Feeling your
insides and getting to know your
muscles
is the greatest way to begin to belly
dance, because you focus on
feeling your self, which is fun! Belly dance is the sweetest way to love
your abs and build your internal body strength. Belly dance only looks
hard because we are used to focusing on arm and leg moves to understand
a movement. So just shift your focus on your softness, and the SHAPES of
the movements and the belly movements will start to feel right and make
sense.
The other reason to focus on FEELING your belly
muscles as you begin the
dance
is you will look a lot more seductive and alluring. If you try to do the
movements fast when you are just starting out, you tend to look like you
are trying too hard and you look like you are not in touch with
yourself. Belly dance is all about being in touch with yourself and
letting others understand how this feels without you looking like you
are struggling or in pain.
Here are five basic shapes that create beginners
belly
dance moves:
1. Circle
This is the sexiest and simplest. All you need do is feel the joints of
your hip, the shoulder and make a circle. Keep the ball of the foot
planted on the ground and roll that hip joint, feel the fullness of th
at joint and pull it into your self. There are so
many circles to explore in the joints of the body, just make sure you
feel the full circle otherwise you are cheating yourself.
2A. Figure 8 – Hips.
This is the toughest but the most hypnotic. Use your finger to draw the
shape of a horizontal figure 8 in front of you. Have your hips follow
your finger – do it SLOW. And SLOW down, the slower – the more seductive
and the more juice you can feel in yourself.
2B. Figure 8 – Belly Undulation or Belly Roll.
This is the most confusing but the most satisfying. Start by lifting
your heart with a breath. Exhale and drop the chest and pull in the
belly button as if the wind is taken out of you. Move the belly button
into spine and drop the tail and butt. Tuck the tail under and pull in
the lower belly underneath your belly button. And start the vertical
figure8 all over again by breathing into the heart and lifting the
chest. Exploring different ways you can massage your belly organs with
this roll is the best way to practice the movement as it is intended to
be therapeutic and sensual.
3. The ripple or wave - as used in the “Snake arms”.
This move is similar to the “breaking” move used in hip hop but it is
like feeling water flow through your arms. The easiest way is to feel
your armpits. Yes! Lift up one wrist, then the elbow and feel the space
created by the armpit, like there is golden air coming out of your ribs
and the arm is lifted by the golden mist. (Your imagination is
everything is this dance.)
4. Diamond (square or box)
The diamond shape or square is how you accent the front, back and sides
of the hips, chest and head. You can focus on only doing side to side
moves, as with the head slide. Or you can focus on doing front to back
moves, as with the hip tucks up and down. Hip tucks lift the pelvic
muscles up (front) and soften and release them down (back). The chest
lift is also an up and down movement. The focus for the chest lift is
feeling the heart lift front and drop back into the center of the body.
5. The “V”
This is the shape used for lifting the heart from the center of the
chest up to one side and down to center and then up to the other side.
The “V” is also the shape used for stepping one foot forward, then
stepping feet together and stepping the other foot forward to shift
weight from one hip to the other.
Exploring with the shapes of belly dance will give
you a beginner’s vocabulary for the form of belly dance. To dive deeper
into yourself I always recommend training with a professional belly
dancer as they will give you new ways to explore this ancient art and
teach you combinations of movements that continue to challenge your
muscles and mind.
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