You should also tuck your lower abdominal muscles and engage your core. This will help to strengthen your abdominals and make your belly dancing moves more fluid.
Bring your right hip back down to center and try the same movement on the other side. Straighten your left leg and raise your left hip upward. This is a hip lift on the left side.
At full speed, your hips will shimmy from side to side at a quick pace. This is known as the “shimmy” move.
Repeat these movements at a faster pace. Over time, they should look fluid with no pauses or breaks.
Repeat these movements in sequence. Try to make the contracting in and the pushing out of your abdominal muscles fluid, with no pauses or breaks.
Repeat these movements at a faster pace, lifting your rib cage all the way up and then back down. Contract the abdominal muscles below your chest bones as you lift up and then release them as you come back down.
You can also add in foot and arm movements like crossing your right leg behind your left front leg and raising your arms. Then, cross your left leg behind your right leg, swinging your arms to the other side.
You can also try slowing down your hip lifts and hip drops, as Shakira does later in the video for “Hips Don’t Lie. ” Do a hip lift to the right and then slowly do a hip lift to the left. Keep your core tight so you can slow down the hip lifts to match the tempo of the music.
Do several chest lifts towards the right and the center of the room. Try to move in a fluid circle as you do the chest lifts.
You can also make your hair long and flowing like Shakira’s hair to imitate her in more detail. She is known for her blond mane of hair.
You can also show off your dance moves in front of others, such as at a club while a Shakira song is playing.
