Thread: Blanca's "Venus" choreography from Sensual Belly Dance

Hi, everyone! Has anyone else learned this choreography? I love her style - it is sooo elegant! This is the first choreography I'm learning that is so sensuous and slow. I'm not sure where to start. She has it broken down into lower body and upper body. Any suggestions as to where to begin?

Edna

I must admit I haven't done the choreography on this, but I've done the flow a lot. I'd be tempted to start with lower body first, they probably appear in a logical order on the dvd anyway though.

I love Blanca, she is a beautiful dancer, and comes across a being very sweet on this dvd. Also she teaches head movement as an integral part of her dance which I really like.

THanks, that was my feeling too! I find her to be one of the most beautiful dancers I've ever seen. Wish I could take lessons from her someday!

Edna

I do that one and I started with the lower body. I found it easier to get the traveling steps and lower body work down and then add the arms. Good luck with it. It is a beautiful piece.

Blanca is an absolute gem. She's super sweet, too, and was kind enough to reply back to me via email and on tribe forums with several questions I had about this choreography. I believe she had some additional notes on it too. You can find them here:
Blanca ~ Bellydance in New York City ~ BlancaDance.com

If your gut tells you that it'd be a bit more reasonable to start with the lower body then I'd start there first. This may be where your comfort level is and would be a good place to start. I'd also practice each chunk on its own then build up to the entire piece. On this DVD she did a great job of planning out the choreo so that it was manageable.

A good plan would be to learn the first part of this choreography this while also incorporating drilling some of the movements included in the upper body section. So, during your practice time, consider doing a brief drill period after warming up to cover the upper body (even if you're not doing that part of the choreography yet). This way, you're not entirely lower-body focused and are still having a nice balanced practice set ;)

Great advice! Keep it coming, ladies!

Edna

You can download choreography notes and other supplemental materials for the "Venus" choreography from Blanca's website. Here is the link:
http://www.blancadance.com/sensual_bellydance.htm
...then scroll about halfway down the page.

Also, Blanca teaches workshops in the US and abroad. If you would like to host a workshop with Blanca, just write to her: blanca@blancadance.com

You can see more of Blanca on other World Dance New York DVDs such as:
FANTASY BELLYDANCE: DESIRE
http://worlddancenewyork.com/product...oid=64&catid=7
(Blanca's Nymph choreography is on that one...

LUSCIOUS: THE BELLYDANCE WORKOUT...
http://worlddancenewyork.com/product...oid=68&catid=7

GOTHIC BELLYDANCE: REVELATIONS
http://worlddancenewyork.com/product...id=54&catid=18

...and other WDNY DVDs
:)

-Scott