Egyptian Belly Dancing : Posture

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 posture, figure eight movement, and chest circles. You will learn how to perform moves such as the shimmy, snake arms, and step touch. Get a demonstration on the use of cymbals and examples of warm up exercises. 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

" Hi! My name is Sahira and I’m here on behalf of Expert Village to tell you a little bit about belly dancing. So with belly dance you always want to remember your basic dance posture, your feet are going to be slightly in from shoulder width apart, you want to keep your pelvic tucked and pulled underneath you, chest lifted and shoulders relaxed at all times. We’ll start with the first basic movement the hip circle, which is comprised of four parts, it slides to one side, it has a front piece, the left side and the back side, you want to think of this circle as being parallel to the ground, so your hips slide right, is a straight line across, you have pull down with the right hip to maintain that straight line, push slightly forward, you can engage your glut muscles to help keep this strong, the left side is the same as the right, a horizontal slide directly to the left pulling down on your outside muscles to keep the hips leveled, and the back you want to be sure to keep your pelvis tucked, it’s like pulling a drawer out of a dresser, so directly behind you, connecting these four points together and a nice, smooth circle you can create the first basic belly dance movement, the hip circle."