Belly Dance Hipwork/Footwork Coordination Technique Drills

As beginners we always start learning bellydance hipwork as series of static moves - hip twist, hip figure 8, then we discover that any move you can do standing in place can be converted to a travel step. Still typically we think of the moves as static - predominantly done in place, even though most of them came from folk dance steps where they were elements layered on walking or rocking steps. So we'll do ‘layering’ - turning these elements into steps again, but with a much bigger amplitude and a different feel than they have in folk dances - these are display moves, not just trajectory components of traveling steps.

Class 1 - 45 min - Circles and Steps - Circular belly dance hipwork trajectories layered on steps

We’ll start with 10 minutes of warmup, and then play with a few combinations where we’ll layer circular trajectories on steps. We have 2 versions of this class - instruction and practice version, and a shorter 30-minute segment - non-stop practice of all the combinations with music and voice cues.

Class 2 - 45 min. - Infinity Loops and Steps Belly - Infinity Loops belly dance hipwork trajectories layered on steps

We’ll rehearse various travel steps with different types of hips and chest figure 8s, or infinity loops layered on them.

Class 3 Full Body and Upper Body Belly Dance Moves Technique Drills

To balance our hipwork-focused series, this is a technique practice flow featuring single moves and mini combinations involving upper body, full body and undulating motion - regular undulation, reversed undulation, side undulation and various torso tilts combined with elements of fluid hipwork and simple travel steps.