Weekly Challenge for 9-23-13

Another weekly challenge! Are you ready? We’re going to continue our arm challenge this week.

Emoting through arm movement

In my last post, I mentioned that a belly dancer should have strong, beautiful arms. A lot of that is using the elbow to lead the motion. But the arms don’t always have to be strong and lifted, always leading with the elbow (though leading with the elbow ensures that the arm is lifted, which does look nicer).

We can also express emotion through our arms alone, in many different positions.

Your challenge this week is this: pick an emotion every day. Happy, sad, pained, loss, excitement, whatever tickles your fancy. Then express it through your arms alone, no other body movement. Can you do it? What would it look like? Brainstorm some ideas, get a mirror, and try them out. If you have a friend (whom you trust), ask them to guess what emotion you are portraying. It’s okay to get the face in on this, too (because that’s what we want eventually) but remember it’s all about the arms this week.

Keep in mind that the arms don’t always have to be at your sides. Raise them overhead, put them on the floor, reach out to the front. Think in a sphere, not a circle. Again, leading with the elbow makes the arms strong and lifted, but, depending on your emotion, you may not want to do that.

Happy dancing!