Learning Moves

Welcome to the Eve Tribal Belly Dance Company's "Hidden Page" to help you learn some of our awesome Tribal Fusion moves.  Use these videos and picture breakdowns of various complex moves to aid in your practices.  

If you find that you have questions as you practice these moves please bring them along with you to ask in class.  If there's a move not listed here that you'd love to see broken down please let us know!

Camel

The camel is a four count move, meant to resemble the act of climbing onto a camel!

These are counts 1 and 2:

The move is performed by stepping forward to a 45 degree angle towards the left, stepping with the right foot followed by the left foot while raising up onto the balls of your feet.

As the right foot moves, the right hand comes up to waist level and then pushes down.  As the left foot moves, the left arm extends overhead gracefully and the head looks down over the right shoulder.

These are counts 3 and 4:

After a short pause (timing is dependent on the music!), the right foot steps back to its starting position and the left foot moves to an extended position straight out to the side with a pointed toe.

As the feet move, the left arm drops gracefully to the side or a slightly extended position (to match the line of your left leg) and the right hand reaches out to the right with a lotus mudra.  Your body is leaning into the right arm, and you are looking at your hand when the move ends.

Floreo

This hand move is used often as a flourish or for emphasis in other moves.

Maya

Mayas (also called figure 8 down to up) are movements of the hips that create vertical figure 8s starting with an upward motion. There should be no forward or backward movement to a maya. As range of motion improves with practice, the goal is to allow feet to remain flat on the floor throughout the move.

When performing a maya envision yourself standing between two panes of glass, one in front of you and one behind you. Starting on the right, contract the oblique muscles in your right side to lift the right hip up and then use them to drive the right hip outward. Once your have reached the limit of your range of motion, allow the hip to move downward and return to your neutral starting position. A maya is a movement of the hips so the body should not lean out to either side. You can perform mayas with your arms up in a typical “frame” position (to the sides, elbows lifted, curved slightly to the front with pretty hands), but often the arms are down to the sides and slightly echo the movements of the hips.

Taxsim

Taxsim, also known as a "taqsim" or "taxeem" or "figure 8 up to down", are movements of the hips that create vertical figure 8 starting with a downward motion. There should be no forward or backward movement to a taxsim. As range of motion improves with practice, the goal is to allow feet to remain flat on the floor throughout the move.

When performing a taxsim envision yourself standing between two panes of glass, one in front of you and one behind you. Starting on the right, elongate the oblique muscles in your right side to move the right hip slightly downward and then to drive outward. Once your have reached the limit of your range of motion, allow the hip to move slightly upward and return to your neutral starting position. A taxsim is a movement of the hips so the body should not lean out to either side. Taxsims are most often performed with hands anchored at the hip joint or in a frame position (the two most common neutral hand and arm positions).

Undulation

An undulation is a flowing roll of the body as you tighten muscles in your chest, stomach, and pelvis, usually starting with a scooping motion with the chest and proceeding down to the hips.

Snake Arms

Snakes arms is an undulation of the arms which generally starts at the shoulder and moves down to the fingertips, alternating between arms in a flowing motion.

Nile

A Nile is a hand motion meant to mimic the movement of waves and the flow of the current on the Nile River.  The motion is contained within the hand and wrist, the arm should not move with the Nile.

The basic move starts with a flat hand. If you envision a box around your hand about the size and shape of a brick, you want to start at the wrist and move each joint up to touch the top of the box (wrist, knuckles, and fingers) extending the move all the way through your fingertips. As the upward movement flows through your hand, the joints that have already touched the top of the box will naturally flow downward. Make sure that each joint touches the bottom of the box as well but does not extend below the box! The Nile is meant to be a wave, not a scoop. If practicing this move with your hand out in front of you, your elbow should remain steady and not move with the hand. This move is also performed by starting at the fingertips and working back towards the wrist.

Sidewinder 

Sidewinders are a slow, sinuous upper body figure 8 meant to resemble the motion of a sidewinder snake. These take practice, don’t give up!

This description is for a sidewinder starting on your right.  The move starting on the left is exactly reversed. 

Head: The head should lead the move.  Look up and away (to the left in this case) and tilt your head to the right as the move starts.  This provides an extra sinuous quality.

Body: The collar bone is going to tilt down then slide to your right.  When you reach the limit of your range, level the collar bone up, and slide back in.  This should form a large upper body loop similar to the taxim hip move.

Arms: as the head and shoulders begin the move the left hand should push outward from shoulder height towards the left side (imagine pushing your body away from a wall). The right hand is extended gracefully and eventually drawn inward towards the ear in preparation for continuing the sidewinder on the left.  Floreos during these movements add grace.

Hips:  don’t isolate your hips, let them act as a counter balance to your upper body move. 

Legs and Feet: are stationary, but you may want to widen your stance slightly to be more stable when your weight shifts as your body moves from side to side.