Belly Dancing Basics

This section of the web site is intended to be a tutorial on belly dancing. One does not have to be certified to be a belly dance instructor, unlike Zumba. There are many tutorial videos, and now, with Youtube, anyone can learn. However, many of the videos do not provide a warmup. My favorite videos are the Shimmy series, which I have seen on Youtube, but the Youtube showing skips the warmup. You can get the Shimmy videos here My tutorials are based on these videos.

The terminology in the belly dance world is not standard. Voltaire said "If you wish to converse with me, you must first define your terms."

In "Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll, Humpty Dumpty says "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." Check Humpty Dumpty out here

I will try to define my words.

A warm-up is not the same as stretching. You should not stretch until you are warmed up. A warm-up will raise your heart beat and get the blood flowing a little faster than at rest.

Belly Dance History

The lessons start here:

1. Lesson 1
2. Lesson 1
3. Lesson 1
4. Lesson 1
5. Lesson 1
6. Lesson 1
7. Lesson 1

Some references

Grandmother's Secrets, by Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi is a fun read. In her forward she says:

Belly dancing is an art and as such it entails three factors: theory, practice and the heart, without which no art form ever comes to life. This book is especially devoted to the first and third aspects of dancing, as they are often either neglected or totally ignored. As for the practice of belly dancing, it is shaped by each woman's personality, her intuition and creativity, the teacher being none other than life itself.