Happy Hips
Classical Middle Eastern Belly Dancers keep everything supple and flowing, allowing their energy to stay in flow around their body. Now start to clean the inside of the cylinder with your hip scarf, firstly pushing your hips to meet the back, then round to the other side. Shift your weight from foot to foot, straightening supporting leg and releasing the other. As you shift your weight keep your hips relatively level with the horizon, pelvis centred. Generate the energy of the movement from the centre of your chest, from your core . The shimmy uses a part of the body that can be blocked energetically.
You can dance in whatever you feel comfortable in - you don't need to expose your belly to see the movements, so a T-shirt is fine if you don't fancy a leotard or crop-top. Most people dance barefoot, but if you'd prefer something on your feet, soft dance shoes are fine. Figure eights, in which the hips trace the figure eight, are a wonderful move for giving muscle tone and shape around the waist. Bring your left hip forward, then take it out to the side and around to the back before coming back to centre and going straight into the same move with the right hip. It's important to be clear about which direction you're aiming for, and to watch yourself in a mirror. Remember to lead with the hips, not the abdomen.
Basically, you perform a succession of small Basic Lifts & Drops. Starting in your Basic Pose, feet firmly grounded. Relax lower body, strong thighs, soft and released knees. Weight evenly distributed on both feet, and based in the centre of your soles.
If you want to learn one of the most popular belly dancing moves, the hip drop and raise, slightly flex your stomach so it can pull your hips. You should also raise you arms slightly above your shoulders to draw attention to your stomach. Then, to start the motion, drop the right side of Belly Dance your hips while raising the left side.
So the movement technically comes from the knee and the thigh muscle/hip. We hope guide helps you learn how to perform the exotic belly dance! To learn even more moves and techniques, explore the rest of the videos in this series below.