Belly Dancing Information
Lotus Tribal Belly Dancing
Archive for February, 2009
Can you get belly dancing lessons emailed to you?
Author: admin
I really want to belly dance! I was wondering if anybody knew if you can get belly dancing lessons emailed to you for free. If so, please let me know the site. Thanks!
yep, go to http://www.marzino.com
good luck
read comments (2)What is a good belly dancing workout video?
Author: admin
Belly dancing workouts or strip workouts seem to be all the rage these days. Does anyone know any really good ones that burn lots of calories?
Yes, her name is Yasmina. Here's the link to her instructional videos. http://www.joyofbellydancing.com/video2.htm
Belly dancing by nature burns lots of calories.
belly dancing
Author: admin
wonderul belly dancingStomach Exercises to Eliminate Belly Fat
Author: admin
Now that spring seems to finally be back in our lives, many people are concerned about losing those few extra pounds of chub which stand between them and a sculpted midriff. Those folks who let themselves go a little in the winter months may be working overtime now that it is April and thoughts of bikinis are dancing in their heads. The good news is that there are, of course, stomach exercises to speed along the process. Some are better than others, including these few, which are good specifically for trimming belly fat. As with any workout routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury.
Hip Lift
For this stomach exercise, you will need to lie on your back on a flat surface, such as the floor. Use a mat or towel to cushion your spine. Put your arms at your sides with palms facing up to the ceiling. Put your legs straight up in the air so that the soles of your feet are facing the ceiling and your legs make about a ninety degree angle with your torso. Keep your knees unbent and as straight as possible. Now, contract your ab muscles so that it feels like your belly button is being pulled toward your spine, while at the same time gently lifting your hips off the floor. Raise your hips to height of a few inches, keeping your legs extended straight upward. Hold this position, then slowly lower your hips back to the floor. Repeat for an entire set.
Seated Torso Twist
Stay on the floor for this stomach exercise, getting into a seated position. Bend your knees so that your feet are flat on the floor. Position your feet about hip width apart. Extend your arms straight out in front of you, interlocking your fingers. Contract your abdominals and lean back about forty-five degrees. Holding the contraction, rotate your torso as far to one side as you are comfortably able. Use your abdominals to control this motion so that your upper body moves at once, do not lead with your arms. Remember to keep your arms in from of you with fingers locked– pretend you are aiming an imaginary gun. Once you have rotated as far as you feel comfortable, rotate back to center, then to the other side. Repeat these steps for an entire set. Take care to go slow and keep a controlled movement. Do not allow your momentum to twist you.
Jill Smi
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/stomach-exercises-to-eliminate-belly-fat-448492.html
I have a 7 year old daughter who would love to take belly dancing but I can't find a school who teaches this to kids. Please help.
I responded to your previous post about this so firt I'd recommend reading that answer but as to the post above about purchasing rania's bellydance fitness dvd I have to point out that these are NOT good instructionals! Do not buy these to learn bellydance! They are fusion videos designed for a workout not to learn dancing. The quality of instruction is not good at all. If you decide to purchase a dvd to learn, which I don't recommend in the first place, at least purchase a dvd that has quality instruction and focuses on teaching proper body alignment and positioning. This is extremely important and your daughter could experience injury if she does not learn this. Please think of your daughters safety and go with something like Suzanna Del Vecchio's Priscision Motion Workout. Again I'd like to stress that you should only use videos as a last resort and should try private lessons first if no classes are available. Some instructors may allow her into their adult classes but another suggestion is to take them with her at the adult classes and then you can have a fun activity for the two of you to share. You have to drive her there anyways and intructors are often more willing to enroll children if their parents will be participating as well.
I adore belly dancing. I think it’s the most beautiful form of dance out there and I really want to learn how to do it. What’s some good prep work? DVDs? There aren’t any classes near by, I’ve already checked.
Great Mr. Toooo Sexy. Come right over. Don't let the machine-gun toting cammo guys at the entrance gate dissuade you. Just keep on going if they tell you to stop.
You can find videos online, like on Amazon.com, that can show you the basics of bellydancing. Its really fun to do, especially in groups!
btw, are there any renaissance festivals near where you live? there are likely to be belly dancers there… and they might teach the dance! (I work at a ren. faire & one of the bellydancers there gives lessons)
what is the best belly dancing video?
Author: admin
I love to belly dance and used to take a class where i used to live. now i'm somewhere else and there aren't any classes offered. does anyone know some good belly dancing workout videos that i could use to continue my dancing? something with a few workouts and is challenging since i've already mastered the basics. i need something that will give me a good workout too. thank you!
If you want videos that are a good workout you might like to try "Bellydance Fitness Fusion for Everybody" by Suhaila.
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=743452186624&itm=4
You can look on Shira's website in her video reviews.
http://www.shira.net/reviews.htm
I am taking belly dancing classes and was wondering where I can get the costumes for cheap? I see websites but they either look fake or are too expensive. Can anyone help really need the costumes and supplies.
Ask your instructor if there are any local vendors that carry the items your looking for. In general bellydance stuff is not cheap! Expect to pay around $40 or more for a beaded or coined scarf. Sometimes people run deals so you can get them cheaper but that's a pretty standard going rate. Veils often come as a veil and skirt set and will probably start at around $60 for the set. Finger cymbals are anywhere from $20- $100 depending on the quality, size, style, and manufacturer. If your talking about the full on beaded and sequined costumes… you better be willing to spend at least $350. Anything less than that is probably an extremely poor quality and will need to be reinforced or modified. For fancier costumes with more decoration or unique design expect to pay over $500. If you don't want to spend that much I suggest buying used items off of somewhere like e-bay. You don
t get as many choices in size, color, or design but, you do get a better price (usually). If you don't have a local vendor on-line is probably the only way to go. I would suggest checking out some well known vendors such as dahlal international, tuquoise international, sheherezade imports, pink unicorn bellydance supply, cleopatra's closet.. (actually that last one might not be in business anymore). There are many different vendors. However, be aware that those are the types of prices you will have to be prepaired to pay unless you travel to somewhere like egypt where you can purchase higher end costumes for $250 as opposed to $500 or more.
In this instructional belly dancing video, you will learn how to perform undulation.
Duration : 0:1:59
Belly Dance Bloopers
Author: admin
What can I say? If it could happen, it did happen to me!
Just about every dancer out there has a blooper story to tell. Bloopers are almost like a right of passage and there are a lot of us out there that are seasoned!
Bloopers can happen for many reasons; like you forgot to check your costume and make sure your snaps and hooks are sewn on tightly. I mean, when you dance every weekend and perform 2 to 4 shows in a night your costumes will start to suffer. I had ten costumes that I checked and made sure they were ready to dance in. Than, I just started to let the âcostume checkâ slide a little. By appearance my costumes looked good but hidden from the general public were a few pins here and there. And that my friends is where the bloopers come to life.
I remember I was dancing for a recreational camp for kids and there had to be at least 200 kids ranging in ages from kindergarten up to teenagers all watching me perform. Before I knew it as I was doing my favorite turn, my back straps broke and there for a few seconds were my breasts bared for everyone to see. The younger kids didnât quite get what had happened but the older ones did. Fortunately I had my niece with me who pinned my back straps together and I went back out to continue my performance. To my dismay the group leaders were already leading the kids out of the room and only a few stayed to see me finish. I donât think I helped our community out much at that performance. To my knowledge they havenât invited any belly dancers back. Moral of the story: Check your snaps and hooks!
Weight fluctuation is another blooper waiting to happen. I learned the hard way that my daughterâs socks are not a good substitution for bra pads. I had lost weight and fixed one costume but not the other. I figured that socks would give me the boost I needed while being hidden from view. So I decided to wear the costume that I didnât fix first because what did I have to fear, I had my daughters socks. But socks as I found out have a mind of their own.
I was dancing for a huge group of Diplomats from Iran and our FBI at a local restaurant that I perform at. Everybody was yelling my name and clapping as I came out ready to dance the night away. And that was exactly what I was doing until I noticed a few grins and giggles from the audience. One man pointed to my bra and from my vantage point, my breasts and bra looked fine. But when I did a chest circle there to my horror was my daughterâs sock hanging down my right side. So I did what any professional would do, I pulled it out and threw it. Everybody laughed and applauded and I continued to dance with one big breast and one small breast. After the evening was over and everybody had left I went looking for my daughterâs sock. I couldnât find it anywhere and even had the wait staff (who were still in hysterics) help me look for it. But it was no where to be found. Weeks past and I forgot about the missing sock until the owner of the restaurant told me that my sock was given to the head diplomat as a gift and reminder of his stay here. So whoever took it had it framed and presented it to him. Also to go along with the sock were 5 video cameras that captured the infamous sock rolling down my right side. So moral of this story: bra pads!
Long skirts can be a bloopers best friend. I like my skirts long because I am short and if my skirts are just a little above my ankles they make me look even shorter. So the bottoms of my skirts get dirty and I have to wash them a lot. I had one particularly long skirt that I just loved. It was separate from my belt and I loved this because than I could mix and match to my hearts content. Well, one evening I wore my favorite skirt for a big dinner party at a nightclub I use to dance at. The family who had the dinner party filled most of the club. They had especially asked for me and I was very honored to dance for them. So the night began very innocently with me dancing around tables and on chairs. They even put me up on the tables a few times. Itâs amazing what your skirt can get caught on. There I was dancing and just finishing up my drum solo when I decided I wanted to end on stage. So I jumped down off the table and began to stroll over to the stage only to realize that my skirt didnât want to come with me. As my audience tried to get me unstuck my skirt somehow got pulled down and was close to my knees. (Thank God I had on matching underwear). Finally my skirt was pulled free and I gracefully pulled my skirt up and was able to finish the last minute of my show. The family loved the little drama and said that they would remember that night for a long time. The moral of this story: Stay on the stage and donât dance on tables!
Props can either be friend or foe. Sometimes I really believe my veil, cane or sword is on the side of the bloopers. You know how it is, you practice in the studio or home and everything goes great but as soon as you get out and perform something bizarre happens to your prop. I have often wondered if my props were possessed. Itâs amazing how your veil will get caught on your costume or how your cane flies out of your hand.
My sword was better behaved but would occasionally act up.
One evening in Fort Worth I was dancing in a very crowded restaurant and I was dancing with my cane. Everybody was enjoying themselves and the owner of the restaurant was sitting at a table not far from our little stage. I was twirling the heck out of my cane when to my surprise the cane flew out of my hand and landed on the restaurant owners lap. The whole restaurant applauded and yelled for more. So I slowly went up to the restaurant owner and asked for my cane and he gave it back to me with an amused look on his face. Fortunately for me my cane music was almost over and I didnât have to try for another amazing encore with my cane. So the moral of this story: If you mess up with your prop, make it look good!
The last of the bloopers are the hidden kind. You know, the kind that donât show themselves until you are on stage dancing and than you realize that the stage is uneven or worse you just stepped on something that feels very slimy. And letâs not forget the shrinking stage.
Letâs face it, when we get hired to dance at a party or event, we canât always check the stage out before hand. I remember when I was hired for a party and I asked how big was the space where I was dancing and they replied that it was a good sized space, at least half of a room. So I choreographed a dance accordingly to what I was told. Well, my stage was 4ft by 3ft. and by a raging fire in a fireplace with little kids sitting all around me. My choreography changed immediately and I was amazed that I didnât pass out from the heat.
The uneven stage is the one blooper that hides itself very well. I have been on stages that looked even but when I danced on them turned me into a lopsided sideshow. I remember at this one restaurant that whenever I would spin that I would slowly but surely spin into a table on the right side of the stage each time. I would stop at that table just before Iâd loose it. I finally asked the other dancers if they did the same thing and they all replied yes. Thank God! Who wants to be lopsided alone?
The slimy story gives me shivers up my spine so I think Iâll pass on it. Besides I think you can visualize the scenario without me giving you the details.
So these are just a few of my blooper stories. The one thing I realized throughout my 22 years in dance is that even though we all strive for perfection in our dance, the bloopers keep us grounded. Sometimes I think back and have to laugh at the dumb and embarrassing things that have happened to me. If you can laugh at yourself than you have just given yourself a wonderful gift. Laughter keeps us humble and it keeps us healthy. So keep on laughing and keep on dancing!
Leyla Najma
http://www.articlesbase.com/humor-articles/belly-dance-bloopers-102427.html