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Belly Dancing For Beginners
On this page you will learn about beginners belly dance and a little more information. You can learn how to do it wether to learn perform teach or for a home workout. Contact me using the form to the right ➡️
Bellydancing is a great form of low impact exercise that is really beneficial to Women's bodies and has scientific evidence to prove the physical and mental wellbeing benefits of practicing it (including helping those with bladder issues). If practiced regularly like any form of exercise it can help those who want to loose weight tone up, Become flexible or release tension to create more mobility in tight areas of the body such as the hips and shoulders whilst remaining low impact and safe on the body as long as there arnt any joint or bone issues or any diseases or medical issues and it is taught and practiced properly.
When belly dancing a lot of the focus may be on the hips and torso areas of the body so the core is worked from the bum up to the chest and around from the front and back of the body.
In my personal experience of belly dancing it has helped to flatten out the tummy, Bring separated stomach muscles together,Cinch the waist, Strengthen the pelvic floor and the lower back and build muscle in the bum legs knees ankles amd feet. Its also great for the rest of the body. After giving birth to my two youngest children by cesarean sectiond one year apart I had a condition called disastris recti (split tummy muscles) that belly dance really helped to rehabilite and helped with healing after pregnancy and abdominal surgeries. This may not be the case for everyone who have had this condition or similar experiences to me, we are all different. My advice is to seek medical assistance and permission first and you must wait at least six months after surgery before practicing bellydance.
Belly dance unlike many other styles of dance does not discriminate it is available to all people including men. There are many dancers of all body types performing professionally it it normal to see curvy dancers i and slim athetic dancers. However let's not forget that bellydance is also a social cultural dance from Middle Eastern and North African countries as well as some Mediterranean countries like Turkey. We all know belly dance to be a performance art that is dynamic and highly technical with many skilled dancers performing it. Belly dance as we know it today has a history of around one hundred years however some people believe it stretches further back than that and it has even been that it was used in pagan times as a form of religious worship and ritual. There are certain tribes that use the moves to help in pregnancy and labour in preparation for child birth and it is connected to social traditions. Alot of the movements are curved shaped so there are lots of fluid movements like circles waves and spirals performed but let's not forget about the earthy energy and percussive movements of shimmies drops and taks. Belly dance in many forms is graceful and their are influences from different styles like ballet sub- saharan Africa and some say even Indian. Costuming as we know it today is actually a hollywood creation. If we look to history and how people migrate and influenced this may explain the influences we see in the belly dance. Belly dancing isn't all about the belly it is a dance that includes all body parts, belly dance is just a nickname. It is known by many names including oriental dance, raqs sharqi (in Egypt) Oryantal (in Turkey) with offshoots of North African, Roma Turkish and balkan folk dances that are the root of belly dance, American Cabaret, Tribal, Tribal fusion, Fusion, Theatrical Fusion, raqs baladi and more.
Each style depending on where in the world it is performed have similarities and differences that are noticeable to the trained eye or to people who are from the places the dance is performed. It is important to learn the difference in the styles out of respect for culture and the people where the dance comes from especially when teaching or performing on an amateur or a professional manner.
Some styles of belly dance have a cabaret theme while others are folky creative expressive and many are sensual graceful fiery and passionate ect.
I have easy to follow pre- recorded online beginners belly dance courses for those who would like to learn it, perform it or follow it for a home belly dance workout.
You are welcome to teach it to your group or play it at a class or a group gathering, Great for anyone teaching or leading any subject but want to include simple dance. If teaching or performing it you have permission to do so without credit.
In the first belly dance for beginners course we are going to learn staple moves that are performed in most styles of belly dance. It is a head to toe dance course that gives you an all round body workout and a great introduction to belly dance for beginners. Afterwards you are welcome to try my other beginners belly dance courses including belly dance choreographed dance routines that you can perform.
The videos are recorded in real time and you can practice it at home. There are break downs of all of the moves and short drill sequence sections. Although the videos are taught and recorded in English every section has its own text page that can be translated into your language.
This mini course runs for a little over one hour approximately and costs £12. Paid by online payment. If you would like to come to live classes with me get in touch I run them in Merseyside UK.
This course covers -
Start - Warm up & good body posture
1 - Head Slide
2 - Wrist rotations / hand undulations
3 - Snake arms / arm undulations
4 - Shoulder shimmy
5 - Torso undulations / camel
6 - Hip Figure Eight / infinity
7 - Hip drops
8 - Hip Shimmy
9- Basic Turn
10 - Side steps
End with a simple pose follow along dance and cool down
