Bellydance Moves for the Upper Body
Bellydance for Cardio
Beautiful bellydance movements should always flow with
sustained movement and undulations through the entire
body. For a great arm and chest muscle workout, with your
arms into so-called “second position” (i.e. out to the side and
parallel to the floor) you can work your entire core if you
add slow snake arms. Activate your core and perform body
undulations with every foot weight change working your
legs. As you undulate, power your torso alternately lifting
your torso, then squeezing your mid-back, then powering
your core in your abs, and then pull your shoulders back
to begin the next undulation along your entire torso. Don’t
forget to move your arms in beautiful slow movements as you
move your torso in undulations; and flow arms movements
through to wrists, hands, and fingers.
If you’re a fan of the classic movie “Singing’ in the Rain”,
I don’t need to tell you how some of the high-energy tap
scenes almost make you lose calories just by watching.
No surprise that fast belly dance movement equals cardio
workout sessions in aerobic dance.
Try “seated undulations” to work and isolate the upper torso.
As an added bonus, with upper body undulations you can
fight bad posture and target “the computer posture muscles”
-- the spot where our back hunches after too many hours in
front of the screen. Try these seated upper body undulations at
work – your posture will improve and your back fatigue will
vanish as you develop muscles in your torso to sustain good
posture while seated.
Bellydance for Core and Glutes
Bellydance works the cardiovascular system and the calves and
the torso – from the combination of light quick footwork and
dancing movement layered with shimmies. Don’t worry if you
have two left feet: Classes typically involve repeating just
one or two moves, so you can leave the fancy footwork to the
professionals. Just focusing on weight transfer from footto-foot with controlled elegance requires core strength and
creates a cardio-effect workout.
This swap of bellydance for your gym workout might
surprise you, but it’s the ultimate get-ready-for-swimseason workout because it targets your core and backside.
Bellydancing requires perfect posture, yet allows for graceful
flowing movement from an energized core. Bellydance rarely
moves straight forward and back with foot movement alone –
October 2016
The Belly Dance Chronicles
45