Belly Dancing Facial Expressions

Video Transcript

"The next thing I'm going to talk to you about is facial expressions. I always talk to my students about this in the beginning because a lot of times when they learn a move and they learn a facial expression with it, they kind of remember it and it's hard to break yourself of it later on. So just be very conscious of what your face is doing when you are learning moves. For example, I have students that will when they're moving to the left, their mouth will go to the left. Make sure your mouth stays very nice and relaxed or smiling. Again, if they move to the right, the mouth will move to the right. Another thing they'll do is if they're concentrating on something, they'll make a concentrating look, like this. Or they'll even scrunch up the mouth. You want to be very conscious of what your face is doing. Just make sure you're nice and relaxed, smiling. You don't always have to smile with belly dance, but you want to make sure you're making a facial expression that is with intention, not one that you're not happy with later on when you see pictures and your mouth is going to one side. Or make sure your mouth isn't always open. So be very, very conscious. Try practicing in front of a mirror, or ask people to video tape you. That way you can evaluate yourself and what your face is doing at the same time."