How to Do Egyptian Belly Dancing Techniques

Learning to belly dance can be a lot of fun and can be great exercise too. Egyptian belly dancing is all about learning how to do isolations and then putting them together in fun and interesting combinations. Moves like shimmies, hip bumps, and step touches all work together to create beautiful dance routines. Throw in a cool-looking costume and you're set.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Learn the art of the isolation. An isolation is a move that targets a particular muscle group, while the remainder of your body stays still. The hip bump is a perfect beginner isolation. You simply squeeze your gluteal (buttock) muscles to pop your hip up and out, then repeat on the other side. You can do this multiple times depending on your musical choice.

2. Get moving. Stepping and step touches are great ways to move around during your routines and cover some ground. Step touches consist of moving your left leg forward and adding a hip bump. You then bring your legs back together and repeat the same process with your right leg.

3. Add some arm work. You can alternate moving your arms up and down to match your leg work or try to move them opposite from your legs. There are many variations of this, so you can choose something that comes naturally to you or watch others to see what type of moves they do during their belly dancing routines.

4. Combine the Egyptian belly dancing moves together. Once you have a core set of moves, try putting them together in fun and interesting ways to create a routine that's both entertaining and challenging for you.