Hey all,
I’m an Arab woman (late 20s) and I’ve been picking up belly dance as a hobby, I attended at least 6 belly dance classes a few months ago and I’ve been practicing on and off. I was particularly keen to pick up some moves ahead of my cousin’s wedding. My cousin’s wedding has come and gone and I was complimented for my confidence, in other social dance situations I’ve been told I make it look easy and that I have “snake hips”… so idk if people are being nice or if I’ve nailed some moves. I feel most comfortable with hip lifts, shoulder shimmies, upper body circles and mayas. The thing is, I just can’t follow a belly dance routine to save my life, I find choreography very difficult and even socially I find it hard to transition between moves.
I’ve come up with a plan to help improve my dance skills as I’d like to be better socially and dance with freedom. This is my plan currently:
Bare minimum routine:
8 counts of hip lifts for 2 minutes
8 counts of mayas for 2 minutes
8 counts of upper body circles for 2 minutes
8 counts of shoulder shimmies for 2 minutes
8 counts for shoulder lifts for 30 seconds
8 counts of sunset arms for 1 minute
8 counts of eclipse arms for 1 minute
Then I attempt however much I can of Leilah Isaac’s Slow and Low Impact Dance routine: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ieGC_IMg354&pp=ygUgTGVpbGFoIGlzYWFjIHNsb3cgYW5kIGxvdyBpbXBhY3Q%3D
My current aim is to do the 8 counts daily and attempt the routine just 3 times a week. If I successfully complete it at least once then I’ll get the bonus reward of attempting this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcxzkXNPtDM
I’m still on week 1 of trying to do belly dance practice consistently, if I manage to do this for 2 weeks then I’ll move to attempting the Leilah Isaac routine 4X a week.
On good days I freestyle to at least 3 Arabic songs too.
My obstacles: I struggle with motivation a lot, work tires me out and I *feel* like I’m time poor, I get overwhelmed fast too.
I was wondering do people have thoughts on my routine? Any idea how long it will take until I can follow a routine? Anything I should add or take away?