Do you want to learn how to play zills, but you don’t even know how to put them on properly. This video shows you what fingers to put each zill on, how I like them to fit, and how I align my zills for optimum playing.
Learn two of the most quintessential movements in belly dance – the unweighted hip lift and hip drop. You can’t go to an Arabic nightclub, wedding, or party without knowing how to do these.
Learn how to do two of the most essential movements in Belly Dance, the weighted hip lift and hip drop with Anna – founder of Ahlam Academy in Houston TX. Anna will start with a breakdown of each move, then she will show you some of the trouble spots many newer dancers have with this fun but challenging set of belly dance moves. As well as, how to correct them. Special attention is given to maintain good posture to perform…
Are you looking for lessons on how to belly dance for beginners? My name is Anna and I have some beginner belly dance tutorials just for you – the absolute beginner. On this webpage, you will learn 13 of the most foundational movements of belly dancing! Each beginner belly dance lesson video covers basic techniques that are simple and easy to do. If you find a particular move challenging, don’t give up on it. Sometimes your body just needs time to…
Learn to do classic Egyptian style shoulder rolls with Anna from Ahlam Academy in Cy-Fair / Houston TX. The shoulder roll is one of those sensual, dramatic, and sexy moves that can really add a lot of expression and feeling to our dance. Shoulder rolls work great as a transition and to accent a dramatic note or two in the music, and can be done in longer sequence to highlight melodic phrases. They can also be used in a drum…
Learn how to do the basic belly dance snake arm, plus three different ways that you can initiate it. Snake arms are an expressive part of our dance form. They can add a lot of beauty and grace when done properly or they can ruin an otherwise lovely dance if executed poorly. Watch and learn the necessary mechanics to build graceful and strong snake arms. Watch for our video next week where I will talk about 8 things you can…
Learn how to do a belly dance reverse undulation. The reverse undulation, unlike the “regular” undulation, travels from the hip up. Rather than from the chest down. This move is based on several foundational movements like the hip tilts, chest lift/drops, and ribcage tilts. If you need more practice on these movements to improve your reverse undulations, make use of our videos on these topics.
Learn how to do one of the most foundational belly dance movements – the hip slide. Hip slides are the basis for several types of undulations, hip figure eights, and much more. Shimmies may also be layered on top of hip slides to create exciting combination movements.
Hip Twists are a fun and exciting belly dancing movement. The hip twist’s speed may be increased into a hip twist shimmy. A single hip twist can be used as a dramatic accent in drum solos or any danceable Arabic music. The hip twist shimmy may be layered over a simple side-to-side hip slide to add spice to any dance.
In this video, I’m going to be introducing you to stage directions. Knowing your Stage directions can help you to better understand and describe your position on stage, which way you are facing in relation to your audience, as well as which direction you may be traveling. Using stage directions provides us a method to more accurately describe stage locations so we can write and teach choreography more clearly. It also reminds us, when we are creating choreography, what our…
