Shimmying, shaking and ‘thigh trembling.’ No I’m not talking about the Wedding Night itself, I’m referring to Belly Dancing as a fabulous hen party activity.
Many Hens are donning their ‘shimmy belts’ to learn the sensual sways and steps that epitomise the traditional art of Belly Dancing. We provide the pro and groups enjoy simply going with the flow to unlock their inner Middle-Eastern Goddess as they piece together sultry moves to create a seductive routine.
Unlike many other dances, Belly Dancing focuses on the relaxed and natural isolation of the torso muscles. An emphasis on articulations of the hips creates a very seductive movement indeed.
Routines are made up of Percussive movements – use of the hips to accentuate a beat of music, such as hip drops, hip lifts and twists, and even lifts or drops of the ribcage and shoulder accents. Fluid movements – these involve sinuous motions whereby one uses their body to almost interpret the lyrics of a song. This is where that all-important abdominal muscle control comes into action! Horizontal and vertical figures of 8 are the stars of the show, along with complex loops of the hip to create an interesting variety of movement. Finally the above movements are layered with shimmies, shivers and vibrations – rapid and continuous; this trio creates an impression of texture and depth. They commonly illustrate the fast strumming of an instrument and involve fast, tiny hip vibrations and bouncing ‘earthquake’ shimmies.
The Belly Dance initially became popular in the UK during the Romantic movement. Orientalist artists would depict exaggerated and lively impressions of harem lifestyles in the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish belly dance is in fact rather more playful than the original and more contained Egyption style, the Turks displayed an athletic and even acrobatic version, adapted to suit the use of tiny finger cymbals.
It’s all well and good sitting here with your cup coffee reading about it, but why not get up on your feet to learn these seductive hip rolls and earthquake shimmies on your hen party?
Find out more info and prices of Polestars’ Belly Dancing Workshop.