Friday 16 November 2012

Lovely Props

Nicolah bellydancing with a veil
After a crazy busy week at work, it feels soooo good to be doing dance rehearsals, as it helps boost energy and gets the old creative juices flowing.                                                                                                  Currently, I'm choreographing for solo performances and plan to include my favourite bellydance prop, the oh so lovely silk veil. It's a great way for a dancer to make an entrance onto the stage with elegance. Softly floating through the air to a rhythmical Middle-Eastern beat, the veil can look graceful and enhance just how a bellydancer wants to translate the creative art form to his or her audience beautifully. I always get excited when I dance with the veil because it makes me feel like I'm flying around the stage with the colourful wings of a butterfly having been set free.                                                           
Another prop I like are the clinkedy clanky hand musical instruments, called the fingers cymbals (aka the zills or sagat).  Known to originate in Ancient Greece and Egypt as an extension of dancers clapping their hands, the zills are still recognised today to be an enjoyable and melodic way of joining in the rhythms and beats of bellydance songs. Since being introduced to the zills myself in 2009, by Razia Star, an American bellydance teacher, I'm guilty of not using my zills enough and feel I should be using them a lot more in my dancing.  This may be because the zills are not as commonly used in bellydance circles over here, compared to their more popular use in places like America, Turkey and Egypt. However, when I do get to see performances in London with dancers delicately zilling away with this shimmering metal prop in tune to the zill rhythm, I am blown away and feel inspired.  

Using the veil, zills and other props in bellydance have made me a lot more conscious of how I position my arms and use my upper/lower body aiming for perfect 'lines' to carry myself with poise and grace with whilst dancing.  This is why I recommend working with props every now and then, because they have made me change perspective at times to work on other things, which in turn helps improve my all round dancing, both with and without props.

Happy shimmies :)

Ni

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