Professional Oriental Dance Set Primer
Elements of a Professional Dancer’s Set The Magency – Oriental Entrance Taksim Egyptian Baladi and the Baladi Taksim Cane Dance – Saidi, Baladi or Lebanese Veil and Double Veil dance Sword Dance and Balancing Dances Floor Work in Oriental Dance Middle Eastern Pop, Al Jeel and Shaabi Sagat (Finger Cymbals) The Classics and Om Koulthum …
Videos for Practice at Home – Recommendations & Reviews
I’m often asked for recommendations for good videos that can be used as at home practice companions. There are many, many videos on the market. I’ve made an effort to buy some to try them out. I haven’t gotten around to all of them yet, a few have just left me feeling uninspired, but here …
Swords and Finger Cymbals – buying advice
Swords and Finger Cymbals – you need them, where do you find them? What do you look for? Finger Cymbals Also known as zills in Turkey and sagat in Egypt. They are a beautiful and traditional part of a belly dancer’s show. The most important thing when you are buying finger cymbals is to make …
Ethics & Behavior Guidelines
In Class Make friends with your fellow dancers, you may find them to be a great support system in future. Come to class ready to dance, do your best to be on time, keep chatting to before and after class. Do not gossip or talk badly about other dancers or teachers in class. Share information …
Belly Dance Music Recommendations
Not sure what music to buy? I’ve purchased a lot of music in my time as a belly dancer and here are some of my recommendations. I’ll put links to a place where you can buy them, but these will be somewhat random, so you can get a look at the album cover. Feel free …
Lyrics from Songs Used in Shems's Classes
When you learn the dance of a culture it is good to understand the language of the songs you’ll be dancing to. Most belly dancers aren’t fluent, but many have a good working knowlege of what I’d call "belly dancer Arabic" that consists of many common words and phrases in song lyrics as well as …
Music Used in Regularly in Class
The track listings of the mixes I use in belly dance basics: Basics MIX 1 Hatha Ana – Adam – Now That’s What I Call Arabia 9 Heya Di – Tamer Hosny – Arrab Kaman Ah Wa Nuss – Nancy Ajram – Ah Wa Nuss Leih Bidary Keda – Ruby – Ebaa Abelny El Kalam …
Dance Vocabulary Help Sheet
As Requested, below are the descriptions and grouping of movements and steps covered in class. The names of the steps are loosely based on the names I learned from my teachers, I believe following somewhat the movement classification of Jamilah Salimpour of California or named after famous dancers, rhythms or regions… Foundation Movements: Egyptian Basic …
Class Appropriate Dancewear
Magidahwear – belly dance wear with a flexible size range Crimson Gypsy Designs – belly dance and yoga wear Lucy – women’s exercise clothing Discount Dance Wear – dance wear Dancewear Solutions – dance wear Firefly Style – class and performance belly dance wear Melodia Designs – class and performance belly dance wear Sharif Wear …
Resources for buying finger cymbals
Saroyan’s Arabesque was the first set I got as a student. I still like them and use them, they come in silver and brass: Saroyan Zills My second pair of zills and all time favorites are the FatChanceBellyDance Signature Series. That particular set might be too big to start with, but they also sell student sized. …
Tribe
