidays I may just reach for this CD to dance to, my personal favorite of the 15 tracks is Little Drummer Boy. You can purchase a copy from Amazon at Time of Peace

Friday Challenge!

Friday challenge! I used to post these every week, but got out the habit, so here we go trying to get back into it. Please note the challenges are supposed to be hard for the advanced level dancers so if you are a beginner, please don’t be discouraged if it seems impossible!


Do you remember this challenge?

Level one, start by doing a segmented horizontal/large/exterior hip circle: left, front, right, back. Next do clockwise omi/interior hip circle in each of those positions, so one omi to the left, one omi to the front, one omi to the right one omi to the back.

Level two, smooth out your clockwise exterior hip circle so it takes a total of 16 counts, 8 to the front and 8 to the back. At the same time do four 4-count omis (the omis will be in the same positions, left, front, right, back, as before – 2 cts forward, 2 cts backward).

Level three, speed up your exterior hip circle to 8 counts and your omis to 2 counts.

Level four, speed it up again, 4 count exterior hip circle (2 to the front, 2 to the back) and single count omis.

It was the very first challenge I ever posted, lets add half levels in by adding the hip lift shimmy, so 1.5 is doing level one with a hip lift shimmy layered on top of the omis layered on top of the horizontal circle. The same is true for level 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5 smoothing it out and speeding it up and keeping those hip lift shimmies going! Don’t forget to try the whole exercise (all eight levels) to the other direction!

Shimmy Drill!

Shimmies! If you’ve taken classes with me you know I love to shimmy. Today let’s start with a hip lift (aka bent knee) shimmy.

If you are a beginner, work up to the shimmy like we do in class, starting with slow hip lifts, alternating every two counts, then going faster to alternating every count, up to alternating twice per beat of music then all the way to a shimmy. Try to keep the shimmy going for as long as you can, if it peters out start back with the slow hip lifts and speed it back up. Keep this up for the whole song. I recommend Chicky by Oojami.

If you are an intermediate student, do the beginner drill to get your shimmy going, then layer the hip lift shimmy onto a horizontal circle. Start with a slow circle (four counts front, four counts back), then a medium speed circle (two counts front, two counts back) and then a fast circle (one count front, one count back). Make sure to do all speeds both directions, clockwise and counter clockwise. You can try this one to Istanboogie by Oojami.

For the advanced ladies, let’s take those circles for a walk. Get your shimmy going, add in the circles and try walking forward and backward with them while maintaining your shimmy. Then try walking side to side using circle and a half. Make sure your shimmy is staying even while you are traveling and not becoming larger on the side that has the weight and smaller on the unweighted side. Take your walk with Urban Dervish also by Oojami.

The song titles above are links and will take you to Amazon where you can purchase downloads of the tracks if you don't already own them. Have fun with your shimmies and let me know how it goes!

A stretch for the hands and wrists

Happy Hanukkah and Winter Solstice!


Today’s yoga stretch is one for the hands. If you are playing zils a lot, using fans or even just typing all day, taking a minute to stretch out your hands is a good thing. Using the strength of the opposite number helps keep the stretch from being too deep.

For the inside of your wrist, hold your right arm straight out in front of you with the palm facing up. Place the fingers of your left hand on the fingers of your right hand and pull slowly downward bending your hand back at the wrist until you feel a stretch, hold and repeat on the other side.

To stretch the back of your wrist hold your right arm straight out in front of you with the palm facing down. Place the fingers of your left hand on the fingers of your right hand and pull slowly downward bending your hand forward at the wrist until you feel a stretch, hold and repeat on the other side.

To stretch the palm of your hand and the inside of your fingers, hold your right hand palm up in front of you with the fingers loosely spread. Use the index finger of your left hand to press down on the index finger of your right hand, then the middle finger of your left hand to press down on the middle finger of your right hand, continue through all the fingers and the thumb then repeat on the opposite side.

Finish up the stretches by shaking out your hands.

Finger cymbals added to the combo from yesterday

For our finger cymbal drill, lets add zils to the combo from yesterday. So if you will recall the combo was:


1-4 circle and a half traveling right ending in an unweighted hip drop on the left
5-8 two basic Egyptians traveling forward, first on the left, second on the right
9-12 circle and a half traveling left ending in an unweighted hip drop on the right
13-16 two basic Egyptians traveling backward, first on the right, second on the left

The zills will be 7, 3, 1, 5, 5 and will be played:

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   RLRLRLR RLR R RLR L R RLR L R

Repeat for the other side
So the whole combination with zils (in parenthesis) becomes:

1-4 circle (7) and a half (3) traveling right ending in an unweighted hip drop on the left (1)
5-8 two basic Egyptians traveling forward, first on the left (5), second on the right (5)
9-12 circle (7) and a half (3) traveling left ending in an unweighted hip drop on the right (1)
13-16 two basic Egyptians traveling backward, first on the right (5), second on the left (5)

Holiday Break Blog Schedule and first combo

This is the first week of the holiday break, and to keep everyone thinking about belly dance while on break, I'll be doing daily blog posts. The planned schedule (though I reserve the right to make changes) is:


Monday workout – combo w/music suggestion
Tuesday – finger cymbal drill
Wednesday – yoga pose
Thursday – shimmy drill
Friday – Challenge
Saturday – product review
Sunday – belly dance/practice tip

Today’s combo combines traveling hip circles and Basic Egyptian to form a square. I’ve used this one in my workout class on Monday nights, and it seems to be one everyone enjoys. The whole combination is 16 counts.

1-4 circle and a half traveling right ending in an unweighted hip drop on the left
5-8 two basic Egyptians traveling forward, first on the left, second on the right
9-12 circle and a half traveling left ending in an unweighted hip drop on the right
13-16 two basic Egyptians traveling backward, first on the right, second on the left

Try it to Desert Rose (Melodic Club Mix Radio Edit)

Fall Catalog is out

The fall catalog is out and here is the class schedule for the first session of classes.

Belly Dance (Cardio) Workout - classes start Sept 12th and are Mondays at 6pm at Crestview, the code to enroll is 9-10-013-33, the cost is $56 for a Topeka resident, $70 if you live outside the city limits, $10 drop in fee. The session is seven weeks long and the classes are an hour long. Over the summer we offered a 20% discount on this class if you were also enrolled in a technique class, I think we will do so again in the fall. You would need to enroll at the community center and show your receipt if your technique class is at Central Park.

Beginning Belly Dance - classes start Sept 13th, are are Tuesdays at 5:45 at Crestview, the code to enroll is 9-14-012-33, the cost is $56 for a Topeka resident, $70 if you live outside the city limits. The session is seven weeks long and the class is an hour long.

Intermediate Belly Dance - classes start Sept 13th, are are Tuesdays at 7:00 at Crestview, the code to enroll is 9-14-014-33, the cost is $70 for a Topeka resident, $87.50 if you live outside the city limits. The session is seven weeks long and the classes are an hour and a half each. The coming session will work with half circular veils, you can find instructions on how to make one on my website http://bellydancetopeka.com/MakingHalfCircleVeil.htm. You will also need finger cymbals every week, I recommend purchasing Saroyan cymbal's from http://dwp.bigplanet.com/saroyan/.

Advanced Belly Dance - classes start Sept 8th, are are Thursdays at 5:45 at Central Park, the code to enroll is 9-14-016-32, the cost is $70 for a Topeka resident, $87.50 if you live outside the city limits. The session is seven weeks long and the classes are an hour and a half each. We will be working on group improv with finger cymbals.

Belly Dance Performance Preparation is the class for Hathor's Hips troupe members and requires enrollment in Advanced Belly Dance. The classes start September 8th and are Thursdays at 7:20 at Central Park, the code to enroll is 9-14-018-32 and the cost is $28 for Topeka residents and $35 if you live outside the city limits.

Please comment below, contact me on facebook or email me at huraiva@huraivaalimah.com if you have any questions. I will update the website with the class schedule when my laptop comes back from being serviced and will send out a reminder to all current and former students about a week before the sessions start.

Beginner Summer Session week 1

Last night in beginner we covered:

Glute Squeezes

Dance Posture

Tummy pushes

Basic foot positions - ballet vs jazz 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th

Basic Arm positions: 1st, 2nd, 3rd (aka L arms) 4th (aka flamenco arms) 5th, Pretty Hands, Tribal Torture,  Low Second, T-rex, Temple Arms, L arms, Arabesque, S arms, Pharonic Arms (low, mid and high), Hip frame (aka low V), Aladin Arms, Egyptian Headache, Genie Arms, Side sweep Arabesque to L arms

Hip slides

Rib cage slides

Summer Sessions!

The summer session of classes starts this week! We had the first workout class last night and the beginner and intermediate classes start tonight. As promised I'm posting the play list from the workout class. All the songs were by Oojami

For glute squeezes we used Like That
For plies and releves Hip Shaker
For abs we used Shake that Belly
For shoulders we used Zor
For our walking hips up and down we used Time is Now
For hip bumps we used Chicky
The last two combos we did were to Istanboogie
Our interval training was a mix of a different version of Chicky and Neyzen
For cool down we used Ararim, Zaman and Then I Cry

Most of the songs are from the Boom Shinga Ling album

I'm a bit behind on updating, but here we go :) the last three weeks of Beginner

Ok, the first three weeks of the session have flown by! Here is what we have covered in class so far:

Glute Squeezes

Dance Posture
Tummy pushes
Basic Arm positions: Pretty Hands, Tribal Torture, Belly dancer Second position, Low Second, T-rex, Fifth Position, Temple Arms, L arms, Arabesque, S arms, Pharonic Arms, Hip frame, Aladin Arms, Egyptian Headache, Genie Arms, Side sweep Arabesque to L arms

Inward Arm circles Together & Alternating
Outward Arm circles Together & Alternating
Arm circles one in one out
Shoulder thrust
Shoulder shimmy

Hip Slides
Pelvic Tuck/drop

Hip Lifts (soft and accented)/shimmy
Omi

Ribcage Slides
Ribcage Lift/Drop

Vertical Rib cage circle

Styles of Bellydance
• Cabaret – veil, floor work, sword balancing, finger cymbals aka zills or sagat
• American Tribal – may include some aspects of cabaret (sword, zills and floor work)
• Hula/Polynesian Dance, including Poi
• Gypsy – lots of skirt work, tells story of everyday life
• East Indian – traditional dances of India
• Folk dances (cane etc) – traditional dances of Northern Africa and Mediterranean Europe
• Egyptian Oriental – the dance as it is presented in Egyptian night clubs, more subtle than the Cabaret style of the US, usually lacking veil or floor work.

maqsuum 4/4  rhythm

1-+-2-+-3-+-4-+-
D-T-__T-D-__T-__
D-T-kkT-D-kkT-kk

For an example of the rhythm you can dowload this song Maqsoum or this one Maqsoum by Guy Schalom.