Learning to Belly Dance from Videos - Page 3

Review

If today is not your first session, begin with a review of what you have learned so far. Here's my recommendation on how to structure the review.

• Put appropriate belly dance music on your stereo system and systematically do every move that you remember. When I teach classes, I usually allow one song with a length of 3-5 minutes for this. Use the full song, repeating each individual move many times, paying careful attention to correct posture and technique. If you have written down a list of the moves you have learned so far, consult your list to make sure you practice everything on it. If you run out of time, restart the song at the beginning and keep going. This isn't a race.
• Do your own improvised little belly dance. Put a belly dance song of 3-5 minutes on your stereo system, and focus on what you hear in the music. Use the moves you know to interpret it. If the music is slow and sensuous, use undulations, hip slides and circles, rib cage slides and circles, and snake arms. If it is brisk and energetic, do hip lifts and drops, traveling steps, and shimmies.
• In your unstructured review and practice dance, you may have forgotten to use some moves that you know how to do. Place your video in the machine. As it discusses each move that you already know, do the move with it. Listen carefully to what the instructor is saying, and pay close attention to your technique. Are you doing it correctly? If so, can you sharpen it at all? Can you gain further range of motion by encouraging a little stretch in your muscles? Did you miss any important information when you learned this move in the past?