Help! Teaching belly dance to children

[Nafiseh]

I've been asked to teach a short belly dance routine to some 10 year old boys and girls. I'm now really stuck as to what would be appropriate to teach such young kids of both sexes.

I was thinking saidi might be a safe option (maybe without canes to make it REALLY safe!) but as I've never taught such young kids or boys before I'd really appreciate some opinions.

 

[Shanazel]

How about debke?

 

[Nafiseh]

Great idea, but...

I have no experience of it what so ever! I'm so ignorant that I don't even know if it's danced in Egypt...?

I should have mentioned that they are studying Egypt at the moment and want something 'Egyptian'.

 

[onela]

Cool topic. I'm interested to see what people suggest, and to find out what you pick. Let us know how it goes!

 

[Kharmine]

I agree with Shanazel -- the debka is a line dance danced in many Middle Eastern countries, with many variations but pretty easy to pick up. If you use the word "debka" on a YouTube search, you'll see quite a few videos taken at weddings and such -- Israeli, Egyptian, Lebanese, etc.

Pick a lively tune and a variation with some jumping around and the kids will probably enjoy it.

 

[Shanazel]

Ten year old kids are going to jump around no matter what you do- may as well choose a lively dance.

 

[fluidhips]

oh that's gonna be allot of fun,I love teaching children.
I usually teach basics and basic choreographies and have fun.

it will be great

 

[Moon]

If you have no experience in debke I'd go with saidi. You can also avoid the stick twirling if that's safer.

 

[Shanazel]

Give sticks to a bunch of ten year old boys? :shok: :shok::shok: :shok: I'd rather walk barefoot through a chicken yard on a hot summer day.

 

[Nafiseh]

Shanazel, that's the exact same reaction my husband had when I suggested giving sticks to 10 year old boys :lol:

I decided to move out of my comfort zone, found some brilliant debke videos on youtube and have been stamping and hopping up a storm at home practising. I am keeping it simple though, both for them and me!

Thanks for the suggestions

 

[Shanazel]

Isn't it FUN?????

 

[Nafiseh]

The kids love it!

Thank you so much for suggesting debke, the kids are having a wonderful time learning it - even the teachers are joining in!

I have had to add a few trickier steps as they are scarily fast at picking things up :shok:

The biggest challenge is getting them to line up alternate boy-girl and to hold hands as they are at that age when the mere thought of touching the opposite sex causes physical revulsion - how quickly that will pass :lol:

 

[Daimona]

How great!
Perhaps you would like to share some of you favourite debke videos?

 

[Nafiseh]

This is a really fab one that I can't get enough of:

YouTube - Amani - Debke

The gorgeous double heel tap-flick-cross step you see at 32 seconds makes me very happy and I put it in the choreo for the kids

I also really loved this video:

YouTube - Palesinian Children Performing Dabke

it's just so natural and the kids have amazing rhythm and feeling

 

[Kharmine]

Thanks for sharing, Nafiseh. The little kids are adorable, and the girls' troupe is really good.

Hope you can share another video with your students in it someday.

 

[Kashmir]

I have no experience of it what so ever! I'm so ignorant that I don't even know if it's danced in Egypt...?

I should have mentioned that they are studying Egypt at the moment and want something 'Egyptian'.

Then don't do debke - this is not done in Egypt at all (unless by Lebanese or Jordanians living there). Sa`iidi may be a safer choice - although in Egypt young boys would do exactly what we think of as "belly dance" with hip and shoulder shimmies - but not undulations that's a Turkish/American movement.

If you think you can control them sticks could be fun - but otherwise it'll be a disaster.

The biggest challenge is getting them to line up alternate boy-girl and to hold hands as they are at that age when the mere thought of touching the opposite sex causes physical revulsion - how quickly that will pass :lol:

Then why do that? If you look at Reda troupe work it tends to be a group of girls and a group of boys. They may do some pair work - but without touching. Egyptians do not do line dances.

 

[Daimona]

Great videos! Thank you very much!

 

[Roshanna]

I guess it's probably a bit late to suggest, but I think Nubian would be great to teach to children (at least, when I went to some Nubian classes I felt a lot like a 10 year old doing all the bouncing and clapping and stuff ).

 

[deelybopper]

Extremely late to this thread, 'scuse me! I work with children quite a lot, and find that teaching basic isolations, movements and shimmies, and then getting them to play around with the moves works really well. As Kashmir points out upthread, it's probably what their contemporaries in Egypt would be doing, so I don't see appropriateness being a problem.

But also it sounds like the debke is going down a storm - well done making that a success!

 

[Sahndra]

Teaching belly dance to children

In our dance troup we made up a loose choreography and taught basic steps to our daughters. The music was bouncy, and the little ones would do their own thing, anyway! They loved to shimmy, and that's what usually brought the house down! There is nothing like a 3-year old in harem pants and top, with a little coin belt that makes NOISE!

You can't always go by age as to when they are ready to dance with a veil and skirt. You do need a tighter choreography, that allows them to do turns and show off the veil, but not too much travel. We used what Shalilah called "The Happy Dance", any sprightly beledi music should do, and each dancer took a turn, stepping out in front and doing her own thing for 8 or so bars. Intermingling the children between their Moms and other adult dancers in a curved line, the little ones had the option of just running out and running back, or actually doing a shimmy or turn and running back.

One thing that we emphasized, both for the children and the adults, was that NEVER do you touch your body, or hair, with the palm of your hand - NEVER, NEVER, NEVER! This one item can be the difference between belly dance and erotic dance. Another thing to be careful about, is how you, the dancer, look at your audience. As Jadaya of Camp Hill PA used to say, "Attitude is EVERYTHING!" No simpering, no cutesy looks. That DOES NOT mean you don't smile! If the kids (and adults dancers) really love the dance, you'll have a lot of fun and the audience will beg for more!