Belly Dancing Hip Isolations

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. Basic belly dancing moves can be combined in numerous ways to create a unique choreography. In this free belly dancing video series, a dance expert demonstrates several basic belly dancing movements. Learn hip, torso, and head isolations that will warm up your body, in addition to arm movements to incorporate into any dance routine. See different dance steps that include both footwork and arm positions. Whether keeping up your dance practice at home, or are just beginning to learn, use these videos to guide your way. Male or female, young or old, belly dancing is a fun and creative work out.

Video Transcript

"Now, we're going to work on your isolations for your dance. We're going to concentrate at this moment in your hip movements. Isolating the down part of your body. The position is very important. Be sure to keep your feet slightly apart and straight, tuck in your behind, bend your knees slightly and focus in your hips. So we go, working your right, hips to your right, center, working you left, hips to you left, center. And again, right, center, left, center, right, center, left, center. Now we're going to go away from the center. We go right and left. Out to your right, out to your left. And again, one and two and three and four. We're going to create now a hip circle with your right, back, left and front. When you go to your right, your weight is moving you right, back, even weighting your heels left, weighting your left, forward, even weight in the ball of your feet. So you go right, back, left, front, right, back, left, reverse, back, right, front, left, back, right, front, left, center, go to your right, left, right, center. We're going to create now a figure eight. We're going to go to back, that would be one, two, forward, back, three, four, forward. So you go one corner to the back, one, two corner to the front, two, three, back, forward four. One, two, three, four. So this is your figure eight, isolating for your dance. One more time. And you go back to your center and you go right, left, right, center."