Flock of Birds Explained!

In American Tribal Style Bellydance, we use the term "flock of birds" to describe the phenomenon that we follow one another without a set plan or timing. That we are closely cued in to one another's movements such that whoever the group can see best can lead the group, changing movement, speed, direction, etc on a moment's notice.

Well, this article discusses the phenomenon after which this technique is named, and if one replaced "bird" with 'dancer", then darned if it doesn't sound like they are talking about dance!

"There is no leader, no overall control; instead the flock's movements are determined by the moment-by-moment decisions of individual birds, following simple rules in response to interactions with their neighbors in the flock. "

 AND

"In the special case of formation flying by large birds such as geese and pelicans, there is an energetic benefit, since following birds can take advantage of vortexes in the air produced by the ones ahead of them. (Although such formations clearly have leaders, these are temporary ones. Because a lead bird does not gain any energetic advantage from its position, it will drop back after a time while another takes the lead. Flock members probably do not do this on any regular rotation, although it's possible that larger and stronger birds are in the lead a greater percentage of the time.)"

AND

"Observation shows that there are no leaders (at least not for more than a few seconds at a time), since different birds will be at the front of the flock every time it changes direction. Research by Wayne Potts, published in the journal Nature in 1984, helped explain how flock movements are initiated and coordinated. Potts, through a frame-by-frame analysis of high-speed film of sandpiper flocks, found that any individual can initiate a flock movement, which then propagates through the flock in a wave radiating out from the initiation site. These "maneuver waves" could move in any direction through the flock... "

And don't miss the bit about the "chorus line hypothesis"! A short, fun read to learn something new today!


Read the full article HERE.

The Five P's of (Bellydance) Hooping!

Shea Brock is a hooper extraordinaire, and wrote a great blog post about "The Five P's of Hooping". Everything about it could be easily translated into bellydance. (Note: I take exception to the "Pass It On", only inasmuch as I think students should go to qualified teachers to learn good technique--students should not teach students, as it perpetuates bad habits. Jamming together for outside of class time, however, can be a great way to get in some extra practice!) Here are a couple snippets from the post, and then the link to the full post is at the bottom of this post. (Pst, the photo to the right is local Seattle bellydancer, Leslie Rosen, who is also a fab hooper and circus arts goddess!)

"1. Practice. I tell my hoopers all the time that hooping is probably 10% talent and 90% repetition. There are very few people I have come across who pick up every move or trick without any problems. You might not land it the first five or fifty tries, but then you will suddenly nail it. Your flow will get smoother the more you hoop. I know it’s hard to believe, but even the pros were clunky and awkward when they began...

2. Patience. It breaks my heart when I see someone pick up a hoop, spin it once and when it falls, storm off declaring “See I can’t hoop!” Learning to hoop is a process. It is a process you are not going to get all at once. You’re not going to learn every trick right away, and most things you’re not going to get on the first try..."


http://www.hooping.org/2012/07/the-5-ps-of-hooping-for-newbies/

The Science Behind Learning Shimmies

Mahin has an excellent article on the physical processes which are engaged when we first learn to shimmy, which of course applies to learning any new moves.

"The Engine That Stalls

Remember back to your early days, instructors! New students, yes, we’ve all been where you are. You get your shimmy going and a few seconds later your knees mysteriously stop by no will of your conscious brain, You pause, then you start it back up again like an old car that stalled at a stop light. What is happening and how do you “fix” it?"

See the full article here: http://mahinbellydance.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/the-science-behind-learning-shimmies/

Simple Back and Neck Pain Relief

A newer student to my classroom, the beautiful Sukie Baxter, is a Rolfer and bloggess extraordinaire.  She wrote a blog post about back and neck pain and simple ways to relieve the aches and pains, and improve our daily posture.  As a lover of all things posture-related, I really enjoyed her take on this topic, and wanted to share it with you.

I have found that being a tribal bellydancer, my increased awareness of my posture, and knowledge of the anatomy which supports good posture, has been a boon to me.  But it hasn't saved me from falling to the same bad habits at times in my everyday life.  Sukie makes an excellent point about our everyday awareness of the back of our bodies and why we lack it in this day and age:

"Look around you and you’ll notice a lot of people who sit with their heads forward, rounded shoulders and a collapsed chest. Computers, television, driving, and almost everything else that we do during our daily lives, make us focus forward and forget about the back half of our bodies. We lose awareness of this space entirely and fall into our front halves.

We don’t live in a world where we must constantly be aware of what’s going on behind us. There’s no tiger stalking us in the bushes, no neighboring tribesman hiding out and waiting to kill us. We’re really pretty safe.

A question of musicality...

On Tribe, a fellow dancer shared a wonderful link to spark a discussion about how you learn and/or teach musicality in bellydance.   It ties into yet another Tribe discussion on the Tribal Bellydance tribe where a fellow member asked about whether you "count" or "feel" the music, which this article also addresses.  The article is about salsa, but the concepts apply, and offers good food for thought, so I thought I would share!

Here is a snippet:



"To the many who try to downplay the use of counting music, consider for a moment our beloved salsa music that we yearn to dance to. Those musicians count their music. In the words of “The Unlikely Salsero” Don Baarns, “Music ain’t random.” It has structure. No matter how dynamic or unconventional a song is, it has structure. The count is the structure of this music. A band has to count its music the same so that each member can be on the same page, or else musical chaos ensues. When each band member is playing his or her role and instrument, doing something different from one another that still somehow gels together into the beautiful sounds we hear, the count is the common ground that they all return to. I dare anyone to try to convince a legitimate musician or band not to count because it’s not important. The members of the band cannot simply “feel” the music. Each band member thinks differently and has a different personality, and therefore will not feel or interpret the music the same as the next. If each member only relied on his or her “feeling”, the song would be an un-danceable mess. This is no different for us in this partner dance we call salsa. If you are dancing with another person, you are dealing with another mind, another personality that will not feel the music the same way that you do, not to mention the fact that person is of the opposite gender (but that’s another story). The count is there so that you both will be able to be on the same page, the same way that the members of a band would. If the musicians that produce the music we dance to feel that counting is important, why shouldn't we?"


DanceNerdsUnite also has a post about musicality that I really enjoyed reading.


"Musical dancers, on the other hand, never disregard the music to fit in more tricks. “You can see the effort in a nonmusical dancer—they are often step-driven,” says NYC ballet teacher Deborah Wingert. “Musical dancers don’t just turn until they stop. They turn until they have to move on to the next point in the music. Musical dancers never get so caught up in steps that they ignore the music.”"

Renee's look at ATS

Today I stumbled across a tribal discussion on Bhuz from back in June which I missed (I was on vacation for my anniversary around that time), in which my co-director Renee was making some observations about tribal bellydance in the context of a discussion where another dancer asked about the difference between cabaret and tribal. I really enjoyed her perspective, and she is such an eloquent writer, I thought I would share.

The full discussion can be found HERE (must be a member to read, but Bhuz is a great resource--you SHOULD be a member and participate!).

From a technical perspective, everything done is tribal is geared towards enhancing and facilitating the group dynamic. Arms have fixed positions (frequently uplifted and away from the body) in relation to the corresponding hip and body movements because they are the primary cue mechanism. Formations are placed so that everyone can see the lead as well as be seen by the audience. There is not often a great deal of footwork or lateral traveling movements because you can't count on having the space to move an entire formation. Movements are kept simple and uncluttered to best emphasize the unsion of the dancers.