Thread: tips for teaching gym-based bellydance to newbies

Gather your pearls of wisdom please ..g.:

I'm starting to teach a group of absolute beginners at a women-only gym. None of the 15 or so ladies has ever taken a belly dance class (or possibly never taken dance classes period). They seem excited about bellydance, but the owner has made it clear that each one-hour class must have a decent cardio workout and attention to building strength in core muscles. I've sketched out the basics, warm up song, stretching, learning a few basic moves, then drilling with enough traveling steps and arms overhead to increase the cardio portion.
Should I add a simple choreography section and try to build on it a little each week? I'd love to hear from teachers with experience "shimmying in the gym."

I've taught a class like this before at a gym, and have also taken dance classes (hip hop, disco, cardio salsa etc) at gyms that I have gone to in the past.

Generally, I find that these classes tend to be more about having fun and doing cardio exercise then really learning a particular style of dance.

The class that I taught at a gym was all drop in. So that meant that each time I taught I could potentially have an entirely new group of women. What actually ended up happening was that after a few weeks, there was definately a group of regulars (so by this point they had done a few classes with me) but there was still many brand new beginners in the class.

I created a few dance choreographies that were really more of a dancercize routine then something I would teach bit by bit if I always had the same group of women. So, for each class I would do warm up, stretching, teach them a few basic moves and then teach them a little routine (that had lots of repeats of course). This seemed to work fairly well. Over time, the regulars definately got better with some of the basic movements which was great, but no matter what the bellydance experience they had when they came to class each week all of them got a fairly good cardio workout.

I hope this helps!

Amira:

Thanks so much for your response! Your experience sounds nearly identical to what I'll be doing, and your advice was really helpful.

Hechicera

I hope the gym let's you do this. I have the opportunity to do something similar but previously when I attended classes at the gym where I might have this opportunity, they made the cardio requirement quite clear too. What happened is that I noticed the students got a brief run through on the movements but then it was just a lot of moving your hips any way after awhile. So I hope you can teach more to how you want to.

Originally Posted by bonnywhiteford

I hope the gym let's you do this. I have the opportunity to do something similar but previously when I attended classes at the gym where I might have this opportunity, they made the cardio requirement quite clear too. What happened is that I noticed the students got a brief run through on the movements but then it was just a lot of moving your hips any way after awhile. So I hope you can teach more to how you want to.

I hope so too. From what I can tell the majority of the members are fairly new, or recently returned to working out, and are in their 40-60s, so I'm hoping that their cardio workout levels will come with the basic drills and traveling steps I'll teach. If not, we'll all take a trip to Shimmy City!..l;,

I've done a gym class as well. What I do is do a warm up and then go thru the basic moves explaining each. After that I drill shimmies for a whole song while doing arm exercizes. That gets them sweating then i'll do a fast song and focus on hip drops and shimmies. After that I can do more core strength building slower movements because they're so warmed up. then i'd teach a short choreography or drill that they can do in diffrent directions to practice at home. then a cool down. It seemed to work well and those who stuck with it got better with time.

Thanks Rakgirl!
I like the idea of doing the core work as a part of, or after the fast section rather than having a mat-based mini-ab workout at the end.

Hechicera

Keep in mind that they are at a gym to get fit or stay fit, not necessarily to learn an art form. So emphasis on gentle warmup, building muscle control with belly dance movement vocabulary, cardio section (shimmies, traveling steps), stretch and cool down. You can punctuate the class with short shimmy drills to keep heart rates up. Putting an emphasis on core will help keep students coming as they equate belly dance with toning the middle. I've taken lot of classes at gyms and helped teach one and what seems to keep students in the class is getting a good workout while you also impart some information about the dance. One of the best teachers I have had a gym type class would give alternative extra credit movements to the more advanced students who had been coming for a while--like adding a level change or layering upper and lower body moves.

Choose you music carefully cause that creates interest as well and gives you a cultural education opportunity. Egyptian pop is great for drills because it often has a steady drum beat (often courtesy of a drum machine!) that makes it easier for students to follow for hip drills. But slow, heavier atmospheric music (like some of the Solace pieces) are good for working on muscle development because they naturally make you want to dig in.

Souzan

"Extra credit" with level changes and layering--I love it!

I currently teach a dance fitness class at a gym. Mine isn't strictly BD though, I also throw in a bit of jazz and hip hop to keep the cardio up. I make it clear that this isn't a BD class--it's a cardio dance class that uses BD, jazz and hip hop moves. The people that come generally have no dance experience, so I keep it very simple and very repetitive. And fun, of course!

I also start with a warm up section, then move into the cardio routine. What works for me is to teach short sections--about 2-4 counts of eight. I'll do the first four counts, repeat repeat repeat until they have it, then add on. When they have the whole combo, we drill it for a whole song. Then we go to the next combo, drill it, then add it onto the first.

I generally teach 3-4 combos this way and by the end of the class they have a short "routine." I change the combos each week, though I'll use a lot of the same movements from week to week so they feel like they're learning and progressing.

I end the class with crunches, then stretch and cool down.

Aazura:

Great advice on building combos--thanks so much

This thread is so well timed for me since I plan to switch from a "dance class" style to a more "fitness focused" class starting in Jan. In addition to the great advice here, I also plan to add a lot of traveling moves into the cardio section. I find that a lot of belly dance is taught standing in place while other fitness classes I've experienced include a lot of movement--generally just moving from one side of the room to the other. I also enjoy getting my students into a huge circle so we can all see each other as we perform traveling steps. Of course it's important to switch directions from time to time--otherwise I get super dizzy! It helps to have a large teaching space.

In my experience teaching Level One Belly Dance, most newbies seem okay with step-touch movements and catch on to grapevines pretty quickly. I know these steps are also used in aerobics classes and don't require much dance skill. Any traveling steps which include hip movements tend to be a tad more difficult for non-dancers. I start slow and really break these steps down. I also offer options minus hip movements just in case. Turns, pivots and quick changes in directions are reserved for more experienced dancers or used later in the session for an ongoing class.

I anticipate teaching a combo of my "regular" belly dance students and hopefully some new "fitness" oriented students so it will be a mixed level class. I'm not sure how it will all shake out but hopefully I'll be able to pull it off. Wish me luck! .w.:

You can also throw in some Saidi (sp?) steps as well. All that hopping around does great things for the heart rate.

I also start with a warm up section, then move into the cardio routine. What works for me is to teach short sections--about 2-4 counts of eight. I'll do the first four counts, repeat repeat repeat until they have it, then add on. When they have the whole combo, we drill it for a whole song. Then we go to the next combo, drill it, then add it onto the first.

I generally teach 3-4 combos this way and by the end of the class they have a short "routine." I change the combos each week, though I'll use a lot of the same movements from week to week so they feel like they're learning and progressing.

That's how I've been handling my once-a-week belly-fitness class as well. They like it! They catch on quickly, too! I'm very clear about stating it isn't BD though.
I promote the fitness class with my regular (BD) students as an extra drilling class.

Originally Posted by Linnyg

You can also throw in some Saidi (sp?) steps as well. All that hopping around does great things for the heart rate.

I thought about that as well (and dabke, too!) but the thing I hear most it that they like it being a truly low impact workout, so for now I don't use any hops or jumps.

Maybe this needs to be a new thread, but I'll throw it in here to see what discussion develops.

Since I've been taking Zumba regularly, I've been toying with the idea of offering a fitness-based cardio belly dance class. My question for those of you who teach both serious and fitness classes: how do you get over the discomfort with watching people do the moves with poor technique and posture? I just cringe when I see people lifting their hips when they should be dropping them, and I'm not sure I could stop myself from wanting to stop and correct them like I'd do in a technique focused class.

I usually instruct them while they're doing the move to make sure this and that. If I see something that could potentially harm the student, I go stand next to them and make clear how they can improve their move. It helps.
It's not as bad as I expected though. They focus less on technique, true - but sometimes that's not such a bad thing. Often beginners try to think too much.
And I think keeping the moves fairly simple is key. Start out slow until they get it and gradually build up speed.

I offer a "Belly Dance for Exercise" class that is separate from my "how to belly dance" classes. If someone aspires to perfect dance technique and groom herself for eventual performance, she should take my Level 1 and/or 2 classes. If she's just looking for exercise or wants to supplement her technique class with drills, then my "Belly Dance for Exercise" class could be appropriate.

I structure my "belly dance for exercise" class with slower music at the beginning, faster-speed in the middle, and slow for the cooldown. Because I'm treating it as exercise / drills, my choreography is designed to repeat the same skill over and over for a while before moving on to the next one.

I use Saidi for the first part of the cardio part of the workout. (After the warmup.) So what I've done is to have a section of just slow drumming playing the Saidi rhythm (I use Mary Ellen Donald's "Middle Eastern Rhythms for Beginners" CD, see Mary Ellen Donald Home Page ). I use the slow drum (which is 4 minutes in length) as part warmup, part teaching the combinations. I take students through the Saidi steps with the slow drum and drill them at the slower speed. At this time, I can watch them in the mirror and gauge how much correcting may be needed to avoid injury. Then, when the Metkal Kenawi music comes on, we do those same steps at full speed.

After the Saidi, I have a shimmy drills section to Tarkan's Kil Oldum. And then the cooldown. Trust me, between the Saidi and the shimmy drills, there's plenty of good cardio.

Thank you Thank you Thank you Sister Bhuzzers!

Your advice has been invaluable! I taught my first class in this gym format tonight and it went over very well. The funny thing is, after all my prepping for a super cardio workout--they wanted to spend extra time smoothing out figure 8 and other more traditional dance studio type exercises. So, we ended up with about 20 minutes of cardio, along with the extended drills, regular warm up, stretch and cool down. I had planned for 30 minutes of cardio originally. It was a lot of fun, and I felt relaxed and ready for it thanks to everyone's insightful advice and commentary. If this class catches on, I'm thinking of marketing it to other women only gyms in the area such as Curves...we'll see

Originally Posted by laura 2

Since I've been taking Zumba regularly, I've been toying with the idea of offering a fitness-based cardio belly dance class. My question for those of you who teach both serious and fitness classes: how do you get over the discomfort with watching people do the moves with poor technique and posture? I just cringe when I see people lifting their hips when they should be dropping them, and I'm not sure I could stop myself from wanting to stop and correct them like I'd do in a technique focused class.

If it's just a matter of doing a lift instead of a drop, being on the wrong foot, or turning the wrong way, etc., I let it go. As long as they're moving and having fun, that's what's important. If they are about to injure themselves, then I'll correct them. I have to remind myself that the goals of these students is different than goals of someone taking a technique class.

What I find more difficult (for me, personally) is keeping the choreography simple enough. I find myself getting bored with it sometimes and try to spice it up a bit with more "challenging" moves. This usually doesn't go over well, b/c my participants are not dancers and really just want to have a fun fitness class rather than a challenging dance class. I have to remind myself of this when I prep for class. I may not be winning any choreography awards, but my students will be getting a fun workout which is much more in tune with their goals.

I teach 2 "gym"classes and I was also instructed to be sure to include lots of cardio with the instructions that they want to work hard and sweat. It actually turned out to be just the opposite. No one wanted belly fitness... they all wanted to learn technique so I ended up ditching all my belly fitness lesson plans and rewrote them all with more of a traditional dance class focus.

I was actually kind of excited by the prospect of a belly fitness class (it's just the kind of class that I would love to take to supplement my other training) but oh well... maybe another time.

I teach at a ladies only gym, and I have ALOT of drop ins. So I keep things simple, make sure everyone has good dance posture, and keep them moving.

I am glad to hear the your class went well, Hechicera. Here's to more good classes!