A fleeting belly through belly dancing, Part II
I better hurry up and get the second part of this story written. The second Belly Dancing class is the day after tomorrow. I know I'll have so much more to write about! And, I've been practicing the Hip Snap, the Figure Eight and the Snake Arms all week.
At the first class last week, after the warm-up exercises, which included things like reaching for the sky and head wagging, I raised my hand to ask when our sitting break would be, but she didn't see me. She moved right on into the Hip Snap. The Hip Snap? This is the part that Old Man didn't want to see. This is also the part that I observed my first day of watching this class. Imagine 5 women standing side by side, each doing the following: In the proper posture, standing straight, feet below the hips, knees slightly bent, chest up, shoulders back, we were to push the right hip slightly to the right and flex the glute (that's a nice way of saying the butt muscles). Then push the left hip slightly to the left and flex that glute. Nothing moved! I understood then why the instructor wears the tinkley hip scarf, it tinkles with her smallest movement. Now, her hip snap was exagerated, but my hips barely moved. I don't know about my classmates, but my problem was all the stuffing that hid the glutes. Our insructor assured me that that was alright and to be expected at my, um, stature.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, switch," yelled the instructor. I tried, I honestly did. But she counted so fast and reached, "Switch", so quickly that it wasn't long before I couldn't tell which side I was supposed to working on! As a result, I got my, eh-hem, bums in quite a tangle. I was glad when Mrs. Drill Sargent announced that we would now learn the Snake Arms.
First of all, we had to reach our shoulders up to our ears. Lovely. Then our elbows were instructed to reach for the sky. Are you getting this picture, Dear Reader? Five otherwise sane women, were standing straight, feet below the hips, knees slightly bent, chest up, shoulders back, shoulders around their ears and elbows reaching for the sky. It gets prettier.
After the elbows are reaching for the sun, the wrists are supposed to be raised, which, in our instructor left the hands dangling. The hands are supposed to follow the wrists in one beautiful fluid motion. But my hands went up with the wrists, there was no difference in the two. It's as though my wrist joint is welded together. After the basic moves were learned we were supposed to raise first one arm, then the other, in a snakelike motion. I caught my reflection in the mirror, and I looked like a windmill.
The last move we learned last week was the Figure Eight. I don't know how describe this and keep a G-Rated blog. We were taught to move our hips in a figure eight shape. It's the Figure Eight that is the reason no men are allowed. Suffice it to say, the instructor admonished us not to use our upper bodies by swaying back and forth. Movement was in the hips only. If you are a woman, come to my class if you would like to know more. If you are a man and would like to know more, ask your wife to come to the class.
Never once in learning all three of these movements were we offered a sitting break. I was exhausted after this 20 minute instruction. I really don't see how they keep students. But, I'll be back next week just to see if my classmates mastered the Snake Arms any better than I did.
So, I've been practicing all three moves all week. I must admit, I'm beginning to see small movements when I do a Hip Snap, but my Snake Arms still look like windmills. And the Figure Eight? Only Old Man will know how that is progressing. And he's still a little on the green side.
© 2011 Carol Phares
At the first class last week, after the warm-up exercises, which included things like reaching for the sky and head wagging, I raised my hand to ask when our sitting break would be, but she didn't see me. She moved right on into the Hip Snap. The Hip Snap? This is the part that Old Man didn't want to see. This is also the part that I observed my first day of watching this class. Imagine 5 women standing side by side, each doing the following: In the proper posture, standing straight, feet below the hips, knees slightly bent, chest up, shoulders back, we were to push the right hip slightly to the right and flex the glute (that's a nice way of saying the butt muscles). Then push the left hip slightly to the left and flex that glute. Nothing moved! I understood then why the instructor wears the tinkley hip scarf, it tinkles with her smallest movement. Now, her hip snap was exagerated, but my hips barely moved. I don't know about my classmates, but my problem was all the stuffing that hid the glutes. Our insructor assured me that that was alright and to be expected at my, um, stature.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, switch," yelled the instructor. I tried, I honestly did. But she counted so fast and reached, "Switch", so quickly that it wasn't long before I couldn't tell which side I was supposed to working on! As a result, I got my, eh-hem, bums in quite a tangle. I was glad when Mrs. Drill Sargent announced that we would now learn the Snake Arms.
First of all, we had to reach our shoulders up to our ears. Lovely. Then our elbows were instructed to reach for the sky. Are you getting this picture, Dear Reader? Five otherwise sane women, were standing straight, feet below the hips, knees slightly bent, chest up, shoulders back, shoulders around their ears and elbows reaching for the sky. It gets prettier.
After the elbows are reaching for the sun, the wrists are supposed to be raised, which, in our instructor left the hands dangling. The hands are supposed to follow the wrists in one beautiful fluid motion. But my hands went up with the wrists, there was no difference in the two. It's as though my wrist joint is welded together. After the basic moves were learned we were supposed to raise first one arm, then the other, in a snakelike motion. I caught my reflection in the mirror, and I looked like a windmill.
The last move we learned last week was the Figure Eight. I don't know how describe this and keep a G-Rated blog. We were taught to move our hips in a figure eight shape. It's the Figure Eight that is the reason no men are allowed. Suffice it to say, the instructor admonished us not to use our upper bodies by swaying back and forth. Movement was in the hips only. If you are a woman, come to my class if you would like to know more. If you are a man and would like to know more, ask your wife to come to the class.
Never once in learning all three of these movements were we offered a sitting break. I was exhausted after this 20 minute instruction. I really don't see how they keep students. But, I'll be back next week just to see if my classmates mastered the Snake Arms any better than I did.
So, I've been practicing all three moves all week. I must admit, I'm beginning to see small movements when I do a Hip Snap, but my Snake Arms still look like windmills. And the Figure Eight? Only Old Man will know how that is progressing. And he's still a little on the green side.
© 2011 Carol Phares
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