Introduction

An introduction to the foundation movements needed for Pedralta World Fusion Belly Dance. I designed this programme for complete beginners or those with some skills, who’d love to be able to dance with others, creating beautiful, dynamic, improvised dance. It’s easier than you’d think. This is perfect for practice-simple, safe and easy to follow.

Unlike many tribal dance formats, Pedralta World Fusion® Dance uses vocabularies of movements to interpret particular musical styles, and to correspond more closely to the cultural roots of the music.

When dancing to Spanish fusion music Pedralta dancers would use basics such as Arabic (trad. Camels), Egyptian, Hip Bump (trad. Hip Lift) and shimmy, combined with a palette of Flamenco-inspired movements and combinations developed by Donna Gardner for improvised group dance. A Banjara-inspired (Indian folk dance) move such as re-shamka would not be used.

We use specific movement palettes for props such as shawl, stick (where saaidi moves and combinations feature strongly) and even movements for dancing with a frame drum.

On this course you'll learn some basic "root" moves and some progression moves, how to follow a lead dancer, how to move smoothly between moves and begin to improvise your own dance, either solo or in a group. We'll

· Warm Up

· Posture

· Cool Down & Stretch

· Learn Root Moves

· Drill Root Moves

· Progressive Moves

I break each move down into components, demonstrate from behind and facing, and I lead you in practicing all the moves you've learned, switching between 5 basic movements.

Transitions

I'll explain and demonstrate how to move smoothly from one move to the next and how to cue fellow dancers.

Now you’ll be able to improvise solo or in a small group with other dancers. Have fun!