It looks like a very wide legged "hip drop kick", followed by shimmies.
hi eshta yea at last i know it's name. i appreciate your help sweety
It looks like a very wide legged "hip drop kick", followed by shimmies.
I see which video you mean now. She is pushing the hip FORWARDS and gravity is pushing it back to it's original position. She's doing this with her leg. It's hard to explain online, but basically she is using the leg that is pointed outwards to do the movement. I don't know what it's called though. My teacher didn't speak very good English. One dancer I talked with, we talked about how all the hip movements used to be forward, not pushing hips backwards, and she called them flutters, but I don't think that's right. Sorry I'm no help on the name of it.
It's a hip drop with a leg kick, known sometimes in the UK as a 'swerve'. She's leaning backwards slightly so it appears that the move is pushing forwards, which is what she may be doing. The kicking leg releases the hip, so that the hip can also twist backwards slightly during the movement... hence the term, 'swerve'. A basic movement and one which is taught quite early on.
As with nearly all Shakira's movements, she's over extending and exaggerating the movement so it takes on a whole new look and has more energy. But when a dancer does this, there can be injuries. So her way of executing this move is perhaps not for beginners.
You know nobody is sayng Shakira can't belly dance. She has been taught (by Bozenka ...am I right?) but it's this business of holding her up as being so brilliant which she isn't. She's making use of belly dance in music shows. No problem there . The point I would make, at the risk of dragging this on, is that SHE doesn't market herself as a belly dancer but a singer who can belly dance . I don't believe that this is just because she did social dancing with a Lebanese grand ma . This will have made it easier for her , than say a dancer brought up with the sounds of Elvis, Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Led Zepplen all round her. She can belly dance adequately because she bothered to get tuition. She looks good doing it because she just plain -looks good. But put her performances up against a full time professional belly dancer and she will pale..and I don't suppose she would expect anythng else.
And this business of accusing people of being "jellous haters" that comes up everytime we critique a performer ...of course we do get people who fly in post a nasty comment then pi$$ off...but mostly it's experience of something better and knowledge of the real thing that eminates from Egypt you get here.
She has the moves... but I cringe sometimes at her bone yanking ferocity of style and know, just know that some young kid is gonna try and copy that off You Tube and do themselves an injury. Shakira is to hitting one'self over the head with a hammer as Fifi is to having your head caressed with loving fingertips.
As a newbie myself, I wanted to share a bit of perspective with the board.
The belly dance community seems very insular. Coming from the outside, as I have, it's very intimidating to see these arguments about authenticity.
Welcome GearsingerAs a newbie myself, I wanted to share a bit of perspective with the board.
The belly dance community seems very insular. Coming from the outside, as I have, it's very intimidating to see these arguments about authenticity.
I couldn't agree more. Reading back over the responses I don't think anyone has been mean spirited, perhaps a few answers could be more sugar coated for the very fragile but the sentiment has been good natured. The problem comes when there is a situation like this one, where a number of people are trying to give good advice but it goes against what some people want to hear.I have seen these sort of discussion in many other communities, so I did not allow myself to be scared away. To someone who has no such experience, though, it would be very off putting.
When I find myself becoming angry about misinformation newcomers to the activities I have been involved in, I try to remind myself that their enthusiasm should be encouraged. Yes, it's important to present the facts, but try to do it nicely.
Yes. But also not explaining the boundaries to the newcomers also does the dance a disservice. I haven't yet noticed a decline in numbers due to people being scared away, but I have noticed the rise in a lot of cr@p that's being passed off as belly dance due to a lack of understanding of the fundamentals. Seems to me we need to be MORE protective :lol: Lol, joking!Without new participants, any art form will stagnate. Scaring away that new blood is a disservice to the dance.
Yes. But also not explaining the boundaries to the newcomers also does the dance a disservice. I haven't yet noticed a decline in numbers due to people being scared away, but I have noticed the rise in a lot of cr@p that's being passed off as belly dance due to a lack of understanding of the fundamentals. Seems to me we need to be MORE protective :lol: Lol, joking!
Most dancers will agree that at the outset, the dance looks relatively simple to master once you discover how to mobilise your hips and yet the more you delve the more complex and the deeper the layers become. It's not jealousy or bitchiness that creates this seemingly insular community (well, not most of the time I hope!) but a certain protectiveness to promote the richness of this art and not have it stripped down to its parts where it loses its.... essence.
I agree there is no reason to scare anyone away....but why is this so big an objection in dance (or at least this dance) as opposed to other disciplines? If someone went into a karate class and started throwing in fingernail scratching or boxing techniques into sparring, or someone went to a poetry writing class and wrote in complete sentences and paragraphs, or someone took a course on Japanese tea ceremony and wanted to serve potato chips as part of it, these "fusions" would be immediately pointed out as not part of the core tradition by the instructor.
Cathy
The problem comes when there is a situation like this one, where a number of people are trying to give good advice but it goes against what some people want to hear.
not explaining the boundaries to the newcomers also does the dance a disservice. I haven't yet noticed a decline in numbers due to people being scared away, but I have noticed the rise in a lot of cr@p that's being passed off as belly dance due to a lack of understanding of the fundamentals.
It's not jealousy or bitchiness that creates this seemingly insular community (well, not most of the time I hope!) but a certain protectiveness to promote the richness of this art and not have it stripped down to its parts where it loses its.... essence.
often it doesn't help the people who don't know what you are doing at all that the best Egyptian style dancers do it so well that it looks relaxed and easy and its NOT!!