How to Work Your Belly for Belly Dance

Video Transcript

"So, what else can we do to prepare our body for belly dancing? Hi, I'm Johann Krynytzky with Hip Expressions Belly Dance Studio in St. Petersburg, Florida. Let's work on our belly, preparing it for belly dancing. So let's start lying down on the floor, back nice and flat on the floor, belly button pulled in, good. So your back is nice and flat, you don't want to have any space here, good. Feet are about hip width apart, and we're going to squeeze our knees together, put our arms out the sides. Now, from here, we're going to keep belly, our belly button squeezed in to our spine, and then drop our tail bone towards the floor, and lift the chest. So you can see myself arching my back here, but keep your belly button pulled in, don't let your belly button stick out. You want to support your spine, and think about lengthening. So pull your belly button in, good, so it's flat on the floor, flat on the floor, and then lift up. Keep the belly button flat on the floor. What you can also add to this exercise is pull the belly button down, and then roll up off the floor. Keep the belly button pulled in, and then roll down, and then lift the chest, arch the back, pull the belly button in. Good, pull, flat, pull, hold it in, good. Roll the tail bone up off the floor, keep squeezing the knees together, roll back down, and get that low back right on the floor, and then lift up, pull the belly button in, and then end back in here to center. Good, so practice that a few times, and you'll really work on strengthening your body, and your belly for belly dance. I'm Johann with Hip Expressions Belly Dance Studio in St. Petersburg, Florida, helping you to belly dance."