Part 4: The Hips (section A)

Large Hip Circles – Using both the lower and upper body, move the hips from the right to the left. Your upper body should be leaning forward and your arms come down as though you’re scooping up water. As you finish the circle you bring your body and arms up and move them behind you as your hips and pelvic bone move from left to right in front of you.

Small Hip Circles – A much smaller version of the large hip circle, but not as compact as the inner hip circle. It's useful to imagine you have a small ring around your ankles and you're following it with your hips.

Inner Hip Circles – Squeezing the gluteus muscles individually and allowing the lower stomach muscles to respond accordingly and then release individually to create a small circular movement. The hips are not moving side to side, the knees should be relaxed and bent.

Outer Hip Circles – Circle the pelvic bone around the feet – left, front, side and back.

Half circle forwards/backwards – Bring the hips from the side, pushing back and round to the other side or forward and round to the other side but stop halfway.

Hip circle on one hip – Stand with the right or left leg bent and on the ball of the foot, while the other food is flat. Rotate the hip using the bent leg by bringing it forward, then up and round, then back to the centre.

Hip Slides – Move the hips from side to side, keeping the upper body in the same position, as though there is a strait line running through the centre of your feet and out beyond hips on both sides.

Hip Bumps – You shift your weight from right to left, pushing your hips out to the side as though you’re pushing a car door shut with your hip. The movement is fast and ‘punchy’. The knees bend as your weight shifts. So, the hip that is bumping will have an almost strait leg, while the other is relaxed and bent.

Hip Lifts – You lift each hip up quickly and control the movement back down

Hip Drops – You start with the hip lifted and drop it quickly and control the movement back up.

Advanced Hip Drops -These involve using the muscle groups in the thighs and buttocks with the minimum movement of the pelvis and thigh.

Egyptian Hip Tilt -This involves further isolation techniques of the hip and is for advanced students only.

Zuhair Zaki Dump -A dump is where the hip is pushed down into the ground without allowing the leg to push the hip upwards at any time. The result is a unique and fascinating movement that was the signature move of the famous Egyptian dancer, Zuhair Zaki. As with the Egyptian Walk, this movement is notoriously difficult to teach and master. It can take years to perfect and requires hours of practice. The basic technique requires the pelvic hip bone to slide down towards the ground, whilst not allowing any lift to the ball and socket part of the hip. There will be a tugging, pulling sensation of the muscles around the waist.

Fifi Abdou Dump - This movement is advanced and complete mastery of the basic dump is needed before you can even begin to get your head around it. It is a complex movement involving three different layers - the dump, the shimmy and the twist. There is also a characteristic double stamp of the foot.

Sources/Research: My teacher/Bellydanceuk.co.uk /Shira.net /Bellydancevideos.com /Carolinebellydancer.co.uk