Belly Dancing Shoulder Drops

Series Summary

Belly dancing is the latest dance craze to hit the dance scene. Classes are offered in cities around the world and performances are in demand. Belly dancing is a form of dance that originated in Arabic cultures. It is derived from a social dance that is native to the Middle Eastern culture that is performed by men and women. Today, the dance is dominated by women and is performed at social occasions that scan the spectrum. This form of dance is also extending into the exercise genre and is being taught in gyms. Belly dancing is also rumored to have descended from a religious dance once performed by Temple Priestesses or to have been a part of birthing practices from the region.

In this series of expert videos, you can learn belly dancing moves from a professional! Our expert teaches you the basics of belly dancing arm movement. You will learn how to perform moves such as Genie Arms, snake arms, and Buddha Arms. Put together a whole routine after watching these belly dance choreography videos. In these educational videos, you will also learn about the costumes used for belly dancing. If you are going to make your own costume, you will see some fabulous examples of saris and other costume accessories. Learn how to belly dance from an expert!

Video Transcript

"Now, we're going to review our shoulder drop, so make sure your feet are facing straight ahead, knees are slightly bent, belly button's pulled in, chest is lifted, shoulder's are back and down. Arms are nice out to the sides. So, for a shoulder drop, what we'll be doing is lifting the shoulder and dropping it down, but the accents not on the up, alright, the accents on the down, so we're pulling down. And make sure when you lift your shoulder, you're not coming up into your neck here. Right? This is not dancing, this is kind of silly looking. So, you want to make sure you just lift about half way and then you really feel that pull down. So you use your shoulder blade to pull down your back. Lift and drop and they're operating symmetrically. Lift, drop, lift drop. So, feel that nice heavy feeling. It's a folk-loric move, so really feel that down beat. Feel that stuck in the mud trying to lift up out and then drop. Lift, drop, lift, drop. As this is happening, make sure your belly button's pulled in, and your chest stays lifted. Let's try it with some music. Five, six, seven, eight. And, drop, drop, lift, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop. Good now you can vary it up a little bit. You can add a little bit of a twist. Drop, drop, double time, and drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop."