How to Dance to the Music

By Michelle

Have you ever attended a belly dance show with great anticipation, so anxious to see the headlining performer, steal some hot new moves from her, gain inspiration from her smooth professionalism? Have you ever been utterly disappointed by that performance? Perhaps she had a bad night. Perhaps the altitude was affecting her. Perhaps she was exhausted from teaching all day. Or, PERHAPS SHE SIMPLY WASN'T DANCING TO THE MUSIC!

Now the disappointing headliner may usually dance with the music and perhaps she really was having a bad night. Most professional dancers only attain that status by being superb performers and a superb performer WILL dance to the music. But I have encountered dancers who were too lazy, busy, or confident to take the time to really listen to their music when preparing their dance. (I plead occasional guilt to the first two cases.) I have heard advanced/professional dancers MANY times brag that they only picked out their music that morning and never practiced with it. (Can you imagine? Yikes!)

The most important element of a performance is your ability to hear—and as a result, allow the audience to see—the music. The painful phenomenon of a dancer who does not hear her music, I refer to as "dancing OVER the music." What this means is that, while her moves and technique might be beautiful, she could be dancing to Om Khalthoum or Puddle of Mud, so unconnected is her performance to her music. And I have seen beginning or inexperienced dancers so completely become their music that the audience was utterly enthralled, completely unaware that she only knew four moves! It takes extra effort to leam your music and dance accordingly, but it is well worth it.

Here are the critical elements you should be able to distinguish in your music:

• The introduction (Some songs have long drawn out intros, other songs seem to get moving right away.)
• Slow versus fast sections of the song
• Single instrument taqsims versus fully orchestrated phrases
• Stops in the music (these may be percussive or soft, but if you don’t hit them, your audience will notice!)
• Layers in the music (for example, distinctive drums overlayed with soft violin strains)
• The ending (Is it distinctive and abrupt or drawn out and fading?)

Below, I use the song "Tiky Boom" from Emad Saayed to share my technique for really learning my music. First, I listen to my music with pen and paper in hand. I write what I hear. In other words, I note the major changes in the music.

Now not everyone likes to count music, but I really feel it is imperative that you're able to. I am by no means a musician, but I can determine which phrases are 8 counts, which are 4 counts, and which are the odd 11 counts.

Etc…

Now that I know what the sections of the song are and how long each section is, I listen to it over and over and over and over. I don't practice to it at first (well, if I am enamored with it, I will, but just for fun—the task of listening I do without dancing). Instead, I really make myself hear each section and change and stop. I listen to it until I can sing it without the CD. (I don't sing very well, but then 1 know that I know the song and anyway, my daughter doesn't complain too much.) Then and only then do I get down to the business of DANCING.
To Choreograph or Not to Choreograph...
Having written a previous article on choreography, you may think that I will insist you write down hard and fast moves. On the contrary, I only choreograph about half of my solo pieces. I really enjoy the improvisational side of belly dance and sometimes my mind refuses to label one piece of music with one particular move. However, I always break the music down the same way whether I'm improvising or choreographing.

When I do decide to choreograph a song, I simply take the additional step of assigning appropriate moves to the various sections. (Please forgive my shorthand below—while the moves described make perfect sense to me, they probably appear as nonsense phrases to you! But you'll have your own shorthand...)

When I choose to improvise, then knowing what section of music is coming up allows me to be prepared so I don't hop into a bouncy hip circle when the music is preparing to play a soft ney taqsim. Even more importantly, you won't miss those crucial transitions and stops in the music.
Think of yourself as part of the orchestra—the visual part. The thing most important to AVOID is dancing OVER the music.

And always keep in mind your goal: Make Your Movements Match the Music.

Farfesha Belly Dance © 2004