Where do you practice?

[Belly Love]

Thanks for all of the input and ideas everyone. I think I'm going to get a rug for the basement (moving soon otherwise I would turn a whole room into a studio ) and switch up between that, my bedroom (since apparently the small space is good for some instances) and a gym aerobics room.

I don't know why, but I had this idea in my head of everyone practicing in studio spaces... glad to know that a lot of you are learning just fine in the spaces you are creating for yourselves

 

[Farasha Hanem]

No vids of me until I get better! Besides, I would be so embarassed I wouldn't be able to stop laughing...

Ohh, pshaaaaw, even after almost 3 1/2 years of classes, I'm still the worst dancer in my class, and I have a few vids up of some of my first practices on YouTube, in all my hideous glory! xD Taping your practice sessions and your classes for private use at home (with your teacher's permission, of course), even at this point, will be extremely helpful to you. You can see what you need to work on, correct any mistakes before they become ingrained habits, and in the case of taping your class, you'll be able to see how your teacher moves, remember instructions that you might otherwise forget later, etc.

I don't know why, but I had this idea in my head of everyone practicing in studio spaces... glad to know that a lot of you are learning just fine in the spaces you are creating for yourselves

I'm one of those dancers with phenominal klutzy powers, and an ittybitty living space. :lol: My usual practice spot now is the kitchen. I work on movement drills while cooking dinner or washing dishes, and do a minimal amount of choreo practice while waiting for dinner to cook. Sometimes I dance in the living room, which is now about the size of the kitchen since the daughter bought a huge loveseat and couch (there went my main dance space ). Both places are fine for the standing still practices, but no cane practice (too many "crashables"), and practicing with a sword is sketchy, at best, but as someone already said, you learn to deal.

Oh, the shower is wonderful for practicing shimmies! :dance:

The back patio of our apartment is looking rather appealing, though. This year, I'm thinking about taking my video cam, laptop with music, and the dangerous props outside on the patio to practice. Hopefully, the neighbors won't complain about the music or the zilling, and if I have an accident with my sword, there will be plenty of witnesses to call 911! xD

I think you'll work things out, and do quite well.

 

[goddessyasaman]

Thanks for all of the input and ideas everyone. I think I'm going to get a rug for the basement (moving soon otherwise I would turn a whole room into a studio ) and switch up between that, my bedroom (since apparently the small space is good for some instances) and a gym aerobics room.

I don't know why, but I had this idea in my head of everyone practicing in studio spaces... glad to know that a lot of you are learning just fine in the spaces you are creating for yourselves

Sounds like a good idea, practicing in both small and large space will help, anyway best wishes on the space and practice let us know how it all goes, plus when you do make one room into a studio I can help ya with some ideas and good places to get good prices on wall mirrors or the different sizes, if you would like

Happy dancing:dance:

 

[Sashna]

Thanks for all of the input and ideas everyone. I think I'm going to get a rug for the basement (moving soon otherwise I would turn a whole room into a studio ) and switch up between that, my bedroom (since apparently the small space is good for some instances) and a gym aerobics room.

I don't know why, but I had this idea in my head of everyone practicing in studio spaces... glad to know that a lot of you are learning just fine in the spaces you are creating for yourselves

I practice in my tiny small so called "box room" so, kinda miss out on practising some walking movements. Sometimes, when no one is at home then I practise in the living room. However, I attend weekly lessons which gives me the space and those lovely big mirrors in which u can watch self move ur body, but not enough time.

I wish I had a nice dance studion, think it I will be stuck in there most of the time just dancing away!!...

 

[Yame]

Ohh, pshaaaaw, even after almost 3 1/2 years of classes, I'm still the worst dancer in my class, and I have a few vids up of some of my first practices on YouTube, in all my hideous glory! xD Taping your practice sessions and your classes for private use at home (with your teacher's permission, of course), even at this point, will be extremely helpful to you. You can see what you need to work on, correct any mistakes before they become ingrained habits, and in the case of taping your class, you'll be able to see how your teacher moves, remember instructions that you might otherwise forget later, etc.

Video is a wonderful tool. Whether or not you post it and get feedback from other people, watching yourself from a third person perspective will help you realize the things you are good at and the things you need to work on, and you might be surprised, because a lot of it you don't see in the mirror.

For me personally, posting on youtube helped me start to get over my shyness and stage fright. I still had to get out there and perform, but I am not sure I would have been able to do it without the support I got from other people on youtube.

It's definitely not for everyone, and if you're not comfortable actually sharing with people, then don't share. I always found it nice having a public log of my progress with belly dance, having people who have been following me since I was first starting out... but recently I've had to make most of my older videos private because some people look at them, don't look at the date, and think the video is representative of my current dancing, which it isn't. It's so annoying getting criticism and feedback on things that are irrelevant to my current needs!

 

[Belly Love]

Ohh, pshaaaaw, even after almost 3 1/2 years of classes, I'm still the worst dancer in my class, and I have a few vids up of some of my first practices on YouTube, in all my hideous glory! xD Taping your practice sessions and your classes for private use at home (with your teacher's permission, of course), even at this point, will be extremely helpful to you. You can see what you need to work on, correct any mistakes before they become ingrained habits, and in the case of taping your class, you'll be able to see how your teacher moves, remember instructions that you might otherwise forget later, etc.

You and Yame are right, videotaping yourself is a good idea. I also think it's so helpful to others when people post their practices online, especially if they are trying to learn at home. It helps to see other people learning vs. watching experts all of the time. Aaaand now I want to look at yours! Link, pretty please!

Hopefully, the neighbors won't complain about the music or the zilling, and if I have an accident with my sword, there will be plenty of witnesses to call 911! xD

I'm sure they won't be complaining... everytime they hear the music start to play they will probably be setting up seats and popping corn- "She's dancing again!" :dance:

best wishes on the space and practice let us know how it all goes, plus when you do make one room into a studio I can help ya with some ideas and good places to get good prices on wall mirrors or the different sizes, if you would like

Thank you You know what, I actually re-arranged a bit of my bedroom last night after I posted last. It's not ideal (I'm very picking about keeping my bedroom serene) but I do have a bit more room to practice.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

You and Yame are right, videotaping yourself is a good idea. I also think it's so helpful to others when people post their practices online, especially if they are trying to learn at home. It helps to see other people learning vs. watching experts all of the time. Aaaand now I want to look at yours! Link, pretty please!



I'm sure they won't be complaining... everytime they hear the music start to play they will probably be setting up seats and popping corn- "She's dancing again!" :dance:



Thank you You know what, I actually re-arranged a bit of my bedroom last night after I posted last. It's not ideal (I'm very picking about keeping my bedroom serene) but I do have a bit more room to practice.

Okay, don't say I didn't warn you! :lol:





These were the first two taped practices, and I admit, they're pretty awful! :lol: I'm still going to leave them up, though, to prove a point. I know what it's like to be a scared, nervous beginner, and there are other scared, nervous beginners out there. No matter what level we are at right now, whether we've started our first class, have been at it for a few years, or seasoned professionals, we all started out as beginners. It does take a lot to put oneself out there, but hopefully, when other beginners see these videos, it'll help put them more at ease, and encourage them not to give up.

I have some more vids on the hard drive, but just haven't put them up yet. Hopefully I'll get the time soon to do that.

 

[Belly Love]

When I tried to play they said "private"

I know what it's like to be a scared, nervous beginner, and there are other scared, nervous beginners out there. No matter what level we are at right now, whether we've started our first class, have been at it for a few years, or seasoned professionals, we all started out as beginners. It does take a lot to put oneself out there, but hopefully, when other beginners see these videos, it'll help put them more at ease, and encourage them not to give up.

:clap:

Isn't everyone technically awful at first?! Okay, I look forward to seeing them when I can play 'em...

 

[Farasha Hanem]

When I tried to play they said "private"



:clap:

Isn't everyone technically awful at first?! Okay, I look forward to seeing them when I can play 'em...

oO The embedding didn't work? Awww, geeeeeez...arrrrrgh...I'm sorry, let me adjust the settings on those vids.

Okay, I remember now why I set the bottom video to private. I was practicing one of our troupe numbers, and when I had it set to public, my teacher asked me to take it down because she didn't want another troupe to see it and copy it. Can't for the life of me remember why I set the top one to private, unless she scared me so bad that I did it to be safe than sorry! I love her dearly, but I don't want to get on her bad side.

I'll leave the second one up until you've had a chance to view it, then I'll set it back to private.

 

[Bast]

Thanks for sharing your videos

What would be great is if there was a before and after thread where people could post one of their earliest videos and one of their later ones to show distance travelled.

It's nice to remember that for every polished performance we watch there is a ton of hard work and training behind it.

 

[goddessyasaman]

You and Yame are right, videotaping yourself is a good idea. I also think it's so helpful to others when people post their practices online, especially if they are trying to learn at home. It helps to see other people learning vs. watching experts all of the time. Aaaand now I want to look at yours! Link, pretty please!



I'm sure they won't be complaining... everytime they hear the music start to play they will probably be setting up seats and popping corn- "She's dancing again!" :dance:



Thank you You know what, I actually re-arranged a bit of my bedroom last night after I posted last. It's not ideal (I'm very picking about keeping my bedroom serene) but I do have a bit more room to practice.

Thats good, when I lived in my old house I had one of my bed rooms made into a dance room for me so thats works good too.

 

[Shara]

I practice in my living room and just about anywhere, but when I need to really practice with props or a whole choreo I use the clubhouse of the apartment complex. Sometimes a church will let you use or rent space.
Sometimes the community center or senior center is affordable. Sometimes the city will have space available to rent.

 

[Belly Love]

I'll leave the second one up until you've had a chance to view it, then I'll set it back to private.

Awwww... :dance: That was fun to watch! There is nothing awful about it... just looks like someone practicing something kinda new

It's nice to remember that for every polished performance we watch there is a ton of hard work and training behind it.

Ditto.

Shara- A community space is a good idea too.

 

[Darshiva]

I wasn't going to post this here, but I thought you newer dancers should know that even experienced dancers have their bad days. I'm posting a good example of why it's a good idea to practice in a new costume before performing in public in it. (this was a practice run for some new costumes at my studio - my usual practice space is my loungeroom, which was covered in books for the last week while we waited to see if repairs to the roof were as effective as we hoped)

YouTube - Batwanes Beek Oriental

 

[Yame]

I wasn't going to post this here, but I thought you newer dancers should know that even experienced dancers have their bad days. I'm posting a good example of why it's a good idea to practice in a new costume before performing in public in it. (this was a practice run for some new costumes at my studio - my usual practice space is my loungeroom, which was covered in books for the last week while we waited to see if repairs to the roof were as effective as we hoped)

YouTube - Batwanes Beek Oriental

Honestly, without the subtitles I would never even have noticed there was something wrong. Even with the subtitles, it's hard to tell.

This can also be a lesson to remember that even certain costume malfunctions and other things that seem like they are a huge deal to us (mistakes, losing balance for a moment, etc) look like nothing to the audience. Just smile and keep dancing, and nine times out of ten no one will know that anything was wrong.

 

[Belly Love]

Good tip! I like your skirt/veil by the way... pretty tie dye wine/pink

 

[Darshiva]

@ Bellylove

Alosha made them for me from my dye technique. I highly recommend them.

@ Yame

That's the important thing - no matter what your costume is doing, just smile & keep dancing. If you MUST fiddle with it (which I must - I'm a fiddler!) try to incorporate it into your performance.

And always, ALWAYS practice first with your new costumes & props. You never know what will need tweaking or is completely inappropriate for dancing in/with.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Awwww... :dance: That was fun to watch! There is nothing awful about it... just looks like someone practicing something kinda new

Golly, thank you, Belly Love! :redface: *hugs!*

 

[Safran]

I had to resurrect this thread when I came across this:

If you ride your bicycle with no hands on the bike trail adjacent to a busy avenue, belly dance moves rock! Snake arms, hand curls, chest and belly rolls are awesome. Cute guys always shout incomprehensible things at you. But, please remember, DO NOT try any of the hip motions!! You will crash nose first into the grass in front of every car at rush hour!

Found at: Belly Biker - Learn From My Fail #LFMF

 

[gisela]

I had to resurrect this thread when I came across this:



Found at: Belly Biker - Learn From My Fail #LFMF

:lol:
I love how the commenters think that this person must be the ONLY one on the planet to do bellydance arms while biking. They obviously have no idea how common that is among bellydancers :lol: I am sure they think noone is shimmying in the supermarket either