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Your First Lesson
Posture
Posture is the first thing we need to work on and one of the hardest things to get right. You can not get good posture without a teacher to look at you and correct so don't try to learn this on your own--but this should be a good reminder to help you practice once your teacher has set you up. To begin with it looks very complex and feels a little strange, but you will soon find it easy and comfortable.
Feet--a comfortable distance apart. This should be just under hip width, certainly not wider than your hips and your feet should disappear when you bend your knees. Some videos suggest that your feet need to be closer and that would be great if thighs didn't get in the way. Don't put your feet so close that your thighs get squashed (I'm a big lady, I know these things !). Feet shouldn't turn out like in Ballet, nor face straight forward, but be natural. Spread out your toes and feel nice and solidly connected with the ground--this is one reason that bare feet are a good idea.
Knees--off lock, which means they have a little give. Don't bend you knees as this is far too much like hard work and will hurt tomorrow, but also don't lock you knees tight as you can do damage by twisting on the knee joints. Just a little bit of bounce is fine--think about how you stand on a boat to ride the waves, or one the underground.
Hips--they are in neutral, which is different for different people but basically means that your tail bone should point down. I find people fit into two camps when they first come to class--there are those who wear high heels and pull in their bums and tummies all day, they tend to be a bit over tucked for this dance--then there are those who let their tummies and bums stick out a bit more and they tend to be under tucked. If in doubt don't do anything until your teacher has adjusted you.
Pelvic Floor--I won't nag you too much in class and only you know how hard you are working on this, but your pelvic floor should be contracted about 50% (75% if you want to be tough on yourself) for the whole of the lesson (actually for the whole of your life would be good !). If you find this really hard try just adding it to your movements a couple of times each time we drill (for a count of 8 or 16), building up to being able to use it all the time. If you don't know how to use your pelvic muscles try stopping yourself mid wee--those are the muscles we use. Sometimes people are taught how to do the lift with their pelvic floor. If you know this exercise then try stopping at one of the floors midway and dancing like that. If you have a pelvic floor problem or a strong pelvic floor I can give you extra exercises to help build strength. And yes, men have pelvic floor muscles too !
Tummy--to begin with you can relax your tummy, but given time I would like you to be aware of your tummy muscles and to use them about 25% the whole time. The problem with tightening your tummy muscles is that a lot of people can only do this by holding their breath and that is a really bad idea ! If you can try to imagine you are about to do a sit up--pull your tummy muscles in just a little and then keep them slightly tightened. But if this is too hard then don't worry for now, but this should improve over time with regular classes.
Ribs--we lift our ribs for two reasons, firstly it gives us a nice line (gain a couple of inches to your height, lose a few round your tummy !), and secondly it helps us breath deeply and normally. Try to take your ribs straight up rather than up and forward. Supporting with your tummy muscles will help you maintain this lifted posture.
Shoulders--roll your shoulders back as far as they will go and then relax. I know this isn't easy ! Again this helps with breathing and making you look good. I often talk about opening your wings--by which I mean your invisible Angel wings between your shoulder blades. When you imagine having huge feathery wings behind you, they help you to frame yourself, look proud and remind you to use your strong back to support all your movements just enough. There is a temptation to bring your shoulders up as you dance, but try to resist. This posture of rolled back shoulders and open wings should feel and look relaxed !
Head--lift your whole head, keep your chin slightly up and relax your jaw. Try not to look down at yourself while dancing. You don't get a good view and actually loose a lot of posture so what you do see is not an example of your best dancing. If you want to check what you are doing take a look in the mirror.
Hands--If you already have beautiful hands from another form of dance (flamenco, bhangra…..) then stick with what you know. Otherwise it helps if you pretend you are holding anything between a marble and a tennis ball between your thumbs and second fingers. I do not try to force a particular hand position onto my students. As a general rule if it looks pretty you can do it--what I hate is "ice-cream scoop" hands--they never look pretty ! The best way to make your hands look pretty is to watch them. If you take time to admire them yourself others will follow, I know I do it all the time ! Imagine you are the model on a shopping channel and you have to place your hand on a fat velvet cushion all day while wearing huge diamond rings (I wish) - now look how your wrist is soft and your fingers interesting and suddenly you wan to admire your fingers. That's what I want !
Some men find this hand position doesn't suit them and I would encourage them to try to imagine they are holding a pack of cards longways between their thumb and other fingers, this seems to provide the right level of tension without being "pretty".
Recap Posture
Feet a comfortable distance apart, knees soft, hips in neutral, tummy relaxed, ribs up,
shoulders back, arms soft, interesting hands, chin up and smile !
Quick ways to Improve your Posture
If you know your posture is a problem then check these common but easy to solve problems :
Do you carry a heavy bag on only one shoulder ? Get a two shouldered bag or swap every few days--and stop the children carrying heavy school bags on one shoulder too.
Do you carry a baby on just one hip--most of us do. Again try swapping around
Do you try to hide or shrink ?, tall ladies often put their head to their chins or drop their shoulders--be proud to be tall !
How do you walk ?, try walking with the posture above (ok, you can drop the pretty hands). At first it might seem odd, but it will help you strengthen up. Plus people seem to be attracted to others with good posture--if you are lucky you might turn a few heads !
Start thinking about how you sit, walk up stairs, sleep.
If you have a serious problem then invest in a trip to see a Chiropractor !
Breathing
Breathing for every style of Middle Eastern Dance and Bellydance should be NORMAL--that means you should never puff and pant or get out of breath. That does not mean that the classes aren't hard work, but you don't need to prove how hard you are working by getting out of breath. There are some very clever ways of breathing with the dance moves that some people love, but I rarely teach these and believe that most people can find the best way to breath with their movements themselves. Try to stay calm and relaxed for the whole lesson and breath normally. It can help by practicing while singing nursery rhymes (not something I make you do in class). As part of the warm up we do movements that help us relax into our breathing and at the end of the class we take a moment for a few deep breaths to centre ourselves. Use this at anytime during the lesson if you feel yourself getting out of breath. I'm also a strong believer in deep, cleansing breathing. Try to do a set of three ten times a day and see the difference it can make. When starting classes most people will find themselves getting out of breath during a session, but remember that one reason that people like to see Bellydancers is that we make it look so easy. It looks easy because we are relaxed. We are relaxed because we are breathing !
Aching and Hurting
After your first lesson your may well find yourself aching. This is perfectly normal and to be expected of any new activity. You have probably used muscles that haven't been used for a while or in a way you are not used to using them. This is most common for tummy muscles, which may feel like tummy cramps. A bath after class will help, or you may want to re-do the warm up the next morning to help get yourself moving. What I hope you do not do is hurt. Nothing we do should ever make you hurt and if you do then I need to hear from you as soon as possible. The main reasons for hurting are not warming up properly, having an old injury or problem, or not getting the posture right. This doesn't necessarily mean that you cant keep coming to class, but we need to solve any problems early on.
Freedance
My groups know that I place a huge amount of importance on Freedance and Improvisation. Middle Eastern dance is not generally a choreographed dance form, but a way of people dancing together in a relaxed and casual way. Even American style Bellydance is designed to be performed in restaurant settings where planning is only useful up to a point and the dancer needs to change direction or movement quickly to fit the setting. I teach the movements and then help you to learn how to arrange them to fit the music, setting, mood and your body to give you the chance to create something stunning and very personal to you. This is not an easy thing to do but I strongly believe that starting early gives you the best chance to learn how to be creative and enjoy dancing in this style. You can find out more about this later in this section. Please practice your freedance right from the start by getting into the habit of putting on some music when you get home and adlibbing--this is also very good for you !
Two Terms to Learn Two Things
One reason I like students to do 20 weeks in beginners and improvers (30 in a drop in) is that I strongly believe that this dance needs two very different skills, Technique and Self Expression. Most people who come to class are prepared for learning one, but rarely do they expect to have to learn both. For example when I teach a Figure 8 some of the class will get the movements, the muscles needed, the balance and the isolation, while others will understand the feelings behind it, the flow and the energy. By leaving the movement for a couple of months and then returning to it most students understand their strengths and weaknesses and can focus on the part of the move that they do not do naturally, giving us much more rounded dancers at the end of the two terms. If after 20 weeks or so , you don't feel you understand this concept then please come and chat with me.
Students who like Technique
Students who tend to find the technique side easier can be more aware of how their body works, their joints and muscles and how flexible they are. They can happily practice movements to almost any type of music or even without music on and find all my talk of energy, ebb and flow a load of hippy nonsense ! They learn best by having the move broken down to them and being able to see if they have it right.
Students who like Self Expression
These tend to hear the music and instantly want to dance. They tap their feet and want to move instinctively. They tell stories to themselves about the move and like the abstract ideas like a move being open or like water flowing. They find focusing on the muscles means they loose time with the music and its not so much fun. They can often copy a move having just seen it done once or twice and find describing what they are doing or making adjustments hard.
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