Thread: what are the upwards figure 8s called??

Hi Guys,

I had a workshop with sharon kihara and we was doing tons of the upwards vertical 8's (the opposite to a maya) she gave them a name which had something like 'tox' in it. I am really struggling to do these flat footed and was wanting the name for them so i could do a search.

Thanks x

Tribal dancers call them "Taxim", I think because of Carolena in FatChance.

I call them "hiprolls". I have heard other people call them Taxims and vertical down 8's because they go down in the middle.

They are th ones where you scoop up the hip. The direct opposites to the maya. I can now maya flat footed but cannot do the reverse. It is really stressing me out now hehehe.

I was taught them as "hip lift sways"; I teach them as "figure8 up"

Originally Posted by shems

Tribal dancers call them "Taxim"

Which makes me gnash my teeth. But that's just me.

When I first learned this move, it was called "snake hips."

I think you had it right the first time, upward vertical figure 8, no room for confusion there.

I call them upward figure eights!

I call them vertical figure 8's!

As always, there's a thousand names for every move! ..l;,

I'd forgotten taxim. I like to be able to tell people various names for the move so they aren't confused if they go to another teacher or a workshop.

vertical figure 8s down to up

we call them reversed maya's :-)
But I've heard taxim before too!

we call them "Gushi" not sure if it is spelled correct or where the name came from.

I call them Up Vertical Figure 8's.

Originally Posted by Tribal_Butterfly

They are th ones where you scoop up the hip. The direct opposites to the maya. I can now maya flat footed but cannot do the reverse. It is really stressing me out now hehehe.

Don't worry, I can't do the upward 8's without bringing my heel off the floor at least slightly (usually more).

I think one is always easier than the other. Doing a maya for me is much, much easier than a taxeem.

As for the name, I first learned them as vertical figure 8's up (and mayas were the down ones). I started using the other names when I got into tribal, but I think I prefer vertical figure 8 name.

Originally Posted by spicedjellybeans

Don't worry, I can't do the upward 8's without bringing my heel off the floor at least slightly (usually more).

I can finally do both flat-foooted, but I find the up one to be WAY harder without lifting the heels.

Originally Posted by Georgine

we call them "Gushi" not sure if it is spelled correct or where the name came from.

us too! ..l;,

I had a teacher who called them "into the ground" and we never got confused. But I think of them more as reverse mayas.

"reverse Maia", "Gooshie", "figure-8 down to up". Any of these in my neck of the woods.

Whatever you call it, I find Maias MUCH easier than this move for some reason - fortunately, one of my teachers has drilled these into us like crazy so I'm much better at 'em now.

my favourite move...( next to hagalla) so much so that a fellow teachers students christened me 'the snake woman' after they saw me dance for the first time! I learned to do it flat footed by bending my knees much more... but you can do alot more variations by lifting the heels, like putting a little shimmy on the 'in and down' bit... I know that tribal style tends to be much more grounded though. good luck!

Originally Posted by LunaBelgium

we call them reversed maya's :-)

That's what I call them too!

I used to call them reverse mayas, too!

I also call the hip sways.

I really like descriptive names for things, so I usually call them an upwards vertical figure 8. Heel up and heel down versions. Heel up is easier.

Deborah

They are called sways around here.

Originally Posted by Rya_of_Indiana

I call them vertical figure 8's!

Me too - I learned them back in the 80s. All the different names........

I did learn the forward-step, back step movement as a "beledi" step - it went with the dum-dum-tekka-tek-dum-tekka-tek when you did it twice. Go figure.

I'm think sharon kihara called them "taxeem" in the workshops I took with her. that's what we call them in my ITS tribal class - as someone else said, it's the name carolena nericcio (fcbd) gives it so it's pretty widely used in tribal based styles from what I can tell. ... we just call them upward 8s in my cabaret class.

Originally Posted by Taj

Which makes me gnash my teeth. But that's just me.

Actually, it drives me crazy too. Taxim is a musical term. I understand that belly dance moves don't have official names, so people invent names like sway or snake hips, which is fine, but why steal a term that already has a totally different meaning in Middle Eastern dance? That's just confusing to new students.

Ok, so people tend to do figure 8 moves during the taxim part of the music, but they also tend to do pelvic tucks and drops during the drum solo. Imagine teaching pelvic drops and calling them "drum solos."

Upwards eights ..g.: or if I want to emphasise the vertical element "upwards vertical eights". I've also heard them called "under eights" (cf "over eights" or mayas)

I believe some Tribal dancers call them taqsim - which is irritating and confusing as a taqsim is a solo improvisation by a musical instrument.

Originally Posted by casbahdance

I really like descriptive names for things,

Deborah

Me too, for the most part, but sometimes nicknames creep in. Last week I taught a "step cross boing cross step fish slow-boing" which I told my students was redonk but if it did the trick...

I call them vertical eights, and use them so often that my students are used to seeing "V8s" in printed choreographies.

Originally Posted by Zamira

Imagine teaching pelvic drops and calling them "drum solos."

Heh. Good point.

Originally Posted by ouroboros

"step cross boing cross step fish slow-boing"

Must. See. This.