Creating the Afro Dance Body Beginner 1

In African Dance, warm up is as easy as any other type of dance warm up, it is very important to always warm up before dancing so let’s learn some exercises together to warm up your torso. Please find comfortable position to start the exercises.

Why is torso warm up important?

Warming up your torso as well as the rest of your body is very important before starting dancing. Normally, because the body is at rest we need to warm up the body before doing exercises in order to not injure ourselves. In this video we learn that for African dance the use of torso contraction and extension is very important. We will see that warm up is a must for Afro dance especially when you need to jump as it gives you more flexibility. Always remember, you need to warm up your muscles to do the energetic exercises involved in the dance to not hurt yourself.

As torso warm up, leg warm up is very important in Afro dance because most of the times you will be dancing using the strength of your legs, for example with movements bending your knees. African dance is well known by its fast change of levels from one exercise to another, which means you will be going up and down, side to side very fast.

Why is leg warm up so important?

Warming up your legs is vital before dancing because not only prevents you from injures but to provide you more flexibility when moving. In this video we learn that for African dance the use of the legs is very important because most times we jump and go down so you need flexibility to extend and contract. In African dance we depend a lot on our leg for body control and to assist the rhythm.

In this lesson we are going to practice several exercises for your waist, hips front and back, side to side and also we will practice some exercises to strengthen your knees and to build speed on the movement of your feet.

We will see that warm up is a must for Afro dance moves. Always remember, you need to warm up your muscles to do the energetic exercises involved in the dance to not hurt yourself.

See you in the next lesson: Concentration

What do I mean with concentration in dance?

Having a good concentration in dance means to find a balance between the dancer and the sounds playing on scene.

How to build a better concentration in dance?

For any African dance, it is very important to have a connection between your mind, your ear and then synchronize your body movements with the rhythm and the tempo of the music.

African dance needs total concentration, so free your mind and let’s start. When you concentrate on one thing, the body should be able to follow.

Building a concentration is very important to help connect your body and your mind with the music and then you will be able to see the combination of all on the same scale. In this lesson we are going to practice some exercises to build your concentration on dance using your hands, arms and feet.

See you in the next lesson: Facial Expressions

In this lesson with will learn some facial expression and why is it so important to add facial expressions when dancing African dances. Maybe you didn’t realise it yet but facial expression is one of the most important things for a dancer.

Why is facial expression important when dancing?

Our facial expression is essential especially when doing African dance because when dancing the most important thing we need to realise is that everything we express we do it through our body. When we dance, we are not using words to explain what we want to tell instead we use our body to express. Facial expression is a mirror of your feelings and it is so then that your face places a mayor role when dancing in general and in African dance specially. Remember, your face shows a lot of the energy when dancing.

See you next lesson: Combination

Great job you did it until the last part of Creating the Afro Dance Body Beginner 1!

This is where all the lessons from lesson one to lesson five are put into practice. In this lesson we will be combining the exercises by putting various examples and adding some rhythm to explain or give a practical feel of what African Dance looks like.

Thanks for whatching!

Hope you enjoy it and see you in next level: Creating the Afro Dance Body Beginner 2.