fatinah

Hello guys and Gals,

I am trying to run before I walk....AGAIN!! but I am a little confused.

Belly rolls....some videos and instructionals on youtube sasy you must remain completely still and you should use your stomach muscles to contract and roll your tummy.

Then...you get the rachel brice video that shows her rolling her tummy but her butt and back kinda goes in and out with the roll....is this a body roll??

Im a little confused and once again I can do neither....im thinking of giving up here coz Im just not feeling very natural at this!!

Aniseteph

There's belly rolls up and belly rolls down (and sideways if that's your thing), and I have no idea about whether it is "wrong" to involve your spine or not. As long as it's safe I suppose it depends what you want it to look like...

If any of this feels really natural straight away you are doing well! Even moves I get quickly feel weird (and look worse) for a few weeks until I start to get used to them, and the muscle control and strength gets better. When I started I could only do a few hip drops before the muscles got tired. AND they looked terrible . It's all OK, some things just take time and practice, don't get discouraged.

IMO this is another disadvantage of DVDs, especially early on when it all looks so easy and you can't tell the basics from the more demanding moves. A good teacher should help you progress at a pace that's right for you, and tell you when you might be getting a bit ahead of yourself. Very reassuring

Amarise

Different styles of belly rolls engage different areas of the abdominal muscles. If your booty does not go out the back some, it is very difficult to engage the very lowest abdominal muscles. Both are correct depending on what kind of technique and look you are going for. And Tribal style tend to make all their rolls deeper and more undulating than any Oriental style.

Amarise

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Kashmir

This just depends on terminology. For me, a "belly roll" involves only the abs - the spane stays out of it. With an undulation or body wave you bring in the spine and also change the angle of the pelvis.

But, you can then layer a belly roll over an undulation. Which is great - if that is what you want to do. If you always do the two together because you cannot separate them, then I'd say there was a problem.

da Sage

They are two different moves, but both are "real" belly dance moves. I think Rachel "puffs" her belly where she's not contracting it, so that makes her belly roll look more dramatic. Not sure though...I don't think she breaks it down that way in her instruction, but I'm pretty sure that's part of how she gets that extreme look.

Gia al Qamar

Exactly my thoughts!
What the original poster is probably confusing are what I call "undulations", which is the contracting and releasing of just the upper middle and lower abs to make it appear as though the belly is 'rolling'.
The other that was viewed as the 'booty' moving is what I call a "body wave", some call it an undulation, others a camel. This involves the entire torso!
Gia

~GreenFire~

Hmmmm...I knew there was a good reason I joined a Belly Dance Forum, just reading this has taught me lots. Thanx Girls

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jenc

I know you have only just started. You need to drill lots on movements your teacher shows you until you have found a whole new set of muscles. If you start powering your hip lifts and drops through the hip instead of with the knee you will start to develop some of the muscles in your torso.

you previuosly said you prefer egyptian style. the bellyroll of itself is not used much in this style. Perhaps it would be good for you to look at some of the clips of dancers recommende in the youtubes clip forum to see how moves fit together and go with music.