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Last Friday we had the honor of visiting a local girl scout troop meeting here in Gainesville, Florida to provide a short introductory lesson in Tribal Belly Dance, and give a mini-show. We had a group of about 10 people, some members of the troop and a few of their mothers, and together we went through a 30 minute lesson.
The girl scouts joined us for a group photo after the lesson!
During the lesson the students warm up, learn some basic isolations, and then learn 2 tribal belly dance moves. These moves are taught with their associated cues, and practiced briefly as a group. After both moves are covered, the students get a chance to try them out in the tribal improvised dance format when the instructors lead a short dance using the moves and isolations covered in the lesson.
After the lesson was completed, there was a brief question and answer session, and Julia and I (Heather) gave a very short performance in order to demonstrate how the larger vocabulary of tribal belly dance moves are used to create an improvised group dance. We had a great time!
A quick pose during the mini-show.
CAMEL (combo):
Basic Cue:
- Pose- Right foot comes forward slightly with pointed toe, right hand at shoulder level with palm forward (arm is bent keeping the elbow at the side of the body), left hand down.
- Combo- immediately after the camel is completed, the cue for the torso rotation cue will be given.
Variations:
None in Level 1
Note: To avoid confusion, in level 1, the camel will almost exclusively be used as the full combo. A rare exception would be in the case of the song (or slow section of a song) ending – you could just go into the camel pose and end there rather than feeling the need to complete the full combo. In future levels, the camel pose alone may be used on more occasions as a move by itself.
GHAWAZEE STEP (combo):
Basic Cue:
- Step- arms in ghawazee position ( a little lower than second, slightly more rounded, palms between facing the audience and facing the floor), very bent kneed posture, slightly wider than usual, step out to the right with a large loose exaggerated ¾ hip, right hand flips up
- Combo- begin an 8 count of basic ghawazee steps and ‘yip’ on count 7 (count 7 should occur on the right side) indicating that the next section of the combo will begin on the 1 of the following 8 count.
Variations:
The combination consists of 3 parts (in level 1) – the step, the ¼ turn section of the combo, and the
½ turn section of the combo. They do not all have to be included each time the move is cued. They also do not have to be done immediately after one another.
Your options are:
- STEP ONLY – just cue the ghawazee step portion … do not yip do go into the combo.
- STEP plus ¼ TURNs – cue the ghawazee step, when you are ready, start an 8 count in your head and cue the combo w/ a yip … this will move into an 8 count of ¼ turns to the left to the corners of the room/stage. When these finish, the move reverts back to the original ghawazee step. You can then move from here to any other moves you wish without cueing the half turns.
- STEP plus ¼ TURNs plus ½ TURNs – at any point (during the same lead) after the ¼ turns (even after doing other moves) you may return to the ghawazee step, when you are ready, start an 8 count in your head and cue the combo w/ a yip … this will move into an 8 count of ½ turns to the left to the corners of the room/stage (back-stage left, front-stage right) and then reverts back to the ghawazee step.
- At this point the combo is finished and if you were to cue the combo again it would begin again at ¼ turns (in level 1)
NOTE: The simplest way to cue the entire combo is to do it in immediate succession – 1-2 8 counts of ghawazee step, 8 counts of ¼ turns, 1-2 8 counts of ghawazee step, 8 counts of ½ turns … part of the reason for the allowed break in the middle, though, is that it is a very long combo and it gives you a chance to respond to the music rather than being locked into the combo if the music changes, but still have the option of picking up where you left off.
We have a really fun weekend ahead of us! This Saturday (9/17) we’ll be hosting a workshop – Super-Basic Introduction to Belly Dancing with Fire – and a Hafla!
The Workshop
The workshop will introduce torch adaptations for a small collection of tribal belly dance moves, that will allow students to give the torches a try during the hafla after the workshop if they are interested and ready.
There will also be a primer on fire safety and basic considerations for using the torches. We’ll even have a few pairs of spare torches (from our weekly fire class) available to share during the workshop and at the hafla so that everyone can have a chance to try them! (with supervision, of course)
For more information about the workshop, check out the Facebook event listing: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112031548902891
The Hafla
The party is really the fun part! This is our second hafla, and we hope that folks had such a good time last time, that we get even more folks this time (especially since the weather is a little cooler now). The students from the Intro to Fire – FIRE PALMS – Level 1 course that is just finishing up will have an opportunity to show their friends and family what they’ve been working on.
In addition to that, students from the workshop earlier that day will get a chance to try the torches out in a supervised environment. Julia and Heather will be performing, and we’ll hopefully have a guest performer or two as well!
For more information on the hafla, see the Facebook event listing here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102525563188302
And remember, if you are interested in lighting up at the hafla, for safety reasons please wear clothing made of natural fibers (such as cotton) and have your hair pulled up and off the face. (Polyester melts and loose hair is risky! Safety first!)
Hello everyone!
We’re very happy to announce that we’ve expanded our class card offerings. Save more with a larger class card!
| Number of Classes | Price | Price Per Class |
| 1 | $10 | $10 |
| 6 | $50 | $8.33 |
| 12 | $80 | $6.67 |
To learn more about our classes, visit the class page.
This week in the all level class class we went over the Torso Rotation and Arabic Chest Drop.
TORSO ROTATION
Basic Cue: Reach left arm out at an angle (chest height).
Variations:
- None in level 1.
Notes:
- Be sure that the back portion of this move is a standing cobra, not a chest slide back, a layback, or a backbend.
- In future levels a backbend may be added to the standing cobra, but not in level 1, and even when backbends do start to be added, the initial arch of the upper back from the standing cobra position MUST happen first and fully.
ARABIC CHEST DROP
Basic Cue:
- Start from standard Arabic.
- During flat portion of Arabic (which will be first downbeat of Arabic Chest Drop), bring arms down palms down (instead of palms up as usual) and come down harder than usual.
Cue back to Arabic:
- On downbeat (which will be Flat portion of Arabic) Flip palms back to palms up and come down lighter than for Arabic Chest Drop.
Variations:
- None
Timing Notes:
Our timing for the Arabic Chest Drop is given below (this may be different from other tribes you have seen or worked with).
| Beat | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Move | Flat | Ball | Flat | Ball | Flat | Drop | Drop | Drop |
