Posts Tagged ‘Belly Dancing Fitness’

Get on Your Knees and Bellydance

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Bellydance is an exceptionally good workout for your entire body and is especially beneficial for your core. However, if you wish to intensify the exercise benefits for your legs, belly dance moves that utilize level changes and ‘floor work’ need to be added to your routines.

When you do belly dance moves that bend your knees and lower your center of gravity, your leg muscles get increased activity. To further intensify this effect you can do floor work, which is dancing while kneeling, sitting, or reclining on the floor. The deeper your level change and the closer to the floor you get, the more strenuous the leg exercise becomes (and the more difficult it is). Of course, as with all our belly dance moves, it’s always important to pay close attention to your body and not push yourself to the point of injury.

Many belly dance moves can be done either with the knees straight or with the knees bent. Bending your knees up and down as you do hip moves, torso isolations, and arm or upper body techniques, will add variety to your bellydance as well as target your leg muscles. Bending the knees to the point where one knee or both knees touch the ground brings you into the realm of floor work (best done on a carpet). While kneeling with both knees touching the ground you’ll notice the intensified effect in the upper legs and glutes as you do hip twists, shimmies, circles, etc., especially if you raise and lower your hips as you do so. Doing torso undulations in this position also deeply works this area as well as effectively working your core.

There are many other floor work techniques in the kneeling, sitting, or reclining positions that you can do to thoroughly sculpt your legs and glutes. So if you wish to focus on more than just your core and upper body, get down on your knees and bellydance.

Tags: ,
Posted in Health Benefits and Fitness | No Comments »

Sword Dance – The Cutting Edge

Monday, December 7th, 2009

I’ve produced many bellydance shows with a large variety of belly dance styles and one of the most consistently popular dances for audiences is the sword dance. In a sword dance, the performer manipulates a sword in dramatic ways, uses it to frame her belly dance movements, and balances it on various parts of her body while she’s in motion.

People often ask me if we use real (sharp!) swords. The answer is that it depends on the dancer, but usually decorative (not sharp) swords are used. However, there are exceptions.

The sword that I use for bellydancing is decorative, but it looks ‘real’. Even though it doesn’t have sharp edges, the point on it can do some damage and the sword itself is heavy. I learned the hard way that it must be kept away from people at performances, especially children. Everyone seems fascinated with the sword and people can get hurt playing with it, especially if they start swinging it around.

A real, sharp sword compounds the danger factor exponentially. I had a friend named Kali’ma (not her real name) who was a great dancer. She used a real sword and kept the edges sharp. She’d test it out every once in a while when she had to chop vegetables in her kitchen. I didn’t need to pick up her sword to know how sharp it was – I saw her cut herself during several different performances over the years. When blood runs, you know the sword is real.

One year I was a judge for a belly dance contest in Chicago, and Kali’ma was one of the contestants. For her performance, she did her sword dance. As a judge, I was sitting in the very first row, right in front of the stage. I got a little nervous when I first saw Kali’ma pull out her sword, but that was nothing compared to how I felt when she held the hilt in one hand in front of her and started spinning like a whirling dervish. At that point (no pun intended) I realized that if the sword slipped out of her sweaty little paw, I could end up like Marie Antoinette. I instinctively sunk low in my chair and kept my head down. At the end of her dance, I breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. To my surprise, the entire section of audience behind me had noticed my reaction, figured out Kali’ma’s sword was real, and hunkered down too!

I advocate individual choice when it comes to bellydancing styles. However, if a dancer really wants to dance with a sharp sword, I think it’s better she does it in private or else is very, very careful (as Kali’ma always was). Whether I’m bellydancing with a sword or sitting in an audience, a decorative sword that just looks like the real thing is edgy enough for me.

(The subject of this blog was suggested by my friend and student, Alicia Brown – kudos also to Kali’ma!)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Belly Dance Costumes | Comments Off

Bellydancing and Reflexology

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Do you know that you can receive some of the benefits of reflexology by doing belly dance? Reflexology is a method of massaging and applying pressure to your feet to improve the health of your entire body. Different parts of your feet correspond to various organs and body functions, and manipulating your feet with pressure can affect these areas in a positive manner.

In most of our bellydance moves, we shift our weight throughout the feet, even when we’re doing our movements standing in place. For example, in a basic torso undulation, our weight will roll from our heel to toe as our upper torso rolls forward and back. During a hip circle, our weight will shift sequentially from the outside of our feet to the inside. In level changes, we can lift from flat feet to the balls of our feet, at which point, the balls of our feet are getting pressure from the entire weight of our body.

When my students practice bellydancing in the studio or at home, I encourage them to be barefoot (or to wear soft soled shoes, like ballet slippers). It’s good to keep the feet as relaxed as possible (especially the soles of the feet). This way, you have a better sense of your balance in relation to your connection to the ground and you can also feel the wonderful massaging action occurring in your feet as you dance.

Using pressure to manipulate the soles of the feet works through the body’s energetic pathways and affects all our major organs and glands. It’s even thought to release chemicals that balance the nervous system, reduces stress, and improve our circulation.

Needless to say, bellydancing doesn’t replace the skills of a trained reflexologist. But if you’d like some of the benefits, pay attention to your feet; take off your shoes and bellydance.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Belly Dance Clothes, Health Benefits and Fitness | No Comments »

Good Health is a Dancer’s Best Move

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

No matter what style of dance you prefer, if you love it, you probably want to be good at it. So, we take lessons, attend performances, study videos and DVDs, and practice, practice, practice.

If we’re really serious, we seek out the best instructors – dancers whose style, technique, and methods we really admire and aspire to. We may travel long distances to take workshops, and spend boatloads of cash on costumes and dance accessories. And of course, there’s no substitute for practice, practice, practice.

With all the time, energy, and expense we put into being an accomplished dancer, there is one element that’s crucial and so many dancers pay little attention to it. I think the crucial element is optimal health – in mind, body, and spirit. Without a holistic approach to good health, all the studying, money spent, and practicing is not being maximized in achieving our goal of being a great dancer. You simply can’t be at your best in the physical expression of dance if you’re not healthy on every level.

Good dancing depends on a strong, flexible body, a sense of balance, stamina, and the ability to be truly present ‘in the moment’ so that you can really hear and respond to your music. If you don’t get proper nutrition and enough rest, or have mental stress or emotional problems, it will be reflected in your dance. Expensive costuming, meticulously applied make-up, endless practicing, and the finest choreographies will not hide the fact that you’re not at your best.

I’ve seen dancers with little dance training do wonderful dances simply because they have good energy, are happy, and are mentally and emotionally balanced. Conversely, I’ve seen well-trained dancers who are lacking energy and are filled with stress and tension. Personally, I’d rather be the former, but at times I’ve been the latter!

There’s no doubt that holistic health can be challenging to achieve and maintain. Our environment – the air, water, and soil – is increasingly polluted and it’s hard to escape the effects of it. Our economic system is stressful, popular media is filled with violent and toxic images, and much of our food supply is over processed and filled with chemicals and empty calories.

It takes real diligence these days to be healthy in mind, body, and spirit. But if you love to dance, practicing good health is your first step and your most important move.

Tags:
Posted in Health Benefits and Fitness | Comments Off