15 and Flourishing! Growing Up in Bellydance at a Young Age.

By Hayley of BellyUp 
When I walked into BellyUp for the first time, I just wanted to try a fun new thing. For me, as a history buff, bellydancing was this very exotic and very foreign dance form where girls danced with camels and pyramids in the background, like mostly everyone else believes. I was fifteen years old and it was nearing the end of summer, the start of yet another school year. The colours of studio hit me as soon as I walked in: vibrant pillows and Sari drapes, peacock feathers in metallic urns nearly the size of me, the intense reflectiveness of the coin belts by the sunny window, and the beautiful breezes wafting through the studio from the hot August air.  I felt a surge of excitement and, though quite nervous, I couldn’t wait to get into the class.

Well, I can tell you that this “fun new thing” has changed by life. If you had told me five years ago that I’d be dancing professionally, performing for the likes of Mahmoud Reda or Aida Nour or celebrating my 18th birthday when we travelled to Egypt with Joharah for the Nile Group Festival, I’d have thought that was pretty awesome, but unlikely; but you truly never know where life will take you. I jumped on that wave and have kept on riding it ever since, and the impact it has made on me has been phenomenal. Having been in plays since a very young age, beginning this dance form was not a total leap-out-of-my-comfort-box task; but what it did do was work on me from the inside. I cannot thank myself enough for starting at as young an age as 15 (or for Joharah for welcoming me into the community), when girls are so impressionable. Everything is changing, and everything around you is telling you to change; but bellydancing teaches you to love yourself unconditionally. Change is great, but you don’t have to change for anyone. It provides a community of people that will support you in everything, and where everyone is beautiful regardless of age or size. BellyUp and Joharah provided me with a safe haven to grow and nurture my growing appreciation and love for who I am, and most importantly, a safe place where a 15 year-old can be uncertain of herself, but be encouraged rather than discouraged, and instead, grow in certainty.

Hayley is our youngest member of Bellyup's dance ensemble Ala Nar. She is a constant inspiration to our younger students and is one of BellyUp's rising bellydance stars! 

The Beauty of Bellydance - A must read for Beginners! By Joharah of BellyUp

Bellydance has a timeless quality. Its beauty is in the organic nature of its movements and how it makes a woman feel. It allows us the freedom to express who we are as women. And whether we realize it or not, bellydance teaches us to appreciate and embrace  our bodies, our curves and the body we've got! Bellydance is accessible to all body types. Whether your intention is to study bellydance for fitness, just for fun or to learn to perform and/or go pro,  BellyUp's classes will introduce you to an entirely new world of movement, feeling and thinking. And while initially our classes emphasize how to move your body in the bellydancer way, we can't emphasize enough that this dance form is as much about your ears and your heart as it is about the physical movements. The essence of the dance form is in how you hear the music, how you feel it and how you translate it into the language of bellydance because this is what moves and captivates your audience and gives you an enormous amount of satisfaction as a student of the dance. 

At BellyUp students with no previous bellydance experience start by learning the basics of Egyptian style dance form. This is a specific way of movement and students are encouraged to take their time to build a strong foundation of skills before moving to the next level. Our classes are full of movement, fast paced and challenging. You'll be introduced to a new family of movement and travelling steps each week and from week one we start to teach you how to integrate movements and steps into bellydance combinations so you feel as though you are dancing from the very start. There is no pressure to advance or to perform, however for those eager to progress there are many subsequent levels and areas to move on to. We have two recitals a year for each location plus several Hafla and in-studio parties with performance opportunities. Those rising stars are always being watched for opportunities to Apprentice for BellyUp's dance ensemble "Ala Nar". 

All of us as Instructors at BellyUp take great pride in guiding our students on their journey into bellydance. We are always available to provide you with support and inspiration to take you to the next level as a student keeping your dance goals in mind. We are delighted to hear from enthusiastic students that really want to learn the art form. 

Our courses run in a variety of lengths depending on the season and provide students with a comprehensive overview of the various perspectives relating to basic hip work, turns, Arabesques, travelling steps including bellydance combinations and even choreography. From the first class students learn to integrate movements together. Learning to move from one to the next really makes you feel as though you are bellydancing.  We emphasize musicality from day one and developing an ear for the music and the fundamental rhythms of bellydance. 

BellyUp is known for a high standard of technique and producing top-notch dancers and well developed Beginners. Visiting instructors constantly comment on how well trained our  students are and we're very proud of that fact. Our classes are well-taught and challenging and will push your body to achieve great things - they will do wonders for your confidence level when you realize what your body can do with good training. 

Our Class Setting

While group classes are offered throughout the week, we also offer private lessons for those seeking more individualized attention beyond their class time or in place of. Our classes focus heavily on technique and Arabic rhythm which is the way in which we believe dancers progress as quickly as possible. Private lessons are by appointment. 

Class age ranges from 7 to 75. We encourage everyone to dance at their own level of fitness and stamina. The dance form is open to all ages and levels of ability. 

Confessions of a Bellydance Nerd - by Laura of BellyUp

I bet none of us will ever forget our very first belly dance class. We were excited and curious, or maybe a little terrified as we entered the studio for the first time. And we can now look back and see how far we've come!The great thing about this dance form is that you certainly don't need to be a freak of nature to do it; the steps and moves come from the same motions that we can do naturally as human beings.  Nonetheless "easy" would be a tremendous understatement, as I'm sure we all realized within minutes of our first class! Not only are you rediscovering your own body, but your mind is being flooded with new information, sights and sounds.  And each class thereafter reinforces the fact that there are many, many challenges and breakthroughs we'll experience throughout our training. 

What stole my heart was the realization that the art form is infinite and limitless, and that you can be a student for eternity and still not have danced every combination, or learned every fact, or heard every song, or mastered every skill. 

For many of us, weekly classes are just what we need to nourish our bodies and keep ourselves perfectly happy. And that's fantastic. For others, studying it on a much deeper level becomes our passion, and maybe for some, an obsession!  It becomes a lifestyle.  It's all intertwined like a giant web; the history/origins, cultural influences and geography, the language and dialects, the music, rhythms, genres, artists, the movement vocabulary and anatomy... and that's barely even scratching the surface.  

A balanced diet of that knowledge is the ideal for every belly dance enthusiast, and we are so lucky we have our own Joharah to thank for giving us just that. She leaves no stone unturned and I am immensely inspired by her dedication and boundless wisdom, and eternally grateful to her for allowing us to drink from her fountain. No matter what your level is right now, you should be very proud of where you're at, and always look forward and grow. Transforming yourself into a dancer is an everlasting journey and lifelong adventure!  Enjoy it and DANCE! :)

Laura is a lead dancer in BellyUp's Ala Nar dance ensemble. She is also a BellyUp Dance Instructor at both our Oakville and Kitchener locations.
 

Practice Tips for Bellydancers - by Veronica of BellyUp

As students of bellydancing, I’m sure you’ve heard your teachers telling you to practice! practice! practice!  The question is, where to begin?  I thought I’d share a few tips I’ve learned over the years that can help bellydance students, from beginners to advanced, get the most out of practicing this wonderful dance form.

Tip #1:  Listen to Arabic (Egyptian) music!  The importance of music cannot be stressed enough!  In bellydance your body moves to the music and if you want to improve, hearing Egyptian (bellydance) rhythms and melodies for one hour a week while in class is not going to cut it.  So much of how we move is dictated by the music we are listening to, so the trick to really taking your dancing to the next level is simple: just listen to the music of bellydance.  BellyUp Oakville has a great selection of CDs you can buy and you’d be surprised to see how much bellydance music is on iTunes.  So, get yourself some music, stick it on your listening device and play it while you drive to the grocery store, blast it while you’re cleaning the kitchen, and I dare you to listen to bellydance music on the Go Train and see if you can keep yourself from inadvertently twitching as your body tells you it wants to get up and dance!  If you’re like me, you may not have heard much, if any, Egyptian/Arabic music before starting bellydance classes, and that’s okay.  Believe me, it won’t take long before you have a favourite genre or even artist that you really love listening to and if you love the music, your body is way more likely to love the dance.

Tip #2:  Even just a little bit of practice can make a huge difference.  Don’t worry, I know it’s difficult to schedule in a full hour of practice at home several times a week; we’ve all got commitments that make finding the time to practice at home difficult.  The good news is, even just a small amount of practice, like a few minutes here and there, will make a big difference in how fast you learn new technique and moves, how easily your body builds the muscles you need, and how comfortable you get with the moves you already know.  One of my favourite ways to practice is just to do the moves as I’m wandering around the house; I shimmy while brushing my teeth, I use the Hagallah step to walk down hallways and I practice chest moves while sitting at my desk or in the car.  This technique is especially good if there’s a specific move that is giving you trouble – the more your body does it, the faster you’ll learn it.  If you can find the time, it is also a great idea to put on some of the Arabic music you’ve been listening to (see tip #1), and for just a few minutes, stand in front of a mirror at home, by yourself, and go through the moves you love, the ones you’ve just learned, and the ones you’re having trouble with.  No pressure, just relax and let the music and your body communicate with each other for five minutes or so.  Personally, I like to do this sort of thing in the evening, in my pajamas, with the lights dimmed.  It’s my time to watch my own body to see how it moves.

Tip #3:  If you’ve got a performance coming up, you need to practice even more!  Maybe you’ve decided to dance in a BellyUp recital for the first time, or maybe you’ve joined a troupe and are going to dance with them at a gig, either way, if you’re planning on performing, you need to practice more than you’ve practiced before!  Performing is fun, amazing and really rewarding, but it is also a lot of work, so if you’re going to perform, remember to put in some extra hours of practice.  My rule of thumb for performing a choreography is that I need to know it well enough to dance it as a solo, even if it’s really a group routine.  To accomplish this, listen to the music over and over and over again until you can sing the whole song in your head.  Also, try not to miss any class/rehearsal time with your group.  It’s also a good idea, as soon as you learn the choreography, to start running through it in your head while you’re in the shower and/or drifting off to sleep so that your brain learns the steps as well as your body.  Most important of all, make sure you actually get up and dance the routine whenever you can.  And I mean actually watching yourself in the mirror and self-correcting, not just glazing over the steps once or twice for five minutes.   It takes hours and hours of practicing on your own and in groups to perfect a routine that only lasts a minute or two (or more), but it is so worth it!

Tip #4:  There is no short cut to practicing.  When it comes right down to it, either you’ve practiced or you haven’t.  It’s entirely up to you.  If you’re lucky enough to have been bitten by the bellydance bug, than you’ll find yourself dancing around all the time anyway and picking up new technique may come more easily for you.  For others, you may have to put in a little more effort to make yourself focus on dance when you’re not in class and when the instructor isn’t standing in front of you.  You can do it!  Just remember, this dance is meant to be fun and it should feel good doing it, whether you’re a beginner or advanced.  Enjoy the movement and the music and how your body feels while you’re dancing at home and in the studio.

These tips will get you started but it’s up to you to put in the work!  If you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask your instructors for their own practicing tips.  I’m sure they will be more than happy to share.  Yallah!  Let’s go!

Veronica is a lead dancer with BellyUp's professional dance ensemble "Ala Nar". She is Troupe Captain and also a BellyUp Dance Instructor. 

      

What Every Bellydance Student Needs in Their Dance Bag!

With a new bellydance season right around the corner it's time to make sure you're dance bag is properly stocked for a new season of classes! Or if you're just starting out we can put the perfect Beginner tote bag together for you.  You wouldn't start Ballet class or a sport without the right equipment, nor should you start bellydancing without the proper tools to use in class and at home for practice. 

Some dance students just want the basics of simple black tights and a camisole top which is perfect. We can accent that with a brightly colouried hip scarf with coins or fringe or a fun Booty Wrap that covers but really spices up the black tights you're wearing underneath! These items really help your teacher see how your upper and lower body is moving so she can give you appropriate correction and guidance in class. 

BellyUp carries a wide selection of 
Hipscarves, Tanks, Camis, Tops and more! 

Mix and match or buy coordinating outfits! 
It all works and looks great! 



Hot Bellydance Practice Outfits Make You Look and Feel Great! 

Walk into any of our classes and you'll see many of our students wearing our fantastic range of Sharifwear items - made for the bellydancing diva!  If you really want to feel the part visually as you start your journey into the dance, go for some of our amazing Sharifwear styles. So many styles to choose from - like pants in metallic, florals, and funky prints to sexy Gypsy tops in lace, florals, mesh, and other wild designs, colours and fabrics.  




Add Some Great Middle Eastern Music to Your Collection! 

Bellydance music is exciting! It's deep and rich and luxurious in its sound and texture. You're going to want to practice your new found shimmy, figure 8's, and travelling steps to something that moves you so pick up a few CDs to get your collection started. BellyUp carries a full line of Egyptian music CDs from Egyptian Pop, to Baladi to Oriental style. You should also have a Middle Eastern Rhythm CD so you become accustomed to the standard rhythms found in bellydance music. Just ask us to make some recommendations for you and we are happy to pick out some based on your skill level and musical tastes. 

Props - Cane, Zills, Veil and Other Accessories 

The Cane known as Assaya (or stick) is used in Egyptian Folklore and as part of Egyptian Raks Sharqi routines as well. You'll soon be introduced to it and all students love it. It's lively, fun and adds an earthy feeling to your bellydance routines. 

Finger Cymbals ( aka Sagat or Zills) are taught at Beginner level and throughout and are a wonderful instrument to learn to play as a dancer. And they sound beautiful. 

Veils are used in Oriental entrances. We carry beautiful silk and chiffon veils in a variety of bold and bright colours -  they will make you feel like a Goddess! 

Put Some Bellydance in Your Life !

Fall is an exciting time for bellydancing! Summer is over. Kids are back to school. Life resumes a normal routine once again. It's also a good  time to incorporate something different into your own self-care schedule and the perfect thing to try is Bellydancing. You'll make new friends. Get your sexy back. Feel lighter and happier. And boost your self-esteem!  

BellyUp's Beginner Bellydance session is easy to follow, fun and fast moving to get your heart pumping and your feet moving. You'll learn about the history and culture behind Egyptian style bellydance plus you'll be learning the basic vocabulary of movements and steps that make Bellydance an amazing art form for body, mind and soul! 

To get you feeling like a Bellydancer we have a fabulous boutique in our Oakville studio that carries a full line of "Sharifwear" designed exclusively for Bellydancing divas. These fashions give our students confidence and comfort as they learn to bellydance. We carry all the hottest styles for every season from pants, tops, tanks, camis to hip scarves and booty wraps. Make sure what you wear makes you feel special in class. Whether it's a floral gypsy top, Bellydance pants, or some sparkly bangles...it all makes a difference in how you feel about yourself. Classes run almost every night in both Kitchener and Oakville studios. All levels from Beginner to Advanced. Check out our Fall schedule and see what class times suit your schedule. 

Come check us out Saturday, September 7th for our BellyUp Raqs Open House - from 11am. to 5pm. Free classes all day. Try Bellydance plus Bollywood, American Tribal Style, Latin Fusion Bellydance, shop, see live performances throughout the day. Bring your friends!