Belly Dancing Basics

Series Summary

What comes to mind when you think of belly dancing? Hootchy-kootchy? Shimmy and shake? With a debated origin, modern belly dancing has been adapted from several different historic folk dances. The term itself is westernized, but generally refers to a traditional Middle Eastern dance form. Known as raqs sharqi in Arabic, belly dancing is based on one of the oldest social dances in the world, though its modern theatrics and costume are merely adaptations. In addition to its entertainment value, belly dancing actually possesses some physical and mental health benefits. Dancing in general is not only a good cardiovascular workout, but it also emphasizes muscular isolations. Originally developed for the female body, it is an art that has been perfected for thousands of years. Belly dancing lessons have recently gained popularity in the western world. In this free dancing video series, a dance expert will teach you the foundations of belly dancing that will greatly aid future belly dancing endeavors. Learn the history of belly dance, proper attire, breathing and muscle isolation techniques, as well as balance exercises. Find out how facial expressions can affect your performance, and see a few belly dancing warm ups. Dancing veteran or novice, everyone can enjoy the excitement of belly dancing.

Video Transcript

"Hi. My name is Tara of Belly Dance by Tara, and in the Series One, we're going to get you started with belly dance. In this series you're going to learn a bunch of different things from posture to breathing, isolations, history of belly dance, about these hip scarf’s, coin belts. You're also going to have your warm up and cool down which is very important in belly dance. Overall, you want to make sure you’re keeping your posture with belly dance when you are getting started. Another thing you want to make sure you do is always warm up and you always cool down. And you know your body best, so make sure you do not hurt yourself. If any time throughout the entire series or the set of eight that you feel any pain, just please stop. You know your body, so don't push it. This dance is meant for you to just have fun, enjoy, breathe and relax with. Something that you can perfect into your own unique style. So in this series, I hope you get a lot more information about the history and posture, breathing. We'll give you some exercising, exercises for balance, and we just want to make sure that you do keep that posture throughout the entire eight series. Have fun with it."