The Warm Up, or Tree VS. Shrub

Have you ever seen Girl, Interrupted? There is a scene in that movie where all of the girls of the sanatorium are taking a ballet class together. The teacher is overly optimistic, and even zen like, in her presentation, fully embodying a 1960's "chill-out" vibe. She proceeds to tell the girls to sway their raised arms gently as if they were the limbs of a tree in a breeze. One of the girls, becoming upset from an external source, collapses on the floor and begins to cry. The teacher, ever smiling, asks her what kind of tree she can be down on the floor. The girl replies with a classical answer, "I'm a f***ing shrub, alright!".

Sometimes, I feel like I am just a shrub too.

And usually, I feel most shrubish when I have not properly stretched before practicing. After a rushed series of stretches I want to hop right into practicing, but more often than not, find myself just wanting to sit or really slow down after about 5 minutes. I cannot possibly stress the importance of a good stretch before you begin belly dancing (even if you are just practicing in your home), a good warm-up is essential.

The perfect warm-up combines both quick stretches and light cardio work to get blood moving into your limbs before you start dancing. You do not want to stretch for too long in any one pose, this sends the wrong message to your muscles. Long stretches tell your muscles to relax and lengthen = slow down. Short, deep stretches combined with cardio "wakes-up" your muscles and gets them ready to work.  I should be clear that when I say long stretches I do not mean to say that you should not stretch deeply, by all means do. Just don't hold your pose for too long. The key is using dynamic stretches that are controlled and work through a full range of motions. Basically, you want to make your muscles as "unstiff" as possible. Remember, Habibis, stiff muscles lead to injuries.

My basic warm up consists of three distinct categories which I have found are the most compatible with belly dance. Each section lasts about 5 minutes and they are broken down like this...

1) Basic Stretches

2) Isolations and Core Training

3) Glutes, Shimmies. Legs

and a bonus round of Basic Stretches at the end.

Whoa, nearly 20 minutes for just a warm-up?? YES! This is so important, especially if you are teaching beginner level classes. Most of the beginner or Level 1 students that I have taught have little to no dance experience, and belly dance uses all new muscles groups that they may not be used to moving...or even really knew were there! So, yes, take it slow, work on strengthening those muscles then move on to the rest.

Section 1: Basic Stretches:

This initial part of the warm-up is to engage the muscles of your body and get them ready to move. Traditionally my warm-ups are a combination of motions which alternate from fast to slow. Stretch out your "big" muscles in this section (legs and arms) to allow for greater flexibility when working smaller muscles in the next section.

Section 2: Isolations and Core Training:

Now that your muscles are not nearly as stiff as they were a few minutes ago, move on to more challenging. Pops and locks, pulses, undulations, umi practice, and chest work is what I focus on in this section. For additional core stimulation, add some crunches and time controlled leg lifts.

Section 3: Glutes, Shimmies, and Legs:

This is what my students loving refer to as "torture time". This section can be the most challenging for beginners so make sure you provide alternate exercises that your students can perform if they are having difficulties. Squats, glute repetitions and alternations, and shimmies done at various speeds both while standing and sitting, provide an intense muscle engagement. This section is why I like to add another round (usually a shorter version) of the Basic Stretches to "loosen" up those muscles that just got pounded.

This combination of sections preps students for drill work better than others that I have done. Also, if you plan ahead, add the moves that you will be drilling in your class to your warm up (I usually do this in section 2), this opens the student to the muscle memory of a move which will be used later in class.

Hopefully after reading this, when going through your own warm-ups, you will no longer feel like a shrub - but instead, will feel as tall as a tree and energized to boot.

Happy Dancing, Habibis
-Katya

Golden Era Belly Dance

As a Belly Dancer I feel as if I am challenged to keep pushing myself  for better and better combinations, harder footwork and floorwork, more impressive music, and above all a greater stage presence. While we should all strive to be our best dancer, I sometimes feel lost in all of the technicalities. I find myself dissecting performances and repeatedly drilling combinations until I feel frustrated. And my poor students! They also get to join in the fun of almost hip-hop level pops and locks, while doing a basic Egyptian and shimmying! It gets to be too much at times.

When I get into this little dancer funk I tend to think back to when I first started Belly Dancing. How mysterious it was. I like to remember how strange the music sounded to me as I clumsily tried to move my body to it. I sometimes think that the more we dance the more we tend to analyze what we do and somehow start to enjoy it less…maybe that is just me.
One of the best ways for me to emerge from this dance version of “writer’s block” is to watch some of my favorite clips of Golden Era Belly Dancers. Naemet Mokhtar, Soraya Salem, Zieinat Elwi, and Samia Gamal , to name just a few, with their luscious shimmies and gorgeous attitudes seem to tell me to "just dance!" I first encountered these dancers during the summer 1999 when I became friends with a girl named Sahra. Her family had recently moved from Saudi Arabia and her mother had an amazing collection of Middle Eastern movies that we would watch together. I remember being so captivated by the dancers in those films. They seemed to be effortlessly wonderful! Those dancers created a tradition and style of Belly Dance which we would later refer to as the Golden Era of Belly Dance.

These dancers radiated Orientalist mystique with 1950′s party girl attitudes. To watch them, it would seem as if they have removed all of the "extras" of Belly Dance and left it raw and in its purest form.

In a lot of ways a part of me feels as if Belly Dancing really was better back then. Yet, I know that is not entirely honest of me. Belly Dancers of this generation have simply perpetuated the evolution of Belly Dance by developing new styles of the dance such as Gothic Belly Dance, Tribal Fusion, and American Tribal Style Belly Dance. Not to mention the props that Belly Dancers have come to use over the years; fan veils, goblets, swords, fire(!) these things have all contributed to a new era of Belly Dance.

And somehow I think that our Golden Era divas just might be proud of us. For more information about Golden Era Belly Dance, check out this post at worldbellydance.com to learn more about the history of Belly Dance and their picks for The Top 10 Belly Dance Legends of the 20th Century.

Happy Dancing, Habibis
-Katya