Classic New York-Style Belly Dance with Veil (I): Class Notes, Playlists, and YouTube Links
Step-Touch (Linear Walk), Step-Ball-Ball, and Rocking Rhumba
First step is opening up and getting our connection flowing again.
Music
- Desert Wind’s Diaspora from Spain. Listen to Diaspora from Spain by Desert Wind on YouTube.
Warm-Ups (In-Place)
- Simple drop-down-and-reach-up, with veil (use music Diaspora from Spain, see link above),
- Simple in-place gyrations – emphasize whole-body movement – with veil (same music as above).
Techniques
- Step-touch (ref. techniques taught by Anahid Sofian),
- Step-ball-ball (ref. techniques taught by Anahid Sofian),
- Rocking rhumba (ref. techniques taught by Anahid Sofian and Elena Lentini).
- Dalia Carella’s students showing some beautiful movements Carella choreography segment
YouTube Vids for Reference
- Alay’nya in performance; Veil Improvisation,
- Alay’nya illustrating step-touch during opening of a Candle Dance; Step-Touch as a form of movement across the floor,
- Belly dance walk; this is close – not exactly what I’m teaching, I use a more definitive “touch” before coming down with the actual “step,” and we use our oblique abdominal muscles more to generate the movement (insight courtesy of Anahid Sofian), but for something not too bad, look at Belly Dancing – How to do belly dance walking gracefully,
- Good illustration of touch-step in moving forward, in the first few opening seconds: Vintage danse orientale by Alia,
- Very beautiful footwork throughout (and lots of other things to admire): Yakovyuk Yuliya (Julia Yakovyuk)- Vinnica- Estradnaya ; look for a good instance of step-ball-ball moving forward, right at about 1:30, just after she comes out of a spinning turn. See more of her work at:
A more complex walk, the “Turkish Walk,” to do later: Learn to belly dance: the Turkish walk .
Related Blog Posts
- Does Your Walk Give Away Your Age?,
- Releasing Neck Tension and Minimizing the Dreaded Dowager’s Hump – neck tension release is very much tied with releasing tension in our lower backs and sacral areas, and
- Contraction is as Important as Expansion – one of the very earliest – in fact the second – blogpost ever written in this series, and more a life-study than actual dance technique – except that contraction is important in creating the undulations that lead to a beautiful dance walk! (I describe this more fully in Unveiling: The Inner Journey
Master Class Study
- Music: Alf Leila Wa Leila, by Oum Kalthoum. Listen to a good version on YouTube (first 6:30 minutes): Alf Leila Wa Leila by Oum Kalthoum,
- YouTube Vid: Elena Lentini Elena Lentini dancing to Alf Leila Wa Leila by Oum Kalthoum, New York, 1991. Notice that her footwork is a backwards-moving step-ball-ball, which really in this case is a rocking rhumba, something that both she and Anahid Sofian have taught in their New York classes and included in their choreographies.
- Dalia Carella in Solo Performance (gypsy/flamenco with fan).
Preps for Turns and Spins
Very best wishes as you use Oriental dance (belly dance) for personal growth and healing!
Yours in dance –
Alay’nya
Author of Unveiling: The Inner Journey
You are the Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus. Become the Jewel!
Founder and Artistic Director, The Alay’nya Studio
Bellydance a courtesan would envy!
Check out Alay’nya’s YouTube Channel
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