Belly Dance Wiltshire

The title of this page is About Belly Dance so if you're wanting more about belly dance read on ladies.

The Belly Dance class schedule has grown so large that we've created this separate page catering for information about belly dance and what to expect on your courses, workshops and classes. There is another page 'Belly Dance Stuff' which houses details about hip scarves, Zills, buying belly dance products and even music reviews, so check that out too. 

The first thing to mention is that belly dancing is for all ages, shapes and fitness levels as it can be as gentle, or vigorous, as you choose. This means that if you want slow and seductive moves that don't put stress on your body you'll get as much out of your course as those who like the fast shimmies which are more aerobic and challenging.

You don't have to wear anything special or expose your tummy to join in so you can turn up to a class straight from work or just try it without feeling like a fish out of water if you're wearing normal clothing.

There's no need to reveal your tummy to the rest of us to take our classes either - I don't as a general rule as my tummy is more than visible even with clothes on! However, if you want to be brave and bold we have no objections to tummies being on display - one of our past students was very proud to show her pregnant tummy at classes and display her belly dancing skills in the delivery suite!

You don't have to wear anything special to the class but a scarf / bell encrusted belt tied round your hips adds to the effect and gives you more feedback about your dance progress. We'd suggest bringing a pair of socks (yes, sounds strange but you'll see why) or flexible shoes to dance in. Any clothing you can move around in will be just fine as we don't expect students to get all dressed up unless the fancy takes them. Your teacher/s will be wearing small amounts of traditional belly dancing attire but it's not necessary for you to go out and buy anything for the occasion - unless this is an excuse for a bit of indulgence.

All belly dancing, slow or fast, uses muscles that might not have been used before but if you're fit enough for a brisk walk and to wiggle in front of your bathroom mirror you can take our classes! Like any form of exercise if you have a medical condition seek advice from your physician beforehand and let us know so we can tailor things, as far as is possible, to your needs.

HOW I TEACH BELLY DANCE:

All classes start with a simple introduction to belly dance posture which leads naturally to warming up the parts of your body that we'll be using first through introducing some of the dance elements that use these areas - so you won't even notice that you're doing a 'warm-up'. I also use points during the lesson to 'warm-up' or prepare other muscle sets as they come into play so that you don't warm up then cool down before we need to utilise different body parts. I find this more relevant to keeping the 'gym' feel out of all that I do and it really gets you thinking about each muscle group at the relevant times.

New ladies join our beginners classes throughout the year rather than offering classes in blocks or terms where new ladies would feel out of their depths if they hadn't started at the beginning of a term. So each beginners class aims to start at the very beginning and take you through to being able to dance a range of the most important belly dance elements.

These elements are incorporated into a simple and fun belly dance routine that helps you understand how this element would fit into real dancing, remember what you've learnt, as well as being fun to show off to friends etc.

This means that no matter when you hear about the classes you can come along, join in and not feel that you're out of your depth. Cunning isn't it?

In these enlightened days belly dancing is seen as a celebration of being female so be ready to celebrate. There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding belly dancing and its history/practise. Many of these ideas come from Hollywood and misrepresent the true nature of belly dance, or to give it it's more cultured name, Raks Sharqi. We'll be explaining some of the history and development of this fascinating dance form during workshops, though in a non-history-lesson type way as we're there to dance not get too serious. If you become addicted to this dance - as so many of our current students have been - you may find yourself wanting to find out more about the eclectic mix of cultures that have influenced belly dancing, the female/fertility worship/celebrations that are thought to have been the beginnings of the dance and much more. If you find yourself in this space check out the 'belly dance stuff' page as it will be the home of books about belly dancing and links to interesting web sites.

The music that many of todays belly dance aficionados dance to is a broad mix of the traditional music from the whole range of belly dance traditions, their modern permutations, through to R&B, Trance, Dance/House, Bollywood and East Coast Tribal to lyrical collaborations with such diverse stars such as Sting, Beyonce and Shakira. The music has been described as having a heart beat (formed by certain percussion instruments) as it's motivating sound though these days many dancers use such a wide range of music to inspire them that this isn't always true. Whatever the music, we'll be using examples of it in our classes to give you the opportunity to hear things that may move you more and discover how wide ranging this dance form is.

Your teacher/s will be able to advise you on what to buy if you want to take your dancing further after the workshop and we've compiled a range of CD's of the best music from across the range of modern and traditional belly dance music and one of East Coast style music which we recommend students buy to start their own music to keep at home for those times when you just want to shake your booty.

There are many different styles of Belly Dance as there are many cultures who have historically performed dances involving gyration, shimmies and undulations but most people don't know the different names for the different dances from each culture and blanket terms such as Belly Dance, Raks Sharki, Danse Du Vente are fine by us as we're belly dance snobs or anoraks. These different cultures and their people brought their different cultural norms to it their belly dance traditions. Greece, Turkey, India, Algeria and Egypt to name a few, have influenced and transformed this dance to suit and reflect their own cultures. I'd also like to mention the important role that the various Gypsy tribes have brought to it too, as these travelling tribes helped to spread the popularity of belly dancing and cross pollinated the different dance traditions. However it's also worth stressing that, as every woman brings something of herself to her dance, even within these different cultural variations there are a huge number of styles as every woman is different.

Perhaps one of the most interesting modern developments in belly dancing are where such 'pop' stars as Shakira, Gwen Stephani, Beyonce Knowles and Britney Spears incorporate it in their dance routines, and you just can't miss it throughout the R&B videos bringing it to an even wider audience. As a personal view I think that some of the most talented and innovative belly dancers are now based in the U.S. and there is even a very strong Gothic Belly Dance craze that has hit the U.S. and which seems to be gathering momentum here in the U.K. too. It's all very exciting stuff and constantly fires me up to learn yet more and incorporate what I see in my own way within my own styles of dancing.

I think one of the most interesting sites I've seen about belly dancing tells you what you should expect from your teacher and, funnily enough, what your teacher should expect from you.... does this sound strange? Not a bit. It emphasises the importance of obtaining a properly qualified teacher and how the author thinks that teachers should approach their lessons - and we agree. Why not take a look? http://www.pedralta.com/tribal/student-guide.htm

Some of the events we've been involved in over the past months are as varied as a birthday party for a 70 year old Swedish lady to a dinner dance fund raising event for the NSPCC. You'll be surprised how energising belly dancing can be and the wonderful group of Swedish ladies (some who you can see below) can recommend it for a fun dance with the girls. I don't suppose everyone can manufacture a sheikh for their event but as you can see, this was a great fun day for all. We have become involved in a huge number of charity events, most around childrens charities and those raising money for overseas womens projects so if this is your thing then get in touch to find out more.

Here are some definitions of different styles of belly dance that we've found in our search for the perfect descriptions. There are many more opinions, and differing opinions but this should give you a flavour: