Does anyone have tips on belly-dancing better?

Question

what should I wear, and what kind of music, what kind of exercise training would make me a better dancer? Is there anyplace in MI I can take lessons?

Answer 1

the best tip i can give you -- (better than the what to wear or what music to play), is what exercise you should do, and that is deep controlled regular breathing. bellydancing is a very oxgen-needing dance. you'd have to move fast without breathing in spurts, otherwise you'll run out of air and tire very soon. learn to control your breathing-- slow, deep, regular-- no matter what movements you do, fast or slow.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

The primary thing about bellydancing is practice. Lots of practice. Get to know how to isolate your hips and chest from each other. Yoga helps increase flexibility...which doesn't hurt. Have fun. As for classes, of course there are classes in Michigan!!! The thing that'll help you most is to go to a class where a teacher can give you advice and open up new steps and such.
As for what to wear, comfy stretchy pants, a sports bra or top that bares your midriff, and a jingly hip scarf are all you really need. It's important to be able to see your mid section so you can see if you are executing a move correctly. A jingly hip scarf will help you see what's going on in the hip and thigh area. That's the sort of thing I wear to class regularly. It's also a good idea to have some soft dance shoes because loose beads are not fun to step on!

Answer 4

Pilate's and yoga are great workouts to do to improve belly dancing.

But the one thing that helps me is being around other belly dancers.
Go to a class, learn from the other women in the class not only the teacher. Belly dance is a dance about a women's body and the joy of life it gives.

Watch a video of other dancers on www.youtube.com or by a DVD.
Here are a few great videos:
Belly dance superstars
Fat Chance Belly Troupe
http://www.fcbd.com/
http://homepage.mac.com/tijjster/iMovieTheater11.html
(You can by most of these on amazon.)

As for a class check this web site out.
http://www.shira.net/about.htm

Enjoy and keep shimming!
:)

Answer 5

If you are not afriad to show off your figure, a sort of bikini top-only with a little hangover so on the bottom half it looks like a flowy shirt... then for the lower body you should wear a wrap around skirt that looks like it has a slit on the side where your leg/calf will show... wear a belly chain, anklets, dangly earings...
as for music, whatever has a good, fast, upbeat rhythm, that is what the pros wear and dance to. "Hips don't lie" by Shakira has a couple good parts for belly-dancing.
practice makes perfect, and I know its called BELLY dancing but if you move your hips right, it becomes flawless

From a pro who knows...

Answer 6

There are lots of things you can do to improve. :)

Lessons are definately the best. I don't have any idea about teachers in your state, but if you haven't already, try searching for bellydance instructors in your state on google. It took me a little while, but that's where I found my teacher.

If there are no classes anywhere, order DVDs. Veena and Neena make bellydance instructional videos, and many other famous dancers sell DVDs of lessons also. Ansuya, my favorite dancer, sells a few as well.

As for excersize, you want to work on making yourself stronger and more flexible. Stretch often, and do some basic excersize, like crunches. I have a background in dance, so I didn't have to work specifically on strengthening muscles and flexibility, but I've heard it's helpful for people.

You can wear anything you want to for practice. Most of the time, stretchy clothes like pajama bottoms and a tanktop are a great combo. Or, you could wear a wide, loose skirt, like those pretty Indian style crinkly skirts. Just wear whatever you like, and lets you see what you're doing. For dance lessons, each teacher has a different preference on what their students should wear.

As for music, you can dance to anything. I like Arabic pop, but I actually like dancing to American pop better. Anything with a beat you can dance to, and in fact, it doesn't even necessarily need a beat for some types of bellydance, like slow tribal. Shakira's 'Hips Don't Lie' is a great song to dance to, as well as her 'Ojos Asi' which is 'Eyes Like Yours' on her CD Laundry Service. If you need any music, you can feel free to Email me at [e-mail] and I'll send you a few tracks.

As a last tip, try finding and watching a few of Shakira's videos, especially the ones for Hips Don't Lie and Ojos Asi. She bellydances in both and you can get some ideas. Watching Shakira dance was what inspired me to learn to bellydance to begin with. :)

Answer 7

try unconventional belly dancing music. Loreena mckennitt is really fun to dance to, try to stretch a lot, belly dancing is about being able to move your body in ways that ... inspire. :) try ballet type stretches and exercises (callanetics is a good one ) or just move your hips and belly when you brush your hair in the morning. try not to move your shoulders at all. get a sarong and a tank top to start with, you can move to the bells and jewelry later. get used to the movements before you spend the money for stuff you might not even like doing. good luck!

Answer 8

Go with what makes you feel right, trust your intuition as let the moves come from your soul...good luck

Answer 9

shorter topps

Answer 10

Since you had several questions I'll just divy this up into several answer sections.

WHAT SHOULD I WEAR?
What you wear really depends on three things:
1. Your comfort level (how much of your body do you feel comfortable showing).
2. Whether it is something your going to wear for practice, performance, or both.
3. What style of bellydance you are doing.
For Practice:
If you are just wondering what to wear to practice in class I would recommend wearing exercise pants (or just stretchy pants, or dance pants but they cost more usually), and a top. You could wear an exercise bra if you like showing off your stomach or a t-shirt if you prefer not to. You may also want to consider a dance unitard. There are specific ones made for bellydance in which the midriff section is a mesh instead of the solid cotton like the rest of the unitard. On top of this general attire you may also want to wear a broomstick or circle skirt of some type if you feel uncomfortable with your legs showing or just like to see that more complete costume look. Also, most dancers will eventually obtain some type of hip wrap. You can use just a basic fringed shawl like you frequently see at prom time or you can invest in a more expensive hip wrap with coins and/or beads that eccentuate movement not only physically but also aurally as you can often hear what your hips are doing. That can enforce learning the movement. In class, many people dance barefoot but you may also dance in your socks or some type of dance shoe. You may want to take into consideration the kind of floor you are dancing on. Rarely will classes be conducted on carpeting but if they are a dance shoe or at least sockes is recommended. On smooth concrete or tile floor you may want to dance barefoot so that your feet can grip the generally smooth slippery surface. If the floors are wood it really depends on your preferance and how worn the wood floor is.
For Performance:
For a performance you will likely wnat to wear a \n actuall costume. There are several factors that will determine what type of costume you want to wear:
1. The style of belly dance you are perfroming (Caberet/Nighclub Styles - like Am. Cam, Raqs Sharqi, Turkish, Lebanese, etc... or Tribal/Fusion Styles - Like American Tribal Style(ATS), Gothic, Ethno Fusion, Gyspy Fusion, Spanish Fusion, etc... or Even a Historical/Folkloric Style - such as a Ghawaaze piece, raqs baladi, raqs assaya, a rennaissance reenactment attempt, debke, etc... or even a Fantasy Style such as Pharonic Style, Snake Dances, Star Trek/Orion Slave Girl, Star Wars Princess Leia Slave Girl, Harem Fantasy(i.e. I dream of genie and other politically incorect hollywood fantasy stuff), etc...)
2. How much you feel comfortable showing.
3. How much you are willing to spend.
4. How often you plan to use it.

If you are doing a Caberet/Nightclub Style you will likely want one of two types of costume. The first is the ever popular two-piece bedlah which often is "lovingly" refered to as the bra and belt set. The style varies slightly with style and price range but overall remains fairly similar. The bedlah is generally covered in beads and sequins and often has lots of beaded fringe or may have highly decorative designs done in rhinestones and jewels with smaller amounts of fringe or even no fringe. The second type is more covered and popular for those who like more coverage. This type is a tight often stretchy dress that is frequently just as heavily decorated as the two piece bedlah. The dresses often have cutouts around the hip and abdominal area which are filled in with a flesh colored mesh or felsh colored material similar to that of the rest of the dress material. These dresses tend also to have decoration around the bust and hips but may lack the beaded finge or may have only limited amounts of fringe. Another option for a more covered look with a two piec bedlah is to simply wear them over a tight stretchy dress. Some dresses also come with a removable hip belt so that you can still have the heavily fringed hip belt with the dess look. Oh also, the two piece bedlah is ofeten accompanied by a gauzy type of flowing skirt or a straight stretchy type skirt with a slit. This also varies slightly with style and price.

If you are doing tribal or fusion styles you often wear a full skirt in a cotton sturdy fabric which may be decorated with exotic indian influenced patterns. Sometimes the skirts are brighly colored esmecially in Spanish and Gypsy fusins but often they are a plain black accented with bright colors either decorations on the skirt or an overskirt in a bright color. Tribal styles will generally wear a tassel belt while other fusion styles may wear more coin belts of cloth fringe shawls. Tribal style often uses either a choli top or a tribal style bra which is decorated in "kutchi" jewelry usually. This bra top may be toped with a turkish macedonian vest or a ghawazee vet or coat. Tribal style dancers often wear harem pants under their full skirts. They also frequently wear a turban on their heads. They use lots of heavy jewelyry to add to their look. Gothic style is different often utilizing tribal pieces and looks but worn more or less in the two piece bedlah fashion. Check out Rachel Brice if you don't get what I'm talking about she is a great example of what gothic bellydancers like to wear.

For historical and folkloric performace pieces you will genreally wear something that is moch more conservative. Beladi dresses are common in many different folkloric performances, you may use a thobe al-nashr if doing a khaleegy piece or a Ghawazee coat with pantaloons and blouse if doing a historical piece (even though it's not exactly historiacally correct it's just what's frequenty done) it's actuall y OK for diong a ghawazee piece although if your doing a modern ghawazee they wear more or less a fringed type loose dress. There's also a unique costume they wear which you could probably see by doing a search for the Maazin family (a famous Ghawazee family). The folkloric dances vary from country to country, region to region, so there are many different costumes that could be worn.

For fantasy costumes you need only think of I dream of Genie and other such hollywood nonsense.

WHAT KIND OF MUSIC?
You can dance to anykind of music you like when practicing but you may recieve mixed reviews if you try to do authentic Egyptian raqs sharqi to Shakira. Although it is fun and easy to dance to American pop I highly recommend accostoming your ear to middle eastern music. Start out with Arabic pop like Amro Diab's ya nour el ain (also called the habibi song by non arabic speakers), amarain, tamally ma'ak, etc... or Hakim. You could try picking up a DJ Jim (aslo known as DJ Mix Master on earlier cd's) CD which has a mixture of Arabic pop. A popular musician now is Ruby (although I don't really care for her many love her). Or you could try the Best arabian Album ever series I think their up to 12 now or something. After aquiring a tast for these try moving on to classics like fardid al-atrache, warda, om kalthoum, fairuz, etc... these are enduring classics that many of bellydances greates legends danced to and are still loved today for their masterful musical quality.

WHAT KIND OF EXERCISE TRAINING WOULD MAKE ME A BETTER DANCER?
Well pilates is the dancers workout. It does give you the longer leaner muscle that most dancers look for but personally I think it's a waste if your taking dance lessons since it's already the same exercise you will get in class. Yaga can also be benificial because the stretches will give you more flexibility. However agian in your dance class you will generally use some of the yoga postitions that are most beneficial to bellydance. In genreal I'd say write down what you do in class and then do the same at home whenever you can. The part that will make you a better bellydancer is to practice bellydancing. Although if you have an interest in floorwork or turkish drops you may what to do exercises to increase your back strength abdominal strenght and thigh strength. This will also benifit your dancing in general but you need much greater strength to do the floorwork and turkish drops than the other work. Also doing abdominal isolations now and continuing them frequently will help you to do abdominal tricks like stomach roles/waves/flutters/etc... But basically just practice, practice, practice!

IS THERE ANYPLACE IN MI I CAN TAKE LESSONS?
YES, Yes, and yes! I know there are some fabulous instructors in MI. If you have not located one yet try looking on the following sites which have great directories and great information for bellydancers.

http://www.middleeasterndance.net - my site! Has a directory for dancers around the world and listings are continually being added. Also has a lot of other great resources.
http://www.shira.net - one of the oldest most well respected sites on the web which has continually offered great information directories and support for bellydancers.
http://www.bhuz.com - Another great directory but also a discussion board in which you can ask for help with almost anything as well as recommendations for teachers.

Check out some of my previous answers to see a more extensive list of resources or e-mail me with questions.