Thread: Children's bellydance classes - brainstorming on dos and donts

Dear instructors, I am wondering what to do in a different way, how to start my new children's class. How about sharing your ideas? I know some of you do not agree on children bellydancing but I do:) I want to avoid them shakiraing and beyoncéing instead of learning how to REAL bellydance. but still, I think they will demand shakira and beyoncé from the first moment. I think I should omit the ballet based training from the beginning of the class definitely. So, what do you think? (I sure will discuss with my master but neeed some brainstroming beforehand.) Thx: Veron Setanta

Depends on how old your children are. I teach a children's class. These are 2nd-5th grades. This children also perform as well. So, I teach basic movements that lend to the wholesome family stage performance that we put on stage. I omit movements that would be misconstrued as inappropriate on such young bodies that have yet to develope all of their core muscles. I do teach a basic shimmy, hip drop/lift, head slide, snake arm, arabic 1, paddle turns, 3 pt turns and such. I do not teach Omi, pelvic drops, turkish shimmy, undulations, shoulder shimmy, chest lifts and the likes. The kids are doing extremely well with thier lessons. The public seems to really enjoy their performances. It's been a really positive expirience so far.

Nilaja

I've also taught a few children's classes, and am about to do a mother/daughter workshop, which can be good fun. It really does depend upon how old the children are and how long their attention spans are. I won't teach kids undulations, chest moves, etc either. I've found really young kids love veils and it's a great way to beak up a session with them having some free time to play with them. With the older kids who think they know it all (teenagers, gotta love 'em) try giving them a large book to put on their heads to see if their isolations are working. That should get their attention!

Good luck!

I haven't taught kids yet, but I would second NOT teaching shoulder shimmies, pelvic drops or omis, lest the dear little ones go home and show their parents what they learned in belly dance class. Chest slides would be okay though, as it's good practice for isolations and used in other forms of dance that appeal to children (jazz, hip hop, etc).

I think it's important (especially for the young ones) to see that belly dance is really all about the connection with the music.

I have a 3 year old and an 8 year old that both take lessons. I think everyone else has hit the majority of the points, but here are a few add ons:
Put the moves you teach that day into a simple choreography (one old move and two new ones). Kids feel great when they have something to show for their work that day! As far as upper body: They have learned chest slides and shoulder rolls (to the beat of the music). It really seems to help teach them how to move those areas in a kid-friendly fashion! The girls love the music and like to help pick out songs to dance to!

Our kids learn shoulder shimmies, and probably pelvic drops as well. Omis are a bit harder so I think those get left out.

I think it's sad that people think a *child* rapidly moving their shoulders back and forth is somehow inappropriate. They have no breasts! Why is a hip shimmy appropriate, then? They're shaking their NETHERS! Surely that is offensive too? Putting adult assumptions onto a child's body is not necessary (and don't go telling me that they will attract paedophiles if they shoulder shimmy - they attract paedophiles by playing in sandpits and being children)!

I agree with your point Zumarrad, but I just danced for forty 8 year olds that walked over to the restaurant from school (they were studying Tunisia this year and came to experience the feast and the dancing). There were a few parents that came along, and everything was all fine and good...most the children were dancing along and everybody was having fun. Shimmies, big hip circles, big exaggerated undulations, lots of head slides (they insisted I do this over and over ,r:; ). Then I did a little shoulder shimmy (mind you, I have A-cup boobs, maybe a B or C with padding, but firmly packed in there so there's no wiggly-jiggly!), and the children shimmied too...and I suddenly saw a *horrified* expression on the faces of ALL the adults in the room. WTF???

So, I'd refrain from teaching it...not because it looks inappropriate on children but because the parents sometimes DO put adult assumptions on their children's bodies. There are plenty of other things to teach children that are fun and rewarding without the dreaded connotations that seem to surround that move.

Robin De Danann has a few ideas here:

http://www.everydaybellydance.com/re...hing_girls.pdf

I like that link eshe, some great stuff on there.
Also fun with the little ones are art projects -- I've made paper plate "tambourines" with kids (1st - 3rd grade) to then talk about rhythms and stuff. There are also a ton of great folk tales from all over the world (I've found a lot of Egyptian & Turkish) that are great to read with them.

My neice 6yr old neice regularly tags along to my troupe practices (which are very informal). She just loves it, and hanging out with the big girls. Often times she is easily distracted or too shy to do the movements properly, or so it seems, a couple of practices later she will just bust out with something completely unexpected. Things we had not tried to teach her. The only really difficult thing is the shyness, one time when i tried to get her to show her great grandparents what she had learned she burst into tears and ran from the room. Sometimes at practice she gets shy, but i just make it a game like simon says or follow the leader, making sure she gets a turn as leader or simon. And of course a jingly hipscarf is a must even if it does drive you crazy. Little girls get soo excited about dress up. Zills were also a big hit with her, initially she had more chops for them than i did!

thank you for your opinion,some of my ideas were confirmed, some I don't agree - the one that they do not need to be taught shimmies - I teach them basic shimmies. Actually my children group did not start but the 2 girls who applied came to my adult class. This is harder as they require more attention. But they keep coming back to each class which means they enjoy to be treated as adults (10 and 13 years so not small children). I will be careful with shoulder shimmies:) and my adults also learn a simple choreo which contain all the basic moves a beginner should know, choreographed to a nice love song called Inta Obes (does anyone know the singer? all I know it is a man. I got the song on a copied audio cd from my teacher with no singer name)
have a nice day
Veron

Originally Posted by eshe

Robin De Danann has a few ideas here:

http://www.everydaybellydance.com/re...hing_girls.pdf

Great link! It says to keep classes shorter than 1 hour though - I'd like to add to Setanta's post: say you have to do a 2 hour workshop for children age 12 and up. What would you include to fill two full hours?

hey!
my teacher taught me shoulder shimmies when i was 12!! its those bust shimmies that i finally managed a while later ^^
she also teaches the children between 5-10 everything, floorwork, undulations, shoulder shimmies, pelvic tilts.... i guess the germans ain't prudes! (im not insinuating Americans or any other nationalities here are prudes, im just sharing my teacher's teaching method...dont get me wrong)

I teach a bitty bellies class (3-6 year olds) and they love it! I don't teach shoulder shimmies or omis. It's a 30 minute class and we cover hip circles, walking, hip drops, some folkloric steps and zills. They LOVE zills and two of them are really good at them... when they don't see them as hockey pucks to be slid across the dance floor. It's a fun class.

Depends on what you mean by "children". I will include High School "children" ie over 13 - in my adults' class and they learn everything the adults do (except usually faster).

For under 7s, 30 minutes is plenty. Use imagery (getting on the camel, crawling through the pyramids). Don't spend too long on a single move eg if I teach adults a hip rock they will drill for 3-4 minutes. For kids I cut it back to 2 minutes. Lot a variety, lots of dancing. Veils, yes are fun.

I see no reason why not to teach kids shoulder shimmies (if they can co-ordinate it). Shoulder shimmies are not about breasts. Men do shoulder shimmies in the ME! (and my shoudler shimmy concentrates on the shoulder not the torso or breasts). I'd imagine they'd really enjoy hip shimmies with belts - remind me to buy earplugs.

My daughters are 6 and 8 and take a 1 hour class. Its broken up with games in between learning movements. Lots of playing with veils, follow the leader, "hot lava" (game of jumping around on yoga mats)etc. They hate to leave when the time is up. I haven't seen anything taught like omi's but they do shoulder shimmies. They look more like whole body convulsions so I'm not to worried about it being taken as anything inappropriate. lol

im not an instructor, but my teacher teaches them little dances
with veils, skirt-work and some short drum solos....the love it! she occasionally brings a huge ornate rug and lets them "ride the magic carpet" while she pulls them along...those type of things work on her studio floor :D