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Belly Dancing June 26, 2008

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Isn’t it funny that I’ve choreographed a belly line dance (Arabian Eyes) when I’ve never even been to a Belly Dance class before?! The steps are choreographed from my observation of belly dancers, and of course, we as line dancers can’t dance with the correct belly dance techniques as we’ve never been trained!

But the good news is, after performing Arabian Eyes, Cindy and Janice has been frequenting a Belly Jam class in our gym. I can’t join them as the time is not convenient for me. But I got the opportunity to join a Belly Jam class today just before my usual LD class. And boy… was it interesting!!

I find that we can learn more body isolation techniques by learning to belly dance. Imagine doing hip bumps but in the hip bumps, your hips are doing the hip shimmy non stop! I was totally amazed!! All I could do was just the usual hip bumps (Hey, it’s my first class only!). Belly dance instructors don’t emphasise on weight placement like Line Dancing does, so I find that my weight are sometimes on the wrong foot to continue moving. I also absolutely loved the tummy roll (not sure the right term!) but that is just so hard to do!

I’ll be looking forward to more belly dancing when the opportunity arise again. That would definitely help with isolating movements in my line dancing and getting more techniques in Arabian Eyes. ;-)

More New Videos on Youtube! June 26, 2008

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New Videos uploaded on Youtube June 24, 2008

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I’ve uploaded 11 new videos taken during Mr Leong’s Party on 7 June 2008.

  1. Arabian Eyes (performance)
  2. Gyrate
  3. Amor De Hielo
  4. Apologize
  5. Break The Ice
  6. Burning
  7. Don’t Push Me
  8. Freaky Skillz
  9. Give It Back
  10. The Chosen One
  11. Those Applebottom Jeans

Will be uploading more videos these few days! Check them out under Videos page or click on the links!

Arabian Eyes performance at KGNS (Mr Leong’s Bon Voyage Party) June 24, 2008

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Here’s the youtube video of the performance on 7 June 2008. It’s much brighter and clearer compared to the video shot during the debut (Arabian Nights Party).

Tips & Techniques: Cuban Hips June 22, 2008

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Have you ever wished you could do the hip twists like the Latin dancers do? You can do it too, just need to know where and when to twist  your hips and some practise!

Here’s a breakdown for Cuban Hips for Right Chasse. You can apply the same techniques for Left Chasse and Forward/Back Lock steps.

Note: Remember to keep your body upright and face the front all the time. Only the hips will do the twisting!

  1. Twisting your hips to the left diagonal and keeping your left knee straight, bend your right knee slightly and bring your right ball to the right side. Generally, the weight is still on the left foot and slightly pressing to the right foot. (pic 1)
  2. On count &, quickly shift your weight to the right foot and at the same time twist your hips to the right diagonal. Also bring your left foot towards and next to the right foot and press on the left  ball slightly. When this happens, your right knee is straightened and left knee is bended. (pic 2)
  3. On the next count, quickly shift your weight to the left foot and at the same time twist your hips to the left diagonal. Also bring your right foot to the right side, pressing slightly on the ball. When this happens, your right knee is bended while your left knee is straight. (pic 3)
  4. At the end of the count, quickly shift your weight to the right foot by twisting your hips to the right diagonal again. This time your right knee is straightened. Weight is now entirely on the right foot.

Practise is the essence to success!

Tips & Techniques: Mashed Potatoes June 19, 2008

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The Mashed Potatoes steps is another tricky one which is so nice to look at, but not easy to coordinate your feet to do. It’s mostly done in funky dances and can replace the back walks. Try doing the Mashed Potatoes instead of the boring walks! ;-) Among the dances I know that you can incorporate Mashed Potatoes are Freaky Skillz, Gyrate, Boogie With You, Phloor Philla… Do add more to the comments if you know of any others! Ok ok.. here’s the breakdown:

  1. Starting with the initial position (0), and keeping your weight at the balls of your feet (the red spots), twist both your heels outwards. You will get the end position as shown in the 2nd pic (&).
  2. Still keeping your weight at the balls of your feet, now twist both your heels in again, but this time, slide your right foot backwards while doing the twist (look at the big arrow) so that your right foot is slightly behind the left foot. The end result is the 3rd pic (1).
  3. Then again, twist both your heels outwards again. While twisting out, you can slide back your left food slightly back, so you’ll have less distance to move later. End result should look something like in the 4th pic (&).
  4. Twist your heels inwards again, this time sliding your left feet backward so that its position is slightly behind the right foot. The end result should be as illustrated in the 5th pic (2).
  5. Process 1-4 are just 2 steps of Mashed Postatoes, one right and one left. (This substitutes 2 walks back, right, left).
  6. Repeat again, depending on the number of counts in the dance.

To sync with the counting if you’re substituting the back walks with Mashed Potatoes, your Right Foot shd be at the back when the stepsheet say “Step Right Foot back” of the count. The same goes for the Left Foot. The twisting out part is normally on the & counts between the back walks. Also do small steps as “long” Mashed pPotatoes are not “delicious”! ;-)

Hope that helps, more practise is the essence to get your Mashed Potatoes neat and “delicious”! hehe!

Tips & Techniques for Hare Ram: Applejacks June 17, 2008

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I know it’s hard to coordinate both feet in different directions. All it takes is more practise. Anyway, here’s the breakdown:

APPLEJACKS TO THE RIGHT

  1. Graphic A is the starting position of your feet. They should be arranged in a “V” shape.
  2. Keeping your weight on the “red spots” of your feet, twist the unweighted parts to the right, following the blue arrows. Your feet will then be in the position of B.
  3. Again, keeping your weight on the “red spots” of your feet, twist the unweighted parts to the right, following the blue arrows. Your feet will then be in the position of A again.
  4. Repeat steps 2-3 again!
  5. The counting of the Right Applejacks in Hare Ram is 5&6&7&8. Thus the sequence of pictures of your feet should be A-B-A-B-A-B-A. Hope this helps!

APPLEJACKS TO THE LEFT

  1. Graphic C is the starting position of your feet. They should be arranged in a “V” shape.
  2. Keeping your weight on the “red spots” of your feet, twist the unweighted parts to the left, following the blue arrows. Your feet will then be in the position of D.
  3. Again, keeping your weight on the “red spots” of your feet, twist the unweighted parts to the left, following the blue arrows. Your feet will then be in the position of C again.
  4. Repeat steps 2-3 again!
  5. The counting of the Left Applejacks in Hare Ram is 5&6&7&8. Thus the sequence of pictures of your feet should be C-D-C-D-C-D-C. Hope this helps!

Tips & Techniques: Hare Ram Head Roll June 17, 2008

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I noticed that many people find it hard to do the Head Roll, be in in Hare Ram or other dances with this step. So here’s a breakdown.

Note: In Hare Ram, the counting for this head roll is 7&8. For other dances, pls adjust accordingly!

7: Keeping your body straight, head looking straight forward, tilt your head to the left. Your left ear would be almost touching your left shoulder. (pic 1)

&: Still in the tilt position, turn your head to the left so you’ll be looking at your left shoulder. (or your chin would be almost touching your left shoulder) (pic 2)

8: Look up and bring up your face, bringing your shoulders along. (imagine putting your head and shoulders through a little hole) You would then have done a 1/4 turn left. (pic 3) Then, shift your weight forward to your left foot. (pic 4)

Tips & Techniques for Gyrate: Hands Bit! June 17, 2008

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I had a spectacular view of how Gyrate was done LIVE during Mr Leong’s party last weekend, watching Wendy Teh and her group. They were awesome and the first stepsheet I look for after the party was – you guessed it – Gyrate!

The meaning of Gyrate is according to the Online Dictionary is:

gyrate [jire-rate] Verb to turn round and round in a circle

In the song, I think Gyrate refers to the circling of the hips! And so has the choreographer put that into the steps!

Here’s a breakdown for the Hands Bit – It’s too fast to be viewed on video, so still graphics will do a better job! Remember my watch is on my left wrist and the pictures are placed above the description!

Hands Bit:

1: After the clap, both palms are in front of face. Slide your right fingers down your left palm.

&: Then rotate both palm downwards.

2: Push up your left palm and arch back your right palm. At the same time, both palms move to the right hip.

&: Still with the same palm positions, move both palms to the left hip.

3: Rotate both palms up again, also bring both palms up to left chest.

&: Push up your right palm to arch back your left palm.

4: Push down your left palm again to arch back your right palm. You will get the same position as (3).

5: Still with the same palm positions, bring both palms to the right chest.

&: Rotate both palms downwards.

6: Rotate up the palms again. You will get the same position as (5).

&: Slide right palm/fingers along left arm towards left elbow. You will see a “rectangle”.

7: Slide both palms along the arms towards each other. The palm positions are as (6).

8: Then, push back right palm to arch back left palm.

Extra Tips from Hsiu-Fang Liu (USA):

The movements of hands are from upper right to lower right, then to lower left, then to upper left. Practice is the key!

Welcome Vinh from Paris :-) June 12, 2008

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Vinh and her sister, Ivy, visited my Thursday class just now, and boy, were they excited to see me! So was I to see them, and my students and friends too. Here’s a pic of them. From left, Vinh, me and Ivy. We talked so much and danced so much, that I forgot to take a group photo!! Aiya!

Vinh and Ivy are such nice and sweet ladies. Although we just met for the first time, we connected instantaneously, and there was just so much to talk about. Time passes by very fast during class and thereafter we adjourned to have dinner together at a nearby restaurant. We continue chatting until the restaurant closed its doors to “shoo” us out… hahah!

Vinh and Ivy had a great time dancing with my students and took so many photos and videos! According to Vinh, she needs to show proof to her friends that she actually did meet me! And she’s so glad that the venue we had our classes at was the very site where we videotaped Hare Ram!

Vinh kept inviting me for a holiday in Paris, she assure that her friends and she will take very good care of me and take me around! That’s so sweet of her and her friends. My warmest regards to Vinh’s friends in Paris! Will try to make a trip there when I get the chance! Thanks! :-D

Looking forward to meet you and your friends when you do come by KL again! Ivy, do come around when you can arrange some time too! ;-)