Thread: Crazy A** Prop Tricks...

About the Dina parody: Thats Bassem Faghaly. Hes famous for dressing in drag and doing impressions of famous female singers, actresses, dancers, ect. Hes on TV all the time.

As for props.... im a total puss. I almost never try anything new and daring. Ive got a ton of respect for all of you who put in the time and effort to pull off cool tricks!

I'm reviving this thread... I want to hear/see all of your crazy ass prop tricks!

I extend one of my legs out behind me, balance my sword on my foot and do a bunch of leg extensions, belly flutters, and hand stuff while it's up there. I'm not there yet, but I'm trying to get it so I can rotate my foot w/ the sword on it and bring my leg out in front of me before I grab my sword again.

Originally Posted by Lesedi

I'm reviving this thread... I want to hear/see all of your crazy ass prop tricks!

I extend one of my legs out behind me, balance my sword on my foot and do a bunch of leg extensions, belly flutters, and hand stuff while it's up there. I'm not there yet, but I'm trying to get it so I can rotate my foot w/ the sword on it and bring my leg out in front of me before I grab my sword again.

OMG.

OK with the sword. Balance it your head after suitable flourishes etc.

Then, go into a straight-backed drop to the floor with the sword still balanced (like Rachel Brice does - very slowly).

Then, do various other stuff on the floor; get up slowly and dramatically and finish (of course) fast.

Ta dah.

PS I can't do that anymore.

Was a gymnast in another life, so sword is one of my favorite things to do.

I have a couple of tricks the people totally dig:

Balance my sword on my thigh and dip down the ground and back up again.

Spin with sword on my head and little add a drop (not Turkish, but a full level change to the floor mid-spin) get up and keep spinning, repeat a few times.

Tango-style lunge and get up with sword on head.

Regular spits, turn into straddle, roll through and up into "gymnast" pose. Come out, go into extended roll-overs, stop by getting up onto knees then descending down into Hero pose. Come up and finish in King Pigeon pose (without the upper backbend).

Originally Posted by mathkitty

Was a gymnast in another life, so sword is one of my favorite things to do.

I have a couple of tricks the people totally dig:

Balance my sword on my thigh and dip down the ground and back up again.

Spin with sword on my head and little add a drop (not Turkish, but a full level change to the floor mid-spin) get up and keep spinning, repeat a few times.

Tango-style lunge and get up with sword on head.

Regular spits, turn into straddle, roll through and up into "gymnast" pose. Come out, go into extended roll-overs, stop by getting up onto knees then descending down into Hero pose. Come up and finish in King Pigeon pose (without the upper backbend).

OK this doesn't count cuz it wasn't planned...but it sure was fun:
Performing in very old theater with beautiful worn wood stage. Doing that thing with sword on head spinning, then stop & the sword keeps spinning on head...but it flew off my head and landed perfectly straignt point down into the floor .
I was already so tranced and adrenalined out that I made some sort of dancey flourish, it LOOKED totally planned.
I think it was the most & loudest applause I've ever gotten.

Originally Posted by LiesaB.

OK this doesn't count cuz it wasn't planned...but it sure was fun:
Performing in very old theater with beautiful worn wood stage. Doing that thing with sword on head spinning, then stop & the sword keeps spinning on head...but it flew off my head and landed perfectly straignt point down into the floor .
I was already so tranced and adrenalined out that I made some sort of dancey flourish, it LOOKED totally planned.
I think it was the most & loudest applause I've ever gotten.

That is AWESOME! lol

I think I remember you telling this one saying that it was a new floor and the owner was all concerned about keeping it nice. lol

OK, here's a goblet trick I'd never seen before:



Is this traditional at all, or is it perhaps the featured dancer's innovation?

Originally Posted by da Sage

OK, here's a goblet trick I'd never seen before:



Is this traditional at all, or is it perhaps the featured dancer's innovation?

I'm confused! Did she SWALLOW a goblet?

at a party , a male guest covered his head with a zarish black cloth and balanced my sword by the tip on his chin.
we pop the sword from our heads to our torso and then roll it down.i have 2 that can do this standing and catch sword on "chest".

Originally Posted by dunyah

I'm confused! Did she SWALLOW a goblet?

Me too! No idea what just happened there!

i really hope she didn't swallow the goblet...that would be painful to pass

Originally Posted by da Sage

OK, here's a goblet trick I'd never seen before:



Is this traditional at all, or is it perhaps the featured dancer's innovation?

Yeah, I'm confused too. She has completely wrong ideas about the origins of belly dance, sounds like she spent years on crack, and I didn't see any goblet tricks.

Back on topic, I'm working on this other sword trick that I saw someone else do (can't remember who). You start by raising your knee up and balancing the sword on it. Do a few flourishes and junk then come to the floor with the sword still on your knee... more flourishes then back up again with the knee still raised and sword on it. I've got the going down part ok (not very graceful yet), but going up will be a completely different story... it's going to be a while yet.

Originally Posted by da Sage

OK, here's a goblet trick I'd never seen before:



Is this traditional at all, or is it perhaps the featured dancer's innovation?

Good question.....it was there, then it wasn't. I was a bit concerned with that very fast spinning with the glasses....one slip and someone gets hurt.

Safety first, EVERY TIME with props, especially glass! Do you hear this little belly sisters? Nothing ruins the fun like an injury, especially when it could have been avoided.

Originally Posted by Lesedi

Yeah, I'm confused too. She has completely wrong ideas about the origins of belly dance, sounds like she spent years on crack, and I didn't see any goblet tricks.

Try watching again from 2:35 on.

Originally Posted by dunyah

I'm confused! Did she SWALLOW a goblet?

That's what it looks like - or that she's just holding it in her mouth. But why?!?

Originally Posted by da Sage

Try watching again from 2:35 on.

Oh I see it! Lol... that looked pretty goofy. DID she eat it???

Give me a glass!



Whaaaa! Give me back that 2:59 of my life that I squandered watching her video!

One of my goblet tricks was from a goblet instructional, but I forget the instructor. This also requires the goblets to be able to move, I use this really smooth piece of wood.

Standing on the glasses (2 under one foot, and 1 under the other) you make your way down all slow-like of course. And when you're crouched down, your weight is supported by just two glasses. You reach behind you and grab the free glass, and then slowly slide it away from the other two glasses, transferring more and more of your weight to it. Then you raise your hips up in a backbend and use your free hand to do pretty flourishes above you. This one can be extra dangerous because if a glass breaks, I can't imagine you'd have time to jump out of the way since your weight is pretty evenly distributed and extended between the 3 glasses.

I've done that trick successfully a million times in private, but the first time I performed it, my weight was off or the board wasn't clean enough and I knocked one of my foot glasses over before I even pushed out the hand glass. At least I still had my balance and recovered, grabbing the glass before it fell off-stage. Lol. The audience definitely got a feel for the difficulty after that mishap. :)

Originally Posted by SidoniaOfNashville

One of my goblet tricks was from a goblet instructional, but I forget the instructor. This also requires the goblets to be able to move, I use this really smooth piece of wood.

Standing on the glasses (2 under one foot, and 1 under the other) you make your way down all slow-like of course. And when you're crouched down, your weight is supported by just two glasses. You reach behind you and grab the free glass, and then slowly slide it away from the other two glasses, transferring more and more of your weight to it. Then you raise your hips up in a backbend and use your free hand to do pretty flourishes above you. This one can be extra dangerous because if a glass breaks, I can't imagine you'd have time to jump out of the way since your weight is pretty evenly distributed and extended between the 3 glasses.

I've done that trick successfully a million times in private, but the first time I performed it, my weight was off or the board wasn't clean enough and I knocked one of my foot glasses over before I even pushed out the hand glass. At least I still had my balance and recovered, grabbing the glass before it fell off-stage. Lol. The audience definitely got a feel for the difficulty after that mishap. :)

we use big brass trays..

Originally Posted by Doozer

Good question.....it was there, then it wasn't. I was a bit concerned with that very fast spinning with the glasses....one slip and someone gets hurt.

Safety first, EVERY TIME with props, especially glass! Do you hear this little belly sisters? Nothing ruins the fun like an injury, especially when it could have been avoided.

I believe this a dancer that I saw at the IBCC in Toronto a few years ago...Asha? She balanced a glass full of red wine on her head (white costume!) and finished with a fast spin during which she drank all the wine in the glass. It was the best balancing dance I've ever seen.

Originally Posted by mariyah13

I believe this a dancer that I saw at the IBCC in Toronto a few years ago...Asha? She balanced a glass full of red wine on her head (white costume!) and finished with a fast spin during which she drank all the wine in the glass. It was the best balancing dance I've ever seen.

Oookay...so she's actually drinking out of it. I guess with the combo of lighting and fast movement, and the way the video was cut together, I couldn't tell that there was anything IN the glass. So I guess what she's swallowing is the WINE. Makes sense.

I can't believe someone thought it was a good idea to cut the video like that. You can kind of see the wine if you know it's there, but if not, it really does look like she put the entire goblet in her mouth.

What kind of goblets do you use? Also, I am in the market for a new sword and want a nice one. Any suggestions? I like your ideas!

I saw a dancer in Rajasthan - an older, heavier woman - do a crazy series of balancing tricks. First, she was balancing jugs on her head. She got up to 5 jugs on her head at once. Then she stood on two swords with their blades up, and also on broken glass. Not bellydance but certain under the category of crazy prop tricks.

I don't have the whole thing but it's about 4:06 in this youtube video.


In this same video, there are girls balancing pots of flame on their heads. Take that, Shamadan!

Ooh, someone else got the whole dance - all the pots in sequence.