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Arm and hand movements have great power to make or break a belly dance performance. Beautiful, intentional muscular movements can add incredible polish and pizzaz to your dance.

In this video, you will learn the theory and step-by-step technique behind incredibly liquid hand waves that will totally mesmerize an audience.

Level up your arms and hands and take your dancing to new heights with me!

Now that you understand how important intentional hand movements are for a polished performance, I invite you to join me for my signature course “Elegant and Powerful Arms and Hands” – your complete guide to dancing with stronger, more graceful and more intentional arms and hands.

It’s time to banish confusion and throw boring and repetitive arm work out the door! Let’s focus on arms and hands.

http://SahiraBellyDances.com/Arms

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A huge thank you to the amazing Lauren Checchio for the use of her music in this video. Find her album here: https://laurenchecchio.bandcamp.com/releases

Elegant and Powerful Arms and Hands

Your complete guide to dancing with stronger, more graceful and more intentional arms and hands.

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Last updated Aug 29th, 2025

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Some of the most exciting and engaging belly dance performances include a variety of spins and turns… so getting a few of these movements under your hip belt is a great way to expand your vocabulary and increase the excitement factor of your dance.

And while some students prefer to avoid spins for fear of dizziness, not every turning movement needs to end with the room swaying around you.

Join me for this tutorial where I’ll teach you one of the most foundational and straight-forward belly dance turns, the 3-Step Turn.

I’ll break the movement down into simple step-by-step concepts that will have you up and turning like a pro in no time!

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If you enjoyed this tutorial and would like to get a jump start on your belly dance lessons, go to Sahira Belly Dances online and sign up now!

http://SahiraBellyDances.com/jumpstart

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The 3-yard silk veil is one of belly dance’s most beautiful and flowy props. It teaches grace and builds strength and flow, all while toning the arms in a fabulous way!

In this video I invite you to join me for an entire 20 minute class where I will break down some great veil technique and tricks and then build it into a fabulous combination that you can use in your dance right away!

If you love this and are ready for more, check out this fabulous online course that will teach you an entire choreography that opens with some stunning veil work!

http://learn.sahirabellydances.com/p/ya-helwa

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A huge thank you to Rom Ryan and Moodafaruka for the music used in this video. http://Moodafaruka.com

You know when you hear a song and you just HAVE to dance to it?

That’s how I felt when I heard this one.

(And I’m pretty picky when it comes to performance music.)

This fabulous song, Al Amoura, is such a wonderful mix of sounds, textures and folklore, and so much fun to dance to!

Enjoy this performace of Al Amoura and Hipalicious Drum Solo from a showcase in Houston, Texas.

There is nothing quite as powerful as dancing to the beat of your own drum… or in this case, your own finger cymbal creation! Belly dancers who play finger cymbals to create music for their dance are total super heroes in my opinion. So get heroic right here. In this video I’m teaching you a sweet little combination to dance with the “Flip Riff” finger cymbal pattern you can find on my channel here.

So be sure to learn the zill part first, and then dive into the dance to put it all together with me! Rock on, zillstar! 

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If you enjoyed this video I invite you to continue your finger cymbal journey with my FREE finger cymbal jumpstart designed to give you the solid foundation that you need for total raq star zilling! You can find it at sahirabellydances.com/zillstar

Hey, there zill star!

The finger cymbals are an ancient instrument with a time-honored connection to Bellydance. While they have been used by dancers to accompany their dance with music for many years, did you know they can also be used without music as well?

Playing the zills acapella is awesomely empowering and allows you to literally create the music that you dance to!

In this tutorial, I will take you through some acapella finger cymbal basics and help you build an fabulous combination – The Flip Riff.

Watch out for the second video in this series where I will teach you the dance movements to beautifully accompany this fantastic pattern! 

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If you enjoyed this video I invite you to continue your finger cybmal journey with my FREE finger cymbal jumpstart designed to give you the solid foundation that you need for total raq star zilling! You can find it at sahirabellydances.com/zillstar

One of my favorite belly dance events is Fusion Evolution in Illinois.

I’ve been attending this amazing conference since the very beginning. It’s in the area where I grew up (just near Chicago) and always the perfect opportunity to mix teaching with family.

This performance video from the 2022 event showcases a bit of two dance ideas I’m totally in love with.

A good beladi.

And some acapella finger cymbals.

Enjoy!