Too skinny for proper belly rolls?

[Greek Bonfire]

Do you mean this one? It's really stunning (and fun )!




I'm working on my belly roll too. When I'm standig stoop-shouldered it looks quite good, I think, but when I'm standing in very straight posture It seems that I cannot stick out my belly (especially the middle part) enough to make it even look like a proper roll. That's also the reason why I just don't like my undulations, it looks so awkward. Seems that I just have to work on it a lot (but at the moment I'm a little bit discouraged because I haven't seen any progress for several weeks now , but actually I haven't concentrated on it much, so not THAT bad ).

Stunning for sure!

When I first started doing undulations, I had trouble letting my stomach go out. For my entire life, I always worked on tightening my stomach, and then suddenly I'm told to let it all hang out? Well, when I did, I found that my stomach muscles would go back to what I wanted them to do, but by practicing moving those muscles, they would undulate easier. As the others have said, it's all about practice. But Helen Vlahos, I will never be!

 

[walladah]

Belly rolls without moving hips and torso

and any bone whatsoever, this is really hard!

it works easier if a woman has some fat on the belly, because guess what? fat makes the movement more visible and more "round" without the effort a "skinny" bellydancer would need.

However, once a dancer practices regularly, there is no movement she cannot do. And thin or fat belly for not not doing the belly roll is just an excuse. Of course, belly rolls need weeks, months or even years of practice to be done a) with full movement b) with full breath without this being seen c) without tension of the dancer d) with grace as if the dancer was born with this movement and last, but not least e) with the music which the dancer dances to! there is no point train your belly muscles that much and not be able to use them according to the music!

By the way: i write the above, because i have no fat on my belly (and some people call me skinny, although i do not believe it) and it took me very long to be able to do belly rolls complying with the above conditions... it was not easy at all, but i loved the process and then, i realised that once i insist for months or years, i can acquire the movement i need!

 

[Darshiva]

Another profound comment! I can't rep you again so soon, but I would really like to. This is an excellent piece of advice.

 

[MALEX]

This is all so helpful - thank you to everyone! I think I'm making some progress with practicing, I've noticed I have fairly good control over the top stomach muscles, but the real trick is those bottom ones! They don't want to do anything it seems! LOL

 

[Darshiva]

Malex, I've found that if you really get the top ones (or bottom ones for that matter) going, the other ones just seem to follow along. At this stage, don't force it, just relax into it & let it follow through.

I would strongly suggest that if you are keen to be able to go in either direction at will, that you keep up you drills on the bottom only, eventually you will get there. I'm naturally a top roller, but with effort and concentration I can get up to three bottom-starting bellyrolls in a row (at which point I usually gleefully go 'I'm doing it' and choke!) The upside of this is that it was at that point with my top-starting rolls that I started to really get the hang of it, particularly if I let myself get distracted while I was doing them!

 

[walladah]

One more tip

once you try to isolate upper and lower belly for the belly roll you push with your fingers inside and you tell your abdomen muscles to push the hand/fingers out. I think this is similar to the tip with the books... but it will allow you to create more sections on abdomen than 2...

 

[Reen.Blom]

I watched Rachel Brice while trying to learn... I actually think it looks best on someone who is leaner like her... it just seems more defined and dramatic.

Totally mezmerises me as well... I think its because you actually SEE all the muscules... LOL A bit creepy too.. :lol:

 

[astro_girl]

Don't forget that a good belly roll doesn't have to be a large movement. Perhaps yours is adequate and you're trying for something too big at the moment. It's actually quite small in order to isolate the tummy and not involve the knees, head, etc.

I notice a lot of great tips on mastering belly rolls...one recent instructor explained them as scooping motions, like an ice cream scoop (for the under to up roll movement). Reverse this for the opposing belly roll motion (like a ferris wheel). Of course these are broken down into 4 parts: from neutral, tuck the tummy, push out, untuck, push back in (or reverse depending on which direction you're rolling).

As for that coin rolling video...she's my idol. There's a woman who taped a portion of a segment on one of our local BD instructor's dvd set who did this...rolled in 2 dimensions a whole roll of quarters on her tummy. Amazing!!!