Hi All! Are there names for all the different arm positions? I know this will be different for cabaret and tribal, but just wondering if anyone has a list or a good website link to obtain this information?
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Re: Are there names for all the different arm positions?
Sun, October 7, 2007 - 11:43 AMGood question!
I think it was Angelika Nemeth that taught arm positions with names at a Cairo Carnivale workshop - or was it Sahra Saeeda?? She used 1st, 2nd, similar to ballet but tweaked for ME dance.
That would be a nice thing to standardize...
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Re: Are there names for all the different arm positions?
Sun, October 7, 2007 - 9:43 PMFor classical Egyptian there are 3 full arm movements. Water (or snake) arms, bird arms, and picking fruit. There are a couple hand positions as well. One with the heels of the hands together the fingers of one hand up and the other hand down (it looks sort of like an "S" shape), and another with the heels of the hands towards the hips, fingers straight out away from the body and elbows bent out away from the body (giving the arms and hands a very angular look). My teacher never gave these 2 positions names as I remembered them easily. She didn't speak English very well, so communication was always a bit of an issue for us. But she gave the meanings of the 3 arm movements as representing the names she gave them (water, bird tending, fruit picking). Almost all the smaller hand and arm movements I've seen other dancers do are tiny parts of the major 3 arm movements.
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Re: Are there names for all the different arm positions?
Sun, October 21, 2007 - 5:38 PMHere are a couple of examples..arm postions vary in various styles, Cabaret or Tribal. How this helps. Others to look at would be Fat Chance Belly Dance, Gypsy Caravan, for Tribal examples.
www.bellydancingvideo.com/arms-...ad.htm
www.pipermethod.com/pipermet...sela.html -
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Re: Are there names for all the different arm positions?
Sat, November 3, 2007 - 3:06 PMI learned some positions at a workshop with Nourhan Sharif - not sure how universal they are, but it makes it helpful for making notes in classes, etc.
I am pretty sure this is correct, according to her usage:
1st arms down, hands near hips
2nd arms straight out to sides
3rd elbows bent, hands on back of neck near ears
4th both arms up (touchdown, goal posts, etc)
5th arms up in a V
6th arms in front of body, hands grasped together
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Re: Are there names for all the different arm positions?
Sat, November 3, 2007 - 10:10 PMI like Nourhan's notations best. Momo Kadous teaches some on his finger cymbal video.
There are no "Standard" arm positions, other than the high and low "V" shape, which is from folkloric and social dance. The arms out to the sides position is commonly called 2nd position, or modified 2nd, from ballet terminology.
Egyptian dancers will typically use one hand or one arm to show off a hip or the face, or whatever they're accenting at the moment. They typically also move the arms in sort of column of energy going up and down, encasing the dancer. This is in direct opposition to the more Western approach of using the arms to punch or push through space.
But no, there are no set names for anything in this dance. :) -
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Re: Are there names for all the different arm positions?
Sun, December 9, 2007 - 3:00 PMI agree with Aziyade. There is no "Standard" arm positions. In my academy, there are only two positions of the arm movements. And like
Aziyade states, "Egyptian dancers will typically use one hand or one arm to show off a hip or the face, or whatever they're accenting at the moment." I call this Alternating Arms or Addressing and Directing.
"They typically also move the arms in sort of column of energy going up and down, encasing the dancer." I call this Circle and Frame.
This dance uses the arms in the same fashion as if you are walking down the street. Only in the execution of the upper body movements are the arms out to the side for any length of time. Nagwa Fouad tends to raise her hands above her head more than anyone else. Fifi is the opposite. Even in the Alternating Arms, the movement of the arms is similar to that of swinging them side to side as if walking down the street.
No ballet arms in this dance.
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Re: Are there names for all the different arm positions?
Thu, November 8, 2007 - 5:55 AMI'm familiar with the Nourhan Sharif numbering for arm positions, and also Fahtiem (on her Beautiful Arms & Hands DVD) has 9 different positions! I can't remember them all, but they're pretty comprehensive!
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Re: Are there names for all the different arm positions?
Thu, January 10, 2008 - 8:00 AMI use 25 different positions for a branch form of Orientale dance, are there seriously only a fraction of that used in Orientale proper and no labels? *Brain Hurts*
~*Gen*~ -
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Re: Are there names for all the different arm positions?
Fri, March 7, 2008 - 11:47 PMone of the min reasons i made this tribe was because of the lack of universal labeling with our dance steps apart from the Mayas, shimmys.
i think the best thing is to read up on some of the tribes and postings to see a range of hand and arm movements that you would like to add to your bellydance vocabulary, and use those titles or personal titles which allow you to remember them.
no names of any bellydance movement all have to be the same. i personally laugh at all the names coined to the movement of the 'running shimmy' personally i use the olympic shimmy, but i have come acros: olympic shimmy, running shimmy, fairy shimmy, stepped shimmy, etc...
i think the names also create further mental interpretations of how that move is possibly excecuted. (?!?!) all possible. my instructors all used olympic shimmy because of the great amount of isolation that is permitted with this step, allowing you to practically 'shimmy' the olympic rings.
i am sure the creative names for arm positions oul be endless!
-=Jamil=-
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Re: Are there names for all the different arm positions?
Sun, April 6, 2008 - 10:18 AMmiddleeasterndance.homestead.com/m...ml
this is a neat website that lists many dance moves and their names and alternate names. :) good for arms as well as everything else.
