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Belly Dance Your Belly Away
New Year, new me, etc. Maybe lose weight with…belly dancing!
“I’ve danced my whole life,” said Sabrina (858-337-1728; sabrinabellydancer.com). “I studied dance at UC Irvine, and in my second year I saw belly dancers at a festival. They were moving in a manner that was the complete inverse from what we were learning in the dance department. In Western dance, the movement is very solid core, with limb-generated large movements. But belly dancing is all generated from the core, moving out. Being the movement nerd that I was, I said, ‘I need to learn how to do this.’ I fell in love and never looked back.”
Sabrina said her entry-level class (eight classes for $80; ten classes for $100; $12 for a drop-in) is about “fun and movement. I find there is great camaraderie. The beauty of belly dance is that, as long as you are able to do moderate exercise, the level-one class is good for everyone. I have ladies who are size zero and ladies who are over 300 pounds. They all do the movements together. Remember, the ideal body type for belly dancing is not a runway model. It’s a social dance for regular people, and everyone can learn level one.”
In the class, “You get an overview of movement and music from a lot of different countries, though we focus mainly on Egypt and Lebanon. We also talk a bit about folk dance from Greece and Turkish belly dance. You learn the basic shapes of movement and the basic rhythms and you learn how to string them together into a ‘sentence.’” She estimated that after about two months, “You’ll have enough knowledge to improvise a dance for a full song, probably four or four-and-a-half minutes. From there, we start learning layers of movements, what the music means, what the lyrics mean, and how to move appropriately within the context of a song.”
Sometimes that movement might be pretty contained. “Because the belly dance starts from the core, it is possible to dance a whole song without moving your feet. That’s one of the exercises I give my students. Then you can layer more movements on top of that; you might do a shimmy with your legs, a figure eight with your hips, and some sort of stylized hand movement.”
Bellies need not be bared. “People wear something comfortable — yoga pants, a jog bra, maybe a T-shirt. I also require students to wear a hip scarf [$10–$15, available from Sabrina or some dance stores]. I have some with fringe, some with rhinestones, and some with coins. People like to have something jingly around their hips, but it also helps to give a visual aid. You can see if your form is correct.”
Sabrina offers classes Monday–Thursday at various locations; check website for details. She can be seen performing in venues such as the Bird House in Encinitas and Marrakesh in La Jolla.
Leilainia of the Shimmy Sisters (619-884-7707; theshimmysisters.com) told me, “I’m a fourth-generation belly dancer. I have a troupe with my sister, and we perform all over. We grew up watching dance, and I learned all the styles, but I’m not a stylist. I call what I do ‘cabaret collage.’ It uses belly dance basics, but it has a vibe of loving the dance and loving your body. When the music plays, we dance to it.”
When she conducts classes, Leilainia likes to “build on a move, just like a yoga class would. Not everyone has to be able to do everything all the way, but you go as far as you can go. I’ll show you a basic hip-up or a hip-up with a shimmy — where you shake a specific part of your body — or a shimmy with traveling. That’s when you actually move your feet. The dance can be very aerobic, because you’re working the internal parts of your body. It’s not running a marathon, but it is creating heat and energy in your body. It takes a lot of energy to be able to isolate and be in tune with those little muscles.”
Leilainia will be teaching a mixed-level class on Saturdays in Linda Vista, January 14 through February 4. See website for time and location. Cost: $50 for four classes; $15 single-class drop-in.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Belly Dance Your Belly Away
Belly Dance Your Belly Away
New Year, new me, etc. Maybe lose weight with…belly dancing!
“I’ve danced my whole life,” said Sabrina (858-337-1728; sabrinabellydancer.com). “I studied dance at UC Irvine, and in my second year I saw belly dancers at a festival. They were moving in a manner that was the complete inverse from what we were learning in the dance department. In Western dance, the movement is very solid core, with limb-generated large movements. But belly dancing is all generated from the core, moving out. Being the movement nerd that I was, I said, ‘I need to learn how to do this.’ I fell in love and never looked back.”
Sabrina said her entry-level class (eight classes for $80; ten classes for $100; $12 for a drop-in) is about “fun and movement. I find there is great camaraderie. The beauty of belly dance is that, as long as you are able to do moderate exercise, the level-one class is good for everyone. I have ladies who are size zero and ladies who are over 300 pounds. They all do the movements together. Remember, the ideal body type for belly dancing is not a runway model. It’s a social dance for regular people, and everyone can learn level one.”
In the class, “You get an overview of movement and music from a lot of different countries, though we focus mainly on Egypt and Lebanon. We also talk a bit about folk dance from Greece and Turkish belly dance. You learn the basic shapes of movement and the basic rhythms and you learn how to string them together into a ‘sentence.’” She estimated that after about two months, “You’ll have enough knowledge to improvise a dance for a full song, probably four or four-and-a-half minutes. From there, we start learning layers of movements, what the music means, what the lyrics mean, and how to move appropriately within the context of a song.”
Sometimes that movement might be pretty contained. “Because the belly dance starts from the core, it is possible to dance a whole song without moving your feet. That’s one of the exercises I give my students. Then you can layer more movements on top of that; you might do a shimmy with your legs, a figure eight with your hips, and some sort of stylized hand movement.”
Bellies need not be bared. “People wear something comfortable — yoga pants, a jog bra, maybe a T-shirt. I also require students to wear a hip scarf [$10–$15, available from Sabrina or some dance stores]. I have some with fringe, some with rhinestones, and some with coins. People like to have something jingly around their hips, but it also helps to give a visual aid. You can see if your form is correct.”
Sabrina offers classes Monday–Thursday at various locations; check website for details. She can be seen performing in venues such as the Bird House in Encinitas and Marrakesh in La Jolla.
Leilainia of the Shimmy Sisters (619-884-7707; theshimmysisters.com) told me, “I’m a fourth-generation belly dancer. I have a troupe with my sister, and we perform all over. We grew up watching dance, and I learned all the styles, but I’m not a stylist. I call what I do ‘cabaret collage.’ It uses belly dance basics, but it has a vibe of loving the dance and loving your body. When the music plays, we dance to it.”
When she conducts classes, Leilainia likes to “build on a move, just like a yoga class would. Not everyone has to be able to do everything all the way, but you go as far as you can go. I’ll show you a basic hip-up or a hip-up with a shimmy — where you shake a specific part of your body — or a shimmy with traveling. That’s when you actually move your feet. The dance can be very aerobic, because you’re working the internal parts of your body. It’s not running a marathon, but it is creating heat and energy in your body. It takes a lot of energy to be able to isolate and be in tune with those little muscles.”
Leilainia will be teaching a mixed-level class on Saturdays in Linda Vista, January 14 through February 4. See website for time and location. Cost: $50 for four classes; $15 single-class drop-in.
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