Introduction to belly dancing

Belly dancing depends on moving many parts of the body harmoniously: the hands, the shoulders, the hips, the waist… The first thing to perfect is the movements of the hands. The dancer starts with placing her hand to her side, and making a full circle with it starting by getting down and moving up. The move is done by both hands separately. Then, the dancer does the same move with both hands. When they get to meet in the middle, they are crossed. Another move is when the dancer points her hand to the front and moves her wrist; one hand after the other, and then both together crossed and they "retreat” back closer to the dancer and down to her sides. ----

---- the belly dancing ‘in context’. It focuses mainly on moving the hips. Notice how the dancer is moving her hips while also moving her hands. She is not turning her wrists, but she is moving her hands comfortably according to the music and hips movement. Sometimes the hips are being moved slower than other times, all according to the beat. She would also move around, without staying at the same place. In addition, she is turning her hips at some points of the dance. She would also at some times concentrate on moving one side of her hips, and shift her weight to the other side.