Remember to start your practice session with at least a 5 minute whole body warm up. Start with walking and traveling steps and then progress to limbering and warming up the major muscle groups from head to toe. Work progressively, starting out slowly and gently and then gradually increasing intensity. When you are warm then you can begin to drill the moves that we worked with this week. Remember to have a 5-10 minute cool down and stretch at the end of your practice session. For maximum progress aim to have 1 -2 30 minute practice sessions a week, but even 15 minutes is beneficial.
Things to practice this week: [R = right; L= left]
Posture drill
Horizontal Egyptian hip circles - small, large (keep abs and pelvic floor engaged)
Chest circles - small and large
Hip circles
Setanu turn
Omi hip circle - tilting or polynesian/african hip circle (engage pelvic floor, don't crunch into lower back!)
Lotus hands sequence - Draw hands down, offer right (look R), offer left (look LO), cross wrists (start left in front) take up then swap right to front, bring hands down, soften and flatten hands, circle with thumbs (looking right), end with hand in prayer.
Mayas - downward/outward horizontal figure 8 of the hips.
Egyptian figure 8 - inward horizontal figure 8 of the hips.
DANCER ALERT: Be very mindful when learning undulations and body waves. ALWAYS WARM UP FULLY. Remember to engage your pelvic floor and core/abdominal muscles fully to protect your lower back. Using your core muscles improves the look of the move. Lengthen and elongate the spine. Don't crunch into the lower back. Don't over do it. DON'T work to the point of fatigue. A couple of minutes when you are learning is PLENTY! Allow time to develop your strength and flexibility. Working when fatigued can lead to injury. Remember to stretch fully (while still warm) at the end of your practice session.
Undulations
Forwards body wave up
Forwards body wave down
Important exercises that help to build strength and flexibility for working with your back:
It is really important to understand the lyrics of the music that you dance to. Not only does it prevent offending your audience, or embarrassing yourself, but it increases the emotional depth of your dancing. There are now some great internet sites which have the lyrics of songs written in Arabic, transliterated and translated. Some even have video clips too. Some of my favorites include:
A few years ago, one of my friends was hired to perform at an Arabic-Turkish wedding. She found a song which she loved and put it into her playlist. She danced to it at the wedding, and couldn't understand why the crowd didn't seem to be enjoying it, as it was a very lively and energetic song. As she was packing up, the bride's grand mother came up to her and said: "A nice girl like you shouldn't be dancing to a song like that." It turns out it was a very ribald drinking song, and the lyrics basically said that "all the women here are for sale". Fortunately the bride's family had a good sense of humor and didn't make a major incident out of it, but my friend was absolutely mortified!
The delightful Modi of Lebanon who I had the pleasure of taking a couple of classes with a few years ago. He is a master teacher who is renowned for his energy - as you can see from the following clips.
Things to practice this week: [R = right; L= left] Horizontal Egyptian hip circles - small, large (keep abs and pelvic floor engaged) Chest circles - small large Setanu turn Omi hip circle - tilting or polynesian/african hip circle (engage pelvic floor, don't crunch into lower back!) Lotus hands sequence - Draw hands down, offer right (look R), offer left (look LO), cross wrists (start left in front) take up then swap right to front, bring hands down, soften and flatten hands, circle with thumbs (looking right), end with hand in prayer. Mayas - downward/outward horizontal figure 8 of the hips. Egyptian figure 8 - inward horizontal figure 8 of the hips. Mahmoud Reda sequence: Cross right over left, cross left over right, weight change R, weight change L, walk in a small personal circle RLRL, walk forward RLR touch L, walk back LRL touch R ending in ready position. Snake arms Grapevines Chasse step Shimmy
Welcome to my blog which focuses on Middle Eastern Dance.
Information about my Canberra Middle Eastern Dance classes is available at: http://www.souhair.com/
The aim of this blog is to provide serious students of middle eastern dance with the opportunity to see musicians, dance styles and dancers that they would not otherwise be able to see.
I'd like to be able to provide more information on styles and performers. Let me know if you'd like to submit an article or video.
On this website I have posted a number of embedded videos from Youtube. If I have linked to a video which you own copyright in and which you are not happy about my linking to, let me know - I will happily remove it.
NB. I have not uploaded any content - just linked to Youtube. If the video should NOT be on the internet please contact Youtube directly and follow their proceedures for having it removed.
I've been a dancer for 14 years and a yogini for 19. I live in Australia with 2 maine coon cats, my husband and son.
Check out my website: www.souhair.com
