BASICS OF TEACHING DANCE, Part Three - Line, Fitness and Warm-Ups

By Alexandra King

BASICS OF TEACHING DANCE, Part 4 Line, Fitness & Warm-Ups

Back in the stone ages of belly dance (60’s 70’s and 80’s), beginning dancers received a thorough education in Middle Eastern dance, not just belly dance. After all, cultural dances are the foundation of the art and back then,  belly dance was still closely tied to its roots in Middle Eastern dances.  Dancers back then were on the cutting edge of this newly discovered dance and learned it from Middle Eastern folks. When teachers put on shows, they wanted a well-rounded program which include variety, so shows usually included crowd-pleasing styles such as:

• ·         Arabic, Turkish and Greek line dances such as Debka, Karsilama and Syrto.

• ·         Egyptian folkloric dance such as stick, Ghawazee or pot.

• ·         Saudi Hair dance

• ·         Sword, snake or candelabra, basket and other prop dances

Today, belly dance is a world-class dance art and as it has migrated across the planet, has morphed into a variety of styles such as AmCab and Tribal: the focus has become almost entirely on belly dance and other Middle Eastern styles have dropped out of the standard fare of the art. But back then, classes always included folk and classic styles which demanded that teachers also taught essentials right out of the gate, such as:

• ·         How to play and dance with zills when dancing

• ·         Drum and rhythms

• ·         Levels and angles such as floor work, posture, stances, stylization and arm placement.

• ·         Fitness management

• ·         Costuming

• ·         Programming

• ·         Set design

Because dancers primarily want to learn belly dance today, teaching dance is a lot easier, but the need for all the other knowledge is still there. So, the focus on this article is on the fundamental physical requirements to become an accomplished [belly] dancer, which involves posture, placement, stance, and line, including:

• ·         Line of the body.

• ·         Line of direction.

• ·         Line of Focus.

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First, let’s look at line of the body – its structure and its function. Structure starts with the condition of the body: fitness.

Fitness

A dancer is first and foremost an athlete as the instrument of the art is the body, just as a violin is to a musician or the voice to a singer.  Dancers use the body and facial expressions to perform, so they need to be strong, flexible and slender. And, while each genre has a different standard of what is strong, flexible and slender, they all demand vigilant management of diet and exercise to create an instrument that functions at maximum level of excellence and is aesthetically pleasing to the spectator/audience. Additionally, both flamenco and belly dance require the dancer to play a musical instrument while performing, adding a challenge to dance that other dance arts do not require.   

Fitness is an area of dance that was addressed in class by the teacher who stressed the need for dancers to develop the self-discipline to manage their fitness: We were taught to eat well and exercise regularly. However, with an obesity epidemic raging across the world, we are seeing more and more heavyset dancers entering the art, often rejecting the standards set over the decades of dance and refusing to apply the self-discipline needed to care for their instrument. Nonetheless, these standards are still expected by the audience and it is a teacher’s job to communicate them and educate dancers in this standard. So how does this translate in the various performance styles?

Ballet demands a much higher degree of thinness because it is aerial and one dancer is usually picking another up – hence the need to keep weight down. But in styles like belly dance, flamenco or Bollywood being uber thin is not necessary, but being slender is. This is because dance – like architecture- is all about line.  Dance is a visual art and so line is the visual structure of the body while dancing. When the body increases in weight, the line is lost.

I. Line is the visual design of the body whether static or kinetic.  Standing erect, the line is vertical and  doing a backbend, the line is curved. Symmetrical arms, such as Ghawazee or Pillow create a calming, equilibrium to the eye. Salute or Balady arms are asymmetrical and so visually stimulating. Poor posture is annoying to watch, but good posture is pleasing to the eye. The heavier the dancer, the less the line is defined and so the effect of say, an undulation is lost.  Line is created first by having a fit body and then by posture, placement and stance.

A. Posture – How one holds the torso. Every dance style has its own default posture: ballet is a straight back; flamenco is an arch in the thoracic region and belly dance has a backbend in the lumbar region. Any angle off center, such as a torso turn or backbend  requires strength and stamina, and so exercises to develop strength to lean back or arch are critical to warming up and improving the posture of the style being learned. Proper posture is achieved by lifting the diaphragm and pulling the shoulders back and pinning the scapula.

B. Placement – How to hold the arms, hands and head.

a.      Arms: The essential placement of arms involves opening the upper arms away from the torso, rotating the elbows forward and creating a soft curve at the elbow and wrists so that the line is continuous, not broken sharply. The energy for this is contrasted in teat the shoulders are being pulled back while the elbows are pulled forward - this takes practice to accomplish. AT the beginning level, dancers struggle to hold arms up while executing steps and isolations but they overcome this challenge with practice.

b.      Hands: There are specific styles for hands in every genre as well. But almost all hand placement is soft and curved. Fingers should not be stiff. The finger extends without a break from the hand , curving gently from the second joint in each digit. Belly dance hands are lifted so that the fingers are at a 90-degree angle to the ceiling.

c.       Arm variations: Arm variations add spice and variety to line and can either calm the eye with symmetrical placement or stimulate the eye with asymmetrical placement. Arms in belly dance come from a combination of Turkish, Persian and Egyptian dance – another reason to be familiar with the various cultural styles that make up the foundation of belly dance basics.

d.      Head:  Head placement varies depending on the choreography as well as the line of focus and line of direction. Dancers in training tend to look down because they are thinking and it is the teacher’s job to help them break that habit as soon as possible.

C. Stance – Where the feet go. Again, every genre or style has its own stances and these are pretty universal for all performance dance arts. Example: First parallel or turned out; Second – feet open to the width of the hips. Indian classical dance has a variety of stances that are mostly asymmetrical; belly dance has a third position flat-ball stance and hula is done entirely in a deep knee bend that is brutal: dancers do duck walks for hours to attain the strength to dance in a deep knee bend.  Legs do most of the hip work in belly dance so even thought they are not usually the featured body part in belly dance, they need a lot of work to make the hips do their thing.

Whether standing still or moving, having and strong, flexible, fit body is crucial to being a successful dancer, and this starts in class with warm-ups and physical training. Fitness training should include stretching, strengthening and aerobic training. I recommend pilates as well as yoga, running and weights. Here are my class warm-ups and training routines for both the beginning-intermediate and intermediate-advanced levels:

Beginning-Intermediate Levels:

Deep Breathing

Head Rolls - 2 each way

Shoulder Rolls forward and backward

Eagle

Arm Stretches, pulling arms overhead while bending

Leaning to all angles.

Chest Extension Forward and Back, Side to Side

Pelvic Contractions, releases and Sways

Hip Circles

Quad Stretch Holding Feet

Spinal Roll - down

Squatting in prayer

Kneeling Arch

Hinges

Catches – leaning back and catching yourself as you descend to your back.

Back Bend and Back Arch to the floor.

Lie on Back and Stretch, flexing the feet

Circle Feet legs straight up overhead

Rotate Hips to Sides – Keep Shoulders on the ground

Plough

Cobra

Down Facing Dog

Spinal Roll-up

Deep Breath

Intermediate- Advanced Warm-ups includes the prior set plus these:

Warrior pose

Standing Back bends & Back Arches

Kneeling backbends and back arches

Torso Turns

Pidgeon Pose

Splits

Straddle Splits

Double the # of Hinges

Spider Arch

II. Line of Direction is the direction the body is going.  Line of Direction is determined by the stage sections as well as the choreography. The stage is divided into horizontal channels about 4-5 feet wide and over these are the lines of direction as follows:

• ·         Upstage: The area furthest from the audience. 

• ·         Downstage: The area closest to the audience. 

• ·         Center Stage: The middle of the stage. 

• ·         Stage Left: The actor's left side when facing the audience. 

• ·         Stage Right: The actor's right side when facing the audience. 

• ·         Stage Corners: The diagonal directions of the stage.

• ·         Apron: The part of the stage floor that extends forward from the proscenium, towards the audience.

Soloists work mostly in the center, groups are placed according to the formations of the choreography.

III. Line of Focus: Head up, eyes out and lengthen the neck. The head is lifted by the chin. Some Middle Eastern styles such as Persian or Arabic dance require a tilt or twist of the head. Head slides are accomplished by pulling the head side-to-side using the neck muscles to push and relax simultaneously. One of the challenging parts of head work is learning to allow the head to roll or drop back or rotate rapidly, making the head the featured body part.

As a dance instructor gains confidence in his or her skills to teach, it becomes easier to be a leader and guide others to help them achieve the level of skill the need to live their dance dreams. Like learning to dance, this is accomplished by understanding these concepts and methods of teaching.