Thread: Jewel -the move-

Can you help me break this down. I am unsure if the "SWINGING DOOR" IS ON ON THE WEIGHTED OR UNWEIGHTED LEG...whoops...didnt mean to shout.

Assuming we're talking about the same "jewel" movement,
try this...

1/2 hip circle across the front (left to right), end with weight on R foot and "tuck" pelvis so that L foot is lifted and pointed forwards.
Repeat in opposit direction

Shoshanna (I am sure I spelled her name wrong) taught it a little different. 1/2 hip circle to the front (left to right) but lead more with your psosis (rt side) with your weight ending on your right leg. A little bellyroll ending in a pelvic tuck facing front. Spelling aside, I think that was how she broke it down.

"Swinging door" -- I like it! If you mean what I think you mean, then it's on the weighted leg. If you're building a flat jewel on a front-to-back horizontal figure eight that starts on the right hip, your weight shifts right as the right hip starts to trace the right lobe of the eight. Focusing on where the right hip is landing, I might "call" this as "around the front, back-front-back." Holding that twist position (right hip back), the weight shifts to the left as you slide the hips through your center toward left front and trace the left lobe of the eight: "around the front, back-front-back."

As with horizontal figure eights, it seems that the aha moment often comes when you emphasize that the hip slide moves diagonally through the center -- otherwise they might focus so much on the twisty swingy bit that their alignment is thrown off and things get lopsided. Does that make sense?

ETA: This assumes you're teaching a flat jewel, no tuck. (I should have asked before jumping in -- sorry!) I think it's good to teach this simpler variation first to get the rhythm, the directional change, and the "perpetual motion" feeling onto their bodies while working in just one plane. Concepts before complications. Then add the tucks and rolls and such. But then I am a simple soul. YMMV.

Interesting! I use the front-to-back horizontal figure 8 as the base also, but I think of the twisty part as being on the unweighted leg. Starting the figure 8 on the right, only do 1/4 of a full figure 8 so full weight ends up on the right leg, then twist the left hip front and back and release the left leg to finish the move on that side and prepare the opposite side.

Oh, cool! That is interesting. I wonder if our two versions look different or if we're just thinking of them differently but they look the same (if I release the foot), the actual physical right and left hips being connected to each other and all. Wish you were here so we could do them side-by-side and compare notes.

Zana...YES!

I think they may look similar...but "feel" very different. The weighted swinging door (I actually say that in my head rest - raunt -door, dumb, but it keeps a clean the triplet there) feels earthy.

Oh, look...the movement geeks are up and at it late tonight! ;-)

I asked about this on another forum and hoped for some video footage - anyone got any here? I do a version of this move (was taught by a few different people and each one broke it down diferently), and I'm not sure if I'm getting it right.

I've learned several ways to do this move, so I don't think there's any wrong or right way to do it. It's all about personal preference and music interpretation as to which you choose to do at any given time.

This said, my favorite way to do this move is broken down to my students as such:

1) Begin with a forward to back figure 8 (flat foot)
2) Pause when your right hip is angled back and left hip is angled front. Weight should be on the outside of your right foot.
3) Small undulation (from about mid-tummy down to pelvis). This will release the twist in your hips and you are ready to continue on with your figure 8. (left hip moving front to back).
4) Repeat other side.

We work on the figure 8 for a while... then the twist with undulation... when everyone seems to have gotten the breakdown, we put them all together.

Once they are getting the whole thing, we add some juice. I like the front portion of the figure 8 drawn out and exaggerated. I tell them to make it big and add resistance, and will stand in front of them with a fist and scrunched up face and say "rrrawr" each time their hips move around the front to back. For the undulation, I'll say "yuuuum". Sounds really silly, but the results are great!

I do some here at about 3:47. They could have been executed better, but it was the best I could find (of my own footage, that is).

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RgPMTZ0Kv4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RgPMTZ0Kv4[/ame]

Anyone got footage of either variation?
Trying to figure it out...and failing miserably!

Originally Posted by Amira_Siddiqah

Anyone got footage of either variation?
Trying to figure it out...and failing miserably!

I just added a clip to my last post. I had mentioned it but forgot to include it the first time around! ,r:; ..g.:

my break down:

1- begin a front to back figure 8 - sinking down into a little as you go, only go for 1/4 of the 8 stopping with the hip way out to one side, the outside leg weighted (ex. hip right, weight on right foot)

2 twist weighted hip back then front,

3 pull in the unweighted hip diagonally, tucking the pelvis slightly and lengthening through the back, particularly the side of the back opposite of where you are focusing the pulling in and engaging your abdominal muscles. This pull will also lift the foot slightly off the ground, so make sure the foot is pointed and elegant, this prepares you to repeat the same movement on the other side, stepping into it from the lifted unweighted foot.

repeat 1 through 3 on opposite side.

step 1 is relatively slow and juicy, steps 3 and 4 are done in quick succession and can be a sort of sharp snap or have more of a gooey-ness to them, depending on the feel you want to achieve

step 1 can also be a front crescent instead of an incomplete front to back figure eight. I often drill these as follows: 2 crescent steps to the right, then jewel, 2 crescent steps to the left then jewel, then work up to continuous jewel, jewel, jewel.


I do a slow sort of gooey jewel here at 1:06
YouTube - Shems at Yucy's Arabian Nights - Lissa Faker - Belly Dance

The above is more or less the way I learned them. I tried it with the tummy undulation and that is a nice touch, but changes the movement slightly, so I'd think of these different approaches as slightly different variations on the jewel, because they don't have the same exact effect. Variety is the spice of life <3

Your jewel looks pretty much just like mine, Shems, even though we put the focus on different hips. I also add the tuck, but usually not for beginners since they tend to have difficulty with the weight change in the first place.

ETA I found a jewel in this clip, about 3:03. I can't tell if it looks more internal (since I'm using the inside hip) or if it's just faster.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjiJ7uURJ6Q"]YouTube - Alf Leila Wa Leila[/ame]

Thanks ladies, that really helped.

Never knew that had a name.

Adishakti, you have a lovely figure. Random but true!

I have been trying to do this move for months. Don't have time to read all posts but will study as soon as I get home and on my home PC. Keep posting ladies. More more!!

So... am I the only one who starts the jewel with a back-to-front figure 8?

I should think that a front back front (while moving back to front) would be more condusive to a lower ab tuck in on the transition to the other side...hmmmm

Originally Posted by Lauren_

So... am I the only one who starts the jewel with a back-to-front figure 8?

Mebbeh, but I'm intrigued. Where does it go from there, please?

Maybe it's not exactly a jewel -- I usually just call it 'egyptian hips' in my choreos. But it's similar.

R. hip pushes out and circles to the front... weight shifts to the L foot... R hip pulls/swings back (it's a twist with a bit of lower-belly undulation, a psoas pull) then returns to neutral.

It's the one Fifi does almost continuously in this clip (though now she does them a little juicier, and taps her toe on the floor)
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lEY-SrJLr4]YouTube - Egyptian Wedding Scene[/ame]

Ok..that is what I call a back to forward horizontal 8 with a tuck thru. The jewel as it was taught to me is a front to back horizontal 8 interupted midway with a twist twist twist as the opposite foot lifts off the floor, the weight is then shifted to the foot you just lifted as the 8 is completed on the side that began the move...I am dyslexic...and that sounds incoherent but notice I didnt say left or right!!!

Originally Posted by anala

Ok..that is what I call a back to forward horizontal 8 with a tuck thru. The jewel as it was taught to me is a front to back horizontal 8 interupted midway with a twist twist twist as the opposite foot lifts off the floor, the weight is then shifted to the foot you just lifted as the 8 is completed on the side that began the move...I am dyslexic...and that sounds incoherent but notice I didnt say left or right!!!

OK... so, not a jewel.

I've learned the Jewel from so many instructors -- Shareen, Hadia and Raqia all teach it *completely* differently, and I've learned it from other instructors as well.

I suppose I left it alone a long time ago and just went back to using the 8-twist I picked up from watching Fifi. I love that move. As I said, I don't *call* it a jewel when I teach (whew) but I do think of it as a close relative in my own head. It has a very similar pattern of tension and release.

Lauren, I think that's being called Egyptian Figure 8s or Cairo Figure 8s (at least I've heard it both online and offline...and I kind of like it).

Originally Posted by nasila

Lauren, I think that's being called Egyptian Figure 8s or Cairo Figure 8s (at least I've heard it both online and offline...and I kind of like it).

Aaaaah, thank you! I think I have seen it called that.

I still feel it like an inside-out jewel, but I'm glad to have a separate name for it.

Ok..that is what I call a back to forward horizontal 8 with a tuck thru.

Ciaro 8...thats a lot easier to say in class than the above!

Originally Posted by nasila

Your jewel looks pretty much just like mine, Shems, even though we put the focus on different hips. I also add the tuck, but usually not for beginners since they tend to have difficulty with the weight change in the first place.

Yeah, you can't tell the difference between our jewel approaches on the videos, but when I do it in front of my mirror, one way, then the other, there is a distinct difference in look to me. Not that one is better than the other, I like them both. The audience probably wouldn't pick up on a significant difference, though.

As for whether or not to add the tuck for beginners, well, without the tuck I no longer think of it as a "jewel". If I'm teaching a jewel, I teach the whole thing just accepting the fact that I'll have to break it down several times on different occasions before most newer students get it.

Originally Posted by anala

Ok..that is what I call a back to forward horizontal 8 with a tuck thru.

Ciaro 8...thats a lot easier to say in class than the above!

I call it the Fifi.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

So... am I the only one who starts the jewel with a back-to-front figure 8?

No, that's how I learned it, (random factoid) from Jillina, so that's at least 2

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Aaaaah, thank you! I think I have seen it called that.

I still feel it like an inside-out jewel, but I'm glad to have a separate name for it.

My brain was calling it a reverse jewel. Hope that makes you feel better!

Originally Posted by anala

Can you help me break this down. I am unsure if the "SWINGING DOOR" IS ON ON THE WEIGHTED OR UNWEIGHTED LEG...whoops...didnt mean to shout.

Both versions are "correct" - just different (at least Shareen el Safy taught both)

I'm surprised I'm the first to mention this: on her Beledi DVD set, Ranya Renee demonstrates both a 'flat' jewel and an undulating one.