Topic: Hips
Close your eyes during this weeks practice and internally identify what muscles you are using to move your hips. Touch your thighs and sides with your hands and feel the muscles working as you lift and drop your hips. Consider what the adductor muscles are doing, as well as your quads, glutes, hamstrings and your obliques.
Watch this youtube clip of the famous Egyptian Oriental dancer Souhair Zaki. Pay close attention to her very controlled a beautiful hip work. Try to imitate the quality and style of her hips. Here is another very fun clip of Souhair Zaki to watch from an old film.
Watch this youtube clip of the famous Egyptian Oriental dancer Fifi Abdo dancing to the famous Um Koulthum song Ana Fi Intizarak. Take a good look at her shimmy. This is an interesting clip because you can see her legs in it. Think about how she drives her shimmy and guess what muscles you think she uses. See if you can shimmy like Fifi. Also watch this clip to see her shimmy in a more traditional belly dance outfit. Take a look at her other hip work, compare how it is the same and different to Souhair Zaki’s hip work.
Watch this youtube clip of the currently very popular Egyptian Oriental dancer Randa Kamal. Pay attention to her shimmies and hip work. How are they different from Fifi’s and Souhair’s? Try to mimic some of her movements.
Find your own shimmy. Practice the shimmy floor drills we did in class to some music with a steady beat. Do each for a minute or two a piece. Shimmy for 5 to 20 minutes straight, trying to focus on different impetuses until you find your most natural shimmy.