Belly dancing is everywhere.
It's all over the world in discos, parties, nightclubs, and even music videos.
I couldn't help but notice that you can belly dance to any kind of music.
So let's add some spice to our belly dancing workout with some hot Latin rhythms.
Let's go!
Let's begin our warmup by rolling our shoulders back.
Feel a stretch in your shoulders as we warm them up.
And plie and up.
Plie and up.
Plie and up.
Inhale down, exhale up.
Keep your pelvis tucked underneath you so there's no curvature of the lower back.
And make sure your knees don't extend past your feet.
If they do, widen your stance a little bit to correct this.
Now we'll plie and reach.
Bend, reach.
And bend, reach across.
Reach across.
Across.
Across.
Arch your back and contract your back.
And arch, head up.
Contract, head down.
Now bring your right leg forward and point the toes to the ceiling.
Other side.
Make a good stretch.
Feet shoulder width apart.
And we're going to slide our hips.
Right, left.
Right, center, left, center.
Feel a stretch in your hips as you lean your hips out to each side.
Really warm up and stretch those hips.
We're going to be using them later.
Now double time.
Right, left, right, left.
Slide, slide, slide, slide.
Remember this.
Feel the hips slide.
Notice the upper body isn't moving.
Just the hips are sliding along a horizontal plane.
Pay attention to the change here.
We're doing a hip twist now.
Twist, twist.
Notice we're holding our arms as if we're holding ourselves between two walls.
Really trying to keep the movement in the hips.
Keep going.
Up to tempo now.
Twist, twist, twist, twist.
Right, left, right, left.
Feel the stretch in your hips.
Keep your upper body straight.
Really focus on swinging those hips.
Excellent.
Let's move on to our workout now.
The first step we're going to learn is called a grapevine.
Cross front, step, cross back and touch.
Cross front, step, cross back and touch.
Cross front, step, cross back, touch.
Front, step, back, touch.
Front, step, step, back, touch.
Cross front, step, cross back, cross back and touch.
Back, front, step, back, touch.
Cross front, step, cross back and touch.
Double time now.
Cross step, cross touch.
Front step, back touch.
Front step, back touch.
Front step, back touch.
Cross front, step, cross back and touch.
Cross front and step, cross back and touch.
Good.
Keep going.
Now we're adding a little hip when we touch at the end of the grapevine.
Hip, cross, step, cross, hip, cross, step, cross, add a hip.
Cross, step, cross, hip, cross, step, cross, add a hip.
Cross.
Now add some arms.
Now we have arms and a hip.
Arms are going out, in, out and pose, out, in, out and pose, out, in, out, pose, out,
in, out, pose.
Good.
Remember this grapevine step just the way it is.
We're going to be using it a lot throughout the workout.
Good.
Now it's step and twist.
Step, twist, twist back, twist front, twist back, twist front.
Other side, twist, step and twist.
Other side, step and twist, step and twist, just like we did in the warm up.
Other side and twist, step, catch up, twist back, twist front.
Really think about the feet making those hips move, it's all connected.
Double time now.
Step, twist, step, twist.
Other side, twist, step, twist, step, twist, step, twist.
Up to tempo now.
Twist, two, three, four.
Other side, two, three, four.
Other side, two, three, four.
Other side, two, three, four.
There you go.
One, two, three, hip.
One, two, three, hip.
One, two, three, hip.
And one, two, three, hip.
Keep going.
Now step and push your hip out.
Step hip, step hip.
Watch those arms too.
Step hip, step hip.
Lean that hip out over the foot as you step out.
There you go.
Feel a stretch in your hip as you lean out.
Keep it nice and loose and add some attitude.
And hip, and hip, and hip.
Like you're trying to shut a car door with that hip.
Really stick it out there.
Good.
Don't forget to breathe.
There you go.
Back to the grapevine.
And three, and four, and five, and six, and seven, and eight.
Now here's the same move except we're really extending our leg out.
And then we're going to shoulder shimmy walk back.
So it's step forward with the hip, hip, hip, hip.
Now shoulder shimmy walk back.
Two, three, and four.
Step hip, and two, and three, and four.
Shoulder shimmy walk back.
Again, step hip, two, three, and four.
Back with the shoulder shimmy.
Again, step hip, two, three, four.
Shoulders back.
Two, three, and four.
Step hip, two, three, and four.
Shoulders back.
Two, three, and four.
Good.
Now back to the grapevine to get that cardio going.
One, and two, and three, and four.
Four more, and five, and six, and seven.
Okay.
This next move is called the duck walk.
This feet go right, left, right, left, right, left.
Right, left, right, left, right, left.
Right, left, right, left, right, left.
Now bring it up to tempo.
Right, left, y, left, right, left.
Left, right, left, right, left.
Right, left, right, left, right, left.
Right, left, right, left, right, left.
Right, left, right, left, right, left.
Keep going.
Now we're adding some hips.
Remember those hip slides that we did in the warmup?
So every time we step, we're sliding our hip out over
and let's accent with the hands while we're at it.
Good.
Now let's think about walking forward and back
with our duck walk.
Now go back.
Two, three, four.
Forward, two, three, four.
And back, two, three, four.
Forward, right, left, right, left, right, left.
Right, left, right, left, right, left.
And back, three, and four.
Forward, two, three, four.
And back, two, three, and four.
Keep going.
And forward.
And back.
And forward.
And back, two, and three, and four.
Back to the grapevine.
Two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Five, six, seven.
And now it's back and back, front and front.
Hip back and back, front and front.
Back, back, front, front,
back and back and front and front.
front, back, back, front, front.
.
.
.
.
Back, back, front, front, back, back, front, front,
back, back, front, front. Good job.
Feel the beat.
.
Back to the grapevine.
.
And two.
And three. And four.
Five. Six.
Seven.
Now let's do a slow hip shimmy. Just bounce
your knees. And just let the knees make
your hips go up and down.
Stand straight. Keep a nice pelvic tuck and support in your
abdominals.
Double time now. Right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left.
Make those hips really shake.
.
This is an essential belly dance move. Gotta really move
those knees. Get the hips going.
Good. Back to half time now.
Take a little break.
.
And double time again.
And let's add some snakey arms with that.
Some shoulder shimmy.
Some snake arms in front.
More shoulder shimmy.
Pose your arms to the right.
Shoulder shimmy.
.
And pose to the left. Keep shimmying, keep bouncing
those knees. We're almost done. Shoulder shimmy.
.
Good job.
.
Let's review all the belly dance moves we've done so far by putting them
together into a short routine.
Step twist. Two, three, four. Other side. Two,
three, four. Step side. Step side.
Step forward. Hip out.
Three and four. Shoulder shimmy back.
Two, three, and four.
Duck walk.
Three and four. Duck walk back.
Two, three, and four.
Back, back, front, front,
back, back, front, front, and shimmy.
Two, three, and four.
Five, six, seven, eight.
Step twist. Two, three, four.
Twist. Two, three, four.
Hip out. And out. And out.
And out. Walk forward with that hip.
One, two, three, four.
Shoulder shimmy back.
And two, and three, and four.
Duck walk. Left, right, left.
Right, left, right. Left, right, left.
And back. Two,
three, and four.
Back, back, front, front.
Back, back, front, front. Now shimmy.
Two, three, four. Five, six,
seven, eight. Again, step twist.
Other side. Two, three, four.
Hip out. Hip out.
Hip out. Work those hips. Hips to the front now.
One, two, three,
and four. Shoulder shimmy back.
You got it.
Music
Don't forget to smile. Remember, this is fun.
Keep going. You know it now.
Music
Music
Two, three, four. Twist.
Two, three, four. Hip side.
Hip side. Hip side. Hip side.
Let's come forward with those hips. Two,
three, and four. Shoulder shimmy back like you mean it.
And three, and four.
Duck walk.
Two, and three, and four.
Duck walk. Back, two,
three, and four. Hip back,
back, front, front, back, back,
back, front, front.
Let's see that shimmy.
Music
Music
Other side. Two, three, four.
Two, three,
four. Work those hips. Front.
Two, three,
four. Shoulders back.
Music
Duck walk.
Duck walk back.
Music
Back, back, front, front, back,
back, front, front. Now shimmy.
Two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight. One more time.
Music
Feel the music and really try to do it on your own.
Music
And finish up with that shimmy. You did an awesome job.
And you are done. Let's move on to the cool down.
Music
We're going to begin our cool down with a Cleopatra stretch.
Take one arm and the same leg and reach all the way over to the other side.
Stretching the entire side of the body.
Really relax into your stretch.
Same thing on the other side. Same arm, same leg. All the way over.
Music
One more time each side.
Don't forget to breathe and every time you exhale, relax a little further into your stretch.
Music
Last time, other side. Really feel that stretch.
Run all the way from your arm down through your hips and thighs.
Music
Back up to standing position and tilt your head over to one side.
Nice gentle stretch of the neck.
And same thing, other side.
Now let's slowly work our way into a lunge.
Keep your back heel on the floor to stretch out that calf.
And hold.
Now lift that back heel off the ground and bend the knee, stretching the front of the leg.
And back up to standing position, over to the other side.
And lift that heel off the ground and bend the knee and hold.
Back up, turn to the center.
Place your hands behind your knees and arch your back into a cat stretch with your head down.
Like you're pulling your belly button up through to the ceiling. And now contract.
Arch again, head down.
And contract again, head up.
Slowly roll it up to a standing position. Find your balance on your left leg, grab your right heel behind you and stretch your quadriceps muscle.
Same thing, other side. Find your balance, grab your heel and hold.
It's always a good idea to work on balance exercises. This can only improve your dancing.
You did a great job. See you in the next workout.