How to Strengthen Your Core for Belly Dance

Video Transcript

"So how else can we strengthen our body for belly dance? Hi, I'm Johanna Krynytzky with Hip Expressions Belly Dance Studio. And we're going to work on strengthening our core for belly dancing. So the core muscles are the thighs, the butt, the belly and the back. And we need to involve all those muscles when we belly dance so we can belly dance nice and safely and correctly for our bodies. So let's stand against a wall a nice clean surface. Put the feet a little bit away from the wall and bend down and put your low back on the wall. You want to roll your back into the wall so there's no space between the wall and your back. Really pull in the belly. This is where the belly work comes in. You also start to feel it in your thighs. And then roll up the wall until your shoulders are on the wall. If you can maintain this position, the next thing you want to do is put your hands up here by your shoulders. Now often when you bring the hands, your belly will come, your back and belly will come away from the wall. So you've got to pull it, pull it back in, you can even start from here again. Tuck under and roll up. If you can get your hands up, the next thing to do is a wall angel. Like you used to do snow angels when you were a kid? Bring your arms up and down the surface of the wall. Keep your shoulders on the wall, keep your belly pulled into the wall. This is going to strengthen your back and your belly and your whole core for belly dance. Keep that back flat against the wall as you do your wall angels. I'm Johanna Krynytzky with Hip Expressions Belly Dance Studio in St. Petersburg, Florida helping prepare your body for belly dance."