Jeana's Belly Dance Practice Session (Structured Improvisation)

I recently got a Flip camera in order to start filming my dancing and figuring out how I can improve my technical skills. This was a structured improvisational dance, as in, I've practiced to and performed this piece not by choreographing every beat, but by knowing the music well enough to have a general sense of which types of moves go where in the song. I think the main issue I was having in this practice session was with my facial expressions--I had way too much "thinky face" and too little of a crafted performance face. But when I tilted my head or moved my eyse expressively, it seemed to convey the fact that I was having fun. Oh, and smiling, I always forget to do that too.

I'm curious to know how other dancers conceive of their practice sessions, which is part of why I'm putting this video up, plus I'm always open to constructive criticism!

Studio space graciously provided by Panache Dance in Bloomington, IN (they saw a debut of this piece at a DanceFit event held in 2010, and I'm refining the piece to possibly perform there again): http://www.panachedance.com/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• belly dance
• tribal fusion
• bellydance
• beats antique

[jeanaj]

@atasteofhoney888 Thank you - I work on my undulations a lot so I'm glad that comes through! :)

I agree, I don't do a lot of choreography either, so it's always a challenge for me to come up with a structured way to perform to a song (rather than doing complete improv, which I think is more fun, but when I look back, I always think I could have done a better job).

[atasteofhoney888]

lol, i've never considered calling it 'structured improvisational dance.' i actually do the same thing but intend for such improvisation to be for practice sesh 'and' performance, for either traditional stuff or tribal fusion. i suck at choreographies and like how improv gives me something fresh everytime. i like your undulations, they look very strong and you have nice arms/hands. can't wait for more viddies = )