Conserving energy, breath and cutting down on overheating!

[Elfie]

This may need to be in the fitness section, but I thought it would be more something about learning how to do these things.

I dance for fitness right now - though I do actually dance and not just drill moves for a workout. I do drill moves, but that is to learn them. When I dance, I can literally feel the ounces and pounds melting away. It's cardio and aerobics all in one!

Anyhow. I run out of steam after about 30-40 minutes of dancing. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to make your energy last longer throughout the dances (assuming, of course, that you dance to more than one song)? When I dance, it is very high energy. I sometimes dance with my eyes closed and just let the music take me. Sometimes I go too far and by the end of my set of songs, I'm totally pooped. So much so that I end up napping for a good hour and a half.

Breath control. I try to keep my breaths slow and even, no more than 15 per minute. However, I still run out of breath. Note that I am a smoker, and I've smoked for a long time. I want to quit... eventually. Maybe. Someday. If I ever get around to it. But, do any of you have any ideas on how to keep my breathing from going all to pieces? Other than "Stop smoking, Elfie!!"

Lastly, how much of a factor is clothing material in overheating? By 15 minutes, I'm sweating profusely - and I'm not one that is prone to sweating. My body is not in horrible shape, it's not supermodel great, but I have pretty abs (not washboard, eww! Still nice and smooth for the most part with a teensy bit of jiggle. Ladies should be a bit softer and curvier, methinks) and my back is very strong. My thighs and backside are a bit bigger than I would like, but they are slowly shaping up. What I wear to practice in: A pair of nicely form showing (not painted on, but they show my curves quite nicely) pants of windbreaker type material (not quite the same but close) and a makeshift belly top of see through meshy stuff.

Now, bear in mind, I am not dancing with wild abandon. No whirling dervishes (ha! Like I could in my living room) or anything. But I do put all I've got into my dancing. It's the best way to work out my body and get to know what I can do with the dance. The movements and transitions, level changes and layers are not perfectly smooth, but they are serviceable and working on getting better. I just don't want to... pass out or hurt myself by overheating.

Any suggestions?

 

[Eshta]

Here's a quick and easy fix: stick a slow song or a taqsim into your set and try focusing on the control and emotional expression. Also a very important part of belly dance!

Also try to challenge yourself to do less but more effective moves. There is incredible power in doing nothing during a "performance", or even doing something very slowly. But it's surprisingly difficult to do!

Also, try to think from an audience point of view. Yes, I know you are not performing, but it helps explain what I'm trying to say. It is very exhausting for an audience member to watch someone explode onto the stage and throw every move they have at you. Contrasting high energy and smaller, more concentrated sections keep it interesting for an audience, and also helps better reflect the music.

It doesn't sound to me like your fitness is the problem, but I suspect the way you dance may be. Sounds like you may be 'over-dancing' a little!

 

[Elfie]

Here's a quick and easy fix: stick a slow song or a taqsim into your set and try focusing on the control and emotional expression. Also a very important part of belly dance!

Also try to challenge yourself to do less but more effective moves. There is incredible power in doing nothing during a "performance", or even doing something very slowly. But it's surprisingly difficult to do!

Also, try to think from an audience point of view. Yes, I know you are not performing, but it helps explain what I'm trying to say. It is very exhausting for an audience member to watch someone explode onto the stage and throw every move they have at you. Contrasting high energy and smaller, more concentrated sections keep it interesting for an audience, and also helps better reflect the music.

It doesn't sound to me like your fitness is the problem, but I suspect the way you dance may be. Sounds like you may be 'over-dancing' a little!

I have some slow songs in there. This is one (link goes to youtube) and this is another (also youtube - a live performance of a different song). These are instrumental covers of Metallica songs though. The music has so many different layers within it that it feels like my body has to react to it. At times I'm pulling painter arms with maya and chest circles while traveling forward. I bet you are absolutely right. I am over-dancing.

In case anyone is wondering why I chose this type of music, I am trying to learn emotional interpretation as well as improv dancing - and what better way than to choose songs I know by heart and love to hear? Even without the original lyrics, I can "hear them" in my head and it helps. At least for me.

I love subtle dancing - Classical Egyptian is wonderful to see. I will try giving it some variety (slowing down, stationary with just arms etc) without throwing it all out there and "balls out" dancing as I'm prone to. Thank you Eshta!

 

[Chani]

Gosh, I think anybody would be stuffed after 40 minutes of consistent dancing but generally I find a little rest after exercise enough - I don't usuall fall to sleep. I'm dancing in Australia and in Summer it's sweltering. We are sweating waiting in the wings before we even begin to perform when we have our layers of costumes and make up on. There is not much to be done for performances - we have learned to wear water proof make up and killer under arm protection and we take any photos before we dance when we aren't dripping with sweat (noty very glamorous).

However, for practice we dance in air conditioning or at the very least have fans on and we wear as little as possitle - tank tops and stretchy dance pants with out hair tied up. The pants you are wearing sound like maybe they can't breathe. The pants I wear are like yoga pants - they feel like cotton and breathe but they are stretchy so I expect they are a blended fabric (tag long gone).

I agree that alternating fast moves with slower more controled moves to pace yourself sounds like a good idea.

 

[Shanazel]

Stop smoking, Elfie. Had to say it because you're a great addition to the forum and we don't want to lose you any time soon.

My big problem is that my head sweats. Not the rest of me, just my head so that moisture runs into my eyes and blinds me and ruins my make up. I've decided that a decorative headband lined with absorbant cotton is my new "signature." I've always lined my hipbands and bras with cotton that can be taken out and washed or replaced as needed.

To conserve energy during practice, I carefully arrange music to allow a build up to a crescendo then taper off. That allows a warmup period and a cool down period to music followed by a session of stretching. For a long performance, I alter tempos to allow myself breaks so that I can save enough energy for a gala finish. People don't much do the old AmCab style 5-7 pieces of music per 20-25 minute routine anymore, which makes me delightfully retro, hmmm? :lol: Anyway, it works.

 

[Elfie]

Shanazel: Well, thank you. I do want to stop smoking at some point. I just haven't the actual desire yet, if that makes sense. I have to say that the absorbent cotton is an excellent idea. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with retro! (Says the hippie girl born out of her time - I'd have been perfectly happy in the seventies.)

Chani: I'd almost trade a lung for air conditioning. I have an air conditioner, but it's a huge beast of a machine and won't fit into any of my windows. I always workout/practice with my hair up too. It usually comes undone by the time I'm finished, though. :lol:

 

[Shanazel]

I just haven't the actual desire yet, if that makes sense.

Makes perfect sense.

 

[Elfie]

Sheesh, I said seventies. I meant sixties, LOL. I could not do disco boots!

Re: smoking: I want to stop for my health. I know it is bad for me and it really takes a toll on my breathing. But, I just don't stop buying them. I figure when I really, really want to stop, I will.

 

[Eshta]

You're right Elfie, I recently started up smoking again after years of not smoking (stoopid stoopid stoopid), when you're ready and you hate it enough you'll quit. Not before then.

So, any progress on not collapsing after practicing?!

 

[Elfie]

You're right Elfie, I recently started up smoking again after years of not smoking (stoopid stoopid stoopid), when you're ready and you hate it enough you'll quit. Not before then.

So, any progress on not collapsing after practicing?!

Actually, there is! I noticed too that when I slow down certain moves, I can hit beats of the music that I was having a hard time hitting before. It's great!

 

[Shanazel]

Re: hippies

The early seventies were more the sixties than the early sixties were, if you know what I mean. Disco boots were much later in the decade.

 

[Elfie]

Re: hippies

The early seventies were more the sixties than the early sixties were, if you know what I mean. Disco boots were much later in the decade.

Oh. I wasn't born till the next decade (80's) - I thought disco was early the seventies thing. :dance: In any case, I'd have fit.



Since we're already here - and since I've already started like... 5 threads in as many days... What do you guys think of using Native American music for BD?

And my layering sucks! I can manage easy stuff, but mixing anything with a twist or any shimmy... it's not pretty. I've tried and tried. But I cannot layer with shimmy. At all. Is it just one of things that takes more practice than the rest?

 

[Shanazel]

What do you guys think of using Native American music for BD?

It's no more incongruous than using Gregorian chant, Chinese opera, or Appalachain folksongs. Of course, it is no less incongruous, either.

Layering will come with practice and some things are easier than others.

 

[Bellydance Oz]

I dance for fitness right now ...I run out of steam after about 30-40 minutes of dancing. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to make your energy last longer
...Note that I am a smoker, and I've smoked for a long time.

You just have to accept that if you smoke, there's nothing you can do to counteract the effect of the smoking on your breathing.

Lastly, how much of a factor is clothing material in overheating?

A lot. As someone who suffered seriously from overheating during menopause, I can tell you that the more you wear, the hotter you'll get. And synthetic materials are the worst! You'll feel much hotter in a nylon/lycra singlet than a cotton one. Loose clothing is cooler than tight-fitting - a skirt or baggy pants may be better than leggings.

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

What do you guys think of using Native American music for BD?

I'm going to risk the wrath of several on this board, but here goes:

You said you wanted to learn improvisation and musical expression. You said you like classical Egyptian style.
Based on these goals, I would recommend you stick to Egyptian music.

Improvisation:
The biggest part of learning to improvise is learning your music. Now this doesn't just mean "learn your song" although you should always know your performance piece backwards, forwards, and upside down. It means learning how the music works. Learning what is typical of the drum beat and what the drummer is likely to do where and when. Learning what a maqam-based taqsim sounds like, and how it travels through the maqam. Learning what the structure of the overall song feels like.

Western music does NOT emulate Eastern music in these ways. Western vocal improvisations do not travel up and down the scale with the same set of "rules" as Eastern ones. Western drummers have very different "typical" behaviors than Eastern ones. Apart from radio-pop songs, Western songs are not arranged and organized the same way as Eastern ones.

If you immerse yourself in Eastern music, you will (after a time) start to internalize these Eastern structures and "rules" even if you can't articulate them. You will be able to anticipate maqam modulation and structural changes. You will be able to hear the drummer "winding up" for a specifc riff, and you'll be able to anticipate and follow the winding path of a vocal or instrumental improvisation.

If you start dancing to Eastern music from pretty much day one, all these things that people struggle with in improvisational dance will already be IN your body. You won't struggle so much to express the music.


Musical Expression:
See above. Western music SOUNDS different than Eastern music. If you immerse yourself in Eastern music, it will be SO much easier for you to express the differing emotions evoked by the nay versus the kawala. That's a whole 'nother "LAYER" of musicality that you are never going to really grasp if you don't expose yourself to it A LOT.

When you dance to Western music, I'd pretty much guarantee you're responding emotionally to the LYRICS. What you need to be able to do is shift that, so that you can respond emotionally to the music. Although music and lyrics are very much tied together in the Eastern model, as a DANCER you don't want to capture the linear progression of the lyrics so much as you want to capture the general feeling of the lyrics. I've seen some students dance what is essentially a sign-language version of the song. Gesture is used sparingly in Egyptian dance, and even now when everybody is dancing and singing along karaoke-style, the better dances don't try to translate phrase by phrase. They pick out a couple of key themes (my eye will remember you, for instance) and use gesture to help illustrate them.

You have to expose yourself to a LOT of songs in order to start identifying and exploring the "scales" of Arab music. And their music is very cleverly DESIGNED to evoke emotions -- just like Western classical music, but in a completely different way.

I guess if you're content to just dance to shaabi or pop the rest of your life, then it doesn't really matter what you practice to, but it seems from your posts that you want to learn it "right" and you want to explore a greater depth of music and musical expression than just whatever's on Yallah Hit List this week Because of that, I would heartily encourage you to stick to Eastern music -- and Egyptian is a great place to begin. From there you can develop your exploration into Turkish, Iraqi, and Persian music and musical forms if you want. We have access to a lot of good Egyptian music and books, articles, and DVDs on Egyptian music, so it's a logical and lovely place to start your journey.

And my layering sucks! I can manage easy stuff, but mixing anything with a twist or any shimmy... it's not pretty. I've tried and tried. But I cannot layer with shimmy. At all. Is it just one of things that takes more practice than the rest?

First of all layers need to be thought of as levels of a house. If your ground floor is shaky, then none of the levels above it are going to be solid either!

Work your base moves first. They should be rock solid. (I recommend Autumn Ward's "Beautiful Technique" dvd for a GREAT practice tool.)

Next get a solid and good shimmy. Once you have a shimmy you can hold, in tempo, for 5 minutes, then start focusing on putting the two together.

Remember, you absolutely have to have a solid and complete foundation before you can build on it. If you're trying to do a movement while walking with a complicated traveling pattern, then get the footwork FIRST. Make sure that's solid and perfect. Then worry about adding the successive layers.

And do it SLOWLY! Most students want to rush through this stage. If you can't do a movement slowly, you can't do it. LOL. Download a metronome program (or buy one) and set it at a slow speed. Practice. When you can do what you were practicing SOLIDLY, without mistake) for 5 minutes (*) then you can "kick it up a notch" and practice at a faster speed. This method WORKS! I swear by it.

(* I say 5 minutes because that's a nice round number and it's an average number of minutes in an average song. It's a good benchmark for knowing you really "HAVE" a movement.)

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

One more thing -- you need to be breathing through and into your movements. Breathing into a movement flow allows it to come alive and look less like you're just standing there doing movements and more like you're actually DANCING. Plus it will keep you from passing out.

Ranya Renee has a wonderful way of expressing this, as does Autumn Ward. I recommend Ranya's Baladi dvd and Autumn's Beautiful Technique dvds for lots of reasons, but the breathing thing is well described and used in both.

 

[Elfie]

Man, I had a nice, long response typed out to this and the forum logged me ut so I lost it! Crud.

Basically, I said that my background with music (I'm a musician and writer, though the music is a hobby rather than a means of living) is proving invaluable with musical expression. I don't dance with lyrics - instrumental is the only way to go. You tend to listen more to lyrics than music if you dance to songs that have lyrics. And that I may learn to play some ME flavored music so I can better understand the artistic choices by the musician and tell the story through dance correctly.

Man I wish my other response had come up. It explained it so much better than that.

Thank you, Aziyade, for the response. Incredible advice there and some that I will definitely take to heart. Much appreciated.

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

And that I may learn to play some ME flavored music so I can better understand the artistic choices by the musician and tell the story through dance correctly.

Oh yeah!! It's a whole new ballgame, but it's sooooo helpful! I want to eventually learn to play the qanoun, but right now I'm just learning to sing the music, which is hard enough. But once you're actually MAKING music, listening to it makes so much more sense!!

Thank you, Aziyade, for the response. Incredible advice there and some that I will definitely take to heart. Much appreciated.

You are VERY welcome