An Introduction to Belly Dancing

Bellydancing is an art form that dates back thousands of years. Bellydancing was often performed in Middle Eastern countries at weddings and it connected fertility and eroticism. There are many different styles of bellydance that come from many regions, including Lebanon, North Africa, Egypt, Iran, the Arabian Gulf, and Turkey.

Although in the Middle East there is a distinction between cabaret style bellydances and regional folk dances, in the West the term "bellydancing" refers to a mix of all the styles from all regions. Western bellydancing involves isolation movements, which includes the hips, neck, head, chest, shoulders, and hands.

There are also serpentine and undulating-wavelike motion-torso movements, and flirty movements.

In the West where there is limited knowledge of bellydancing, a new form of bellydancing has emerged, called American Tribal style, which combines costumes and movements from many different cultures.

Beginning bellydancers may want to stick with more basic costumes. A typical bellydancing costume consists of a bra and a hip belt over a long skirt, and oftentimes the hip belt has beads or bells attached to draw attention to the isolation movement of the hips. Certain types of bellydances also require finger cymbals, which can be fun, but also noisy.

Although there are many types of music to dance to, depending on what type of bellydancing you want to do, there are 12 basic bellydancing steps.

The first three steps are known as basic staccato hip moves, and they include the hip twist, hip bump (or hip thrust), and up and down hips. They are meant to be quick.

The next three steps are known as basic rolling hip moves, and they include hip figure eights (make a figure eight shape with your hips), basic hip circle, and vertical hip circle.

The next three steps are called basic ribcage circles, and they include the horizontal ribcage circle, the diagonal ribcage circle, and the vertical ribcage circle with undulation.

And the last three steps are the basic arm, shoulder, and head moves, and they include the arm waves, shoulder rotations with arm ripples (also known as snake arms), and the head slide.

Of course, all these movements take lots of practice, but once you get the hang of it, it is quite beautiful to watch.

References:

http://www.bellydancingvideo.com/core-belly-dance-moves.htm

http://www.venusbellydance.com/abt_bdance.htm