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Beginning Belly Dance takes three sessions to complete. Some of the more difficult moves are covered every session, but other moves are session specific. Some students choose to stay in Beginning Belly Dance longer than three sessions. Huraiva's recommendation is to advance to Intermediate Belly Dance when a student has mastered at least 75% of all the moves covered in Beginning Belly Dance. You can download a checklist of all the beginner level moves to help you gage your progress here. Huraiva discusses a brief history of belly dance, the many styles of belly dance practiced in the world today and three different Middle Eastern rhythms often found in belly dance music as well as teaching basic movements that you will build on as you progress through the levels. Performance opportunities will be provided, but are never required. For those students who wish to perform, the costume for beginning belly dance students is black pants, a midriff top and a coin belt. The focus of Beginning Belly Dance is circular movements, but many other movements are taught as well. A complete list is included below.
Please see the Music Recommendations page for links to both songs and albums available for purchase from Amazon. Additionally on the Beginner DVDs page you will find DVD recommendations for practicing at home.
Rhythms covered in Beginning Belly Dance: Masmoudi, Maksoum and Fallahi
Moves covered in Beginning Belly Dance include the following:
Proper dance posture
Pretty hands
Tribal torture
Belly dancer second position
Low second
T-rex
Fifth position
Temple arms
L arms
Arabesque
S arms
Pharonic arms
Hip frame
Aladin arms
Egyptian headache
Genie arms
Side sweep
Snake arms
Medusa arms
Fish tail
Low snake arms
Persian arms
Swells
Tribal snake arms
Arm circles inward
Together
Alternating
Arm circles outward
Together
Alternating
Arm circles one in one out
Shoulder thrust
Shoulder shimmy
Wrist rotation
Floreo
Finger ripple
Hand ripple
Incense rising/falling
Suhaila arms
Delilah’s cobra arms
Slides
Twist/shimmy
Lifts (soft and accented)/shimmy
Circles w/arms
Crescents
Unweighted hip twist
Unweighted hip lift (Choochoo in tribal)
Unweighted hip drop
Hip bump
Tuck/drop
Omi
Accented tucks and drops
Vertical pyramid
Horizontal pyramid
Pelvic wheel
Unweighted bicycle hip circles
Weighted bicycle hips
Typewriter
Slides
Arch/contract
Rib horizontal circle
Lift/drop
Vertical rib cage circle
Accented rib lift
Accented rib drop
Pyramid
Rib cage wheel
Single lift hip walk
John Wayne
Single hip down walk
Basic Egyptian – tribal and cabaret
Move choochoo forward, back
Hip bumps moving to side
Stepping w/hip circles
Step side w/crescent or circle ½
Hip circle pivot turn
Double lift hip walk
¾ shimmy (Ghawazee in tribal)
Marching shimmy
Scooching shimmy
Chassez/step ball change
Cross step
Rocking step (Turkish in Tribal )
Rocking step cha cha (Turkish foot change in tribal)
Grapevine
½ Grapevine
Point Cross
Box step/four corners
Double basic Egyptian
Tush push
Walking bicycle hips
Neck stretches
Slide
Circle
8s
Hair tossing – ½ circle and circle and ½
2pt turn
Pivot turn
Step turn
Paddle turn
3 pt turn
4 pt turn
Tornado turn –crossing front
Tornado turn – crossing back
Turkish 2 pt turn
Basic Egyptian 2 pt turn
E-mail Huraiva at huraiva@huraivaalimah.com
