Homework for week nine
Topic: Middle Eastern Musical Structure: Maqam & More Learn about some of the things that make Middle Eastern music distinct from Western music by reading "Part 1: Near Eastern Music Theory for Dancers" you will have to scroll down a little to get to this section. Also peruse the Maqam World website. You can find …
Homework for week eight
Topic: Middle Eastern Musical Structure: Rhythms Every good belly dancer must understand her Middle Eastern Rhythms and know how to dance to them. I break down an understanding of rhythms into two categories: 1) musical and 2) cultural. If you are interpreting a rhythm musically, you will interpret its various dums, teks and silences with …
Homework for week seven
Topic: Middle Eastern Instruments and their Interpretation Learn to identify and recognize by sound and sight several different musical instruments used commonly in the Middle East: kanun – demonstrated by Umut Yasmut oud – performance by the very famous Egyptian singer, actor and musician Farid El Atrache ney kawala – deeper sound than the ney …
Homework for week six
Topic: Patterns, Repetition & Variety Choose a piece of music to analyze. Write down on a piece of paper labeling each section, how many counts there are in it, where the melodic phrases begin and end, note any short bridges between melodic phrases, and how often the melodic phrases repeat. After making a basic chart, …
Homework for week five
Topic: Lines & Transitions Find three poses online from photos of Oriental dancers that you feel have beautiful lines you’d like to emulate. Practice those poses. (If you want you can email them to me, I’d be curious to see what you chose.) Practice a traveling step, think about the movement you do to change …
Homework for week four
Topic: Torso, Head & Focus Think of your rib cage being attached to a rope. Imagine that rope pulling you up, down, forward, back, side to side and diagonal to diagonal. Start small, just moving your ribs around, then let your ribs move you across space drawing shapes in the air, high low, fast and …
Homework for week three
Topic: Hips Close your eyes during this weeks practice and internally identify what muscles you are using to move your hips. Touch your thighs and sides with your hands and feel the muscles working as you lift and drop your hips. Consider what the adductor muscles are doing, as well as your quads, glutes, hamstrings …
Homework for week two
Topic: Feet Watch this video clip of the famous Egyptian Oriental dancer Mona al Said. Pay close attention to her foot work. Look how delicately she places her feet and how she points her toes. Watch for the patterns of footwork we covered in class, a simple walk, step-together-step forward and backwards, step touch and …
Homework for week one
Topic: Arms Take some time to watch video of your favorite professional belly dancers and watch specifically for how they use their arms to frame their body or to dance with. Choose a favorite arm movement or framing position and be ready to share it in next class and tell us who you got it …
Tribe
