Undulations

[GypsyStacey]

~sigh~ :shok: anyone else have trouble with them or is it just me? mind you trying to get it from a DVD not the best so i'm looking forward to when my teacher does them in class. is my body even made to move like that?

 

[Anjanah]

I have trouble with them the way my teacher teaches them..because I learned them backwards many years ago. Whatever direction she teaches them in now seems awkward to me.

 

[Kashmir]

They take both flexibility and fine motor control - so they do take a long time to learn. A little often is the best way.

 

[GypsyStacey]

i swear to god i look like a beached whale trying to do them...lol

 

[Farasha Hanem]

i swear to god i look like a beached whale trying to do them...lol

I feel like a dancing mango. I still have a pear-shaped figure, even after losing weight, so even after 3 1/2 years of classes, I feel like I look horrible doing undulations. The top part of me is so small. Not just my chest, my shoulders, too. I'm very narrow up top, so I have it in my mind that I need to "overcompensate' to get an undulation going, when smaller moves would probably in truth look better My moves feel all wobbly instead of wavy, so I get this "dancing mango" sensation. I've videoed myself doing undulations---it's not pretty.

 

[Anjanah]

I feel like a dancing mango. I still have a pear-shaped figure, even after losing weight, so even after 3 1/2 years of classes, I feel like I look horrible doing undulations. The top part of me is so small. Not just my chest, my shoulders, too. I'm very narrow up top, so I have it in my mind that I need to "overcompensate' to get an undulation going, when smaller moves would probably in truth look better My moves feel all wobbly instead of wavy, so I get this "dancing mango" sensation. I've videoed myself doing undulations---it's not pretty.

Well if you are the dancing mango, I must be the dancing apple. )) I am the rounded one all over- not good.

 

[GypsyStacey]

well i'm 5'9" have an hour glass figure i wear a size 6 & i just feel like a beach whale doing undulations. so what an interesting troupe we'd make a mango, an apple, & a whale rofl :dance::clap:

 

[~Diana~]

This is a move that takes a lot and I mean a lot of practice. I've been doing it for 2 years now and the up to down undulations still give me headaches.

 

[GypsyStacey]

yup i can see how it can take a LOOOONNNG time to get it...lol. i will keep at it. right now just trying to learn it from a dvd granted may not be the best way to learn the move.

 

[Sita]

I feel like a dancing mango. I still have a pear-shaped figure, even after losing weight, so even after 3 1/2 years of classes, I feel like I look horrible doing undulations. The top part of me is so small. Not just my chest, my shoulders, too. I'm very narrow up top, so I have it in my mind that I need to "overcompensate' to get an undulation going, when smaller moves would probably in truth look better My moves feel all wobbly instead of wavy, so I get this "dancing mango" sensation. I've videoed myself doing undulations---it's not pretty.

you are the oddest dancing mango I have ever seen, Farasha You photo on your user page is beautiful and very professional. So I think it's safe to say you are beautiful inside and out.:dance:
As for wobbling, I don't think that you should worry too much about that. I have never heard someone complaining a bellydancer wobbled to much. It's stillness and being stiltled in your movements that you should worry about. I think everyone must go through this 'wobbly' stage until our body gets used to the movement and we can finally produce that wavy, fluid undulation. It's one of those moves that takes time and varies according to the individual.
I think most shimmies start of wobbly until we learn to control the movement, thats when we get the finesse of movement that is desired.
For me that's the key, we practise the movement and finally learn how to control the movement and produce the desired effect.

Sita

 

[Anjanah]

The way my teacher teaches undulations is like this- and she refers to them as Egyptian undulations, meaning no lower body movement. To me this is a more of a chest circle, rather than an undulation as I know it.

Okay- Starting from neutral position- Chest OUT, Chest UP, Chest Back and Down...like a ferris wheel that is in reverse. Pelvic regions stays relatively still.

What do you think? I find it hard to do frankly. My pelvis wants to rock on out with the chest.

 

[GypsyStacey]

The way my teacher teaches undulations is like this- and she refers to them as Egyptian undulations, meaning no lower body movement. To me this is a more of a chest circle, rather than an undulation as I know it.

Okay- Starting from neutral position- Chest OUT, Chest UP, Chest Back and Down...like a ferris wheel that is in reverse. Pelvic regions stays relatively still.

What do you think? I find it hard to do frankly. My pelvis wants to rock on out with the chest.

Okay my mind can’t even grasp that…lol.

 

[Anjanah]

Okay my mind can’t even grasp that…lol.

LOL Stacy.....Try it...picture a ferris wheel.

How did you learn it? How does it break down into movements for you ?

 

[Kashmir]

The way my teacher teaches undulations is like this- and she refers to them as Egyptian undulations, meaning no lower body movement. To me this is a more of a chest circle, rather than an undulation as I know it.

Okay- Starting from neutral position- Chest OUT, Chest UP, Chest Back and Down...like a ferris wheel that is in reverse. Pelvic regions stays relatively still.

I'm going to add this to my list of misnamed moves along with the "taqsim" Why? Because Egyptian undulations are pelvic only. The whole chest circle thing is not part of the Arabic dance vocab. Sigh!

 

[Anjanah]

I'm going to add this to my list of misnamed moves along with the "taqsim" Why? Because Egyptian undulations are pelvic only. The whole chest circle thing is not part of the Arabic dance vocab. Sigh!

hehehheh oh well what do I know?
Do you know of a You Tube Vid that might have these undulations showing anywhere? Frankly the ferris wheel thing feels freaky to me.

 

[Roshanna]

The way my teacher teaches undulations is like this- and she refers to them as Egyptian undulations, meaning no lower body movement. To me this is a more of a chest circle, rather than an undulation as I know it.

Okay- Starting from neutral position- Chest OUT, Chest UP, Chest Back and Down...like a ferris wheel that is in reverse. Pelvic regions stays relatively still.

What do you think? I find it hard to do frankly. My pelvis wants to rock on out with the chest.

I find that sort a lot harder to do and make look good (my chest tends to not be lifted enough, or something). I think the only time I've been taught to keep the hips really still is when doing tribal. If I want to do a really big undulation, I will do the chest circle thing and move my hips a bit as well, but usually I think mine are mainly in the lower body with just a little bit of chest movement. Actually, do people normally call the small sort camels and the big chest-circley sort undulations? Or am I just confused?

 

[Aniseteph]

Belly dance terminology strikes again! It all depends where you are, who your teacher learnt with etc etc etc.

But I agree with Kashmir, the backwards Ferris Wheel chest is not Egyptian.

I find it hard to do as well, especially with no hips, and if I try to do plain undulations while concentrating on chest circling it looks really forced (and terrible).

If I want to do a really big undulation, I will do the chest circle thing and move my hips a bit as well, but usually I think mine are mainly in the lower body with just a little bit of chest movement. Actually, do people normally call the small sort camels and the big chest-circley sort undulations? Or am I just confused?

Same here. My nicest ones are diaphragm-level and down. The chest rides along with it, just a little rise and fall at the front.

I've heard the full chest/pelvis undulation called a camel, but my teacher uses camel to mean a step-together-step (travelling or on the spot), with the smaller scale undulation. You can do undulations or reverse undulations as a stand-alone move or layered on something else, but without the weight shifts associated with the steps they aren't camels. In our vocabulary anyway!

 

[Daimona]

GypsyStacey:
First of all: What part of the body do you try to undulate?
Is is the belly? or is it your hands? Arms? Torso? Head? Legs? Or is it both the chest, belly and pelvis? Is the movement up and down or sideways?


Aniseteph:
I've heard that as well, i.e. variations of it.. And I have heard at least 4 different explanations on the move called "the camel".

 

[Anjanah]

I find that sort a lot harder to do and make look good (my chest tends to not be lifted enough, or something). I think the only time I've been taught to keep the hips really still is when doing tribal. If I want to do a really big undulation, I will do the chest circle thing and move my hips a bit as well, but usually I think mine are mainly in the lower body with just a little bit of chest movement. Actually, do people normally call the small sort camels and the big chest-circley sort undulations? Or am I just confused?

My undualations were always pelvic heavy as well- with abdomen rolling but not so much chest. If traveling with this move I always called it a camel--- but if done in place just sort of shifting weight from one foot to the other- I would call that an undualation. To me, camel is a traveling move.

 

[Aniseteph]

Coincidentally I just saw this on another thread: there are some examples of ultra chest-focused undulations with hardly any pelvic movement (and not Egyptian looking at all, IMHO).