Journal

The hip drop is one of the most foundational moves in belly dance, yet it can transform your dancing dramatically!

In this video, you will learn about the hip drop release, a key belly dance move that combines technique, flair and balance, perfect for dancers at any level.

We will explore the mechanics of the hip drop, including body posture, weight distribution, balance and practice tips to help you nail this popular belly dance move.

Grab your hip scarf and let’s DANCE!

➡️ If you enjoyed learning the hip drop release, make sure to check out my Top 10 Belly Dance Moves series, subscribe, and leave your thoughts in the comments below!

⭐️ Top 10 Belly Dance Moves Series

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TIME STAMPS

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1:02 : Technique Right Side

1:55 : How to Avoid Bouncing

2:14 : Technique Left Side

2:43 : Posture Tips

3:23 : Dance Drill with Music

Extra special thanks to the incredible Bahaia and Samer Issa for the use of the music in this video. You can support the artist and get your copy of this incredible CD “Ya Bahaia vol. 2” at AustinBellyDance.com

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DANCE WITH ME FOR FREE

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🎁 Snag your FREE 7-day beginner belly dance jumpstart course

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⭐️ Become a Zill Star

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BELLY DANCE GEAR

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***** Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something I’ll receive a small commission. **********

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It’s time to get back into your groove!  Get ready to move with more confidence, grace and strength in just 10 minutes with this low-impact belly dance workout. 

Love this kind of creative and fun workout? Build even more muscle, grace, stability and confidence with “Killer Driller” an online course designed to tone and strengthen the body…belly dance style!

SahiraBellyDances.com/KillerDriller

In this video we are working the abdominals, obliques, chest, waist, hips, legs, and arms… all in just 10 minutes and while having FUN! 

This beginner-friendly class will get you moving with some of belly dance’s most popular movements, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face and make you feel some muscles you may not normally use. The first 8 minutes of class will break down the movements for you, and then…WE DANCE! 

No experience necessary – just a desire to bring some new energy and creativity to your day.  Start the new year with some new moves… let’s dance!

😱 That moment when your music goes all wrong! (See if you can spot it.)

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Has it ever happened to you?

If you’ve been performing for any length of time it probably has!

And the trick is to not let on that there’s been a SNAFU.

No one knows what you planned to do. And most likely very few people know what the song actually sounds like.

Lucky for me in this instance it only started over and didn’t stop all together… 😝 In fact – almost no one in the audience knew that it had happened. Just me and the DJ. (You should have seen her face!)

With time and experience I’ve now had pretty much everything that can go wrong on stage actually go wrong – skipped music, stopped music, sound systems that stop working all together (time for an acapella zill solo!). I’ve gotten caught in my costume, had costume pieces fall off and pop open (ask me about that one sometime!). I’ve fallen, gotten tangled in my veil, gotten dizzy and keeled over, flung my zill into the audience, fallen off my drum, dropped my sword… all the things. But I keep on dancing. If it’s obvious, I rely on humor to defray the situation. And if it’s not… you’d never know it happened. 😏

Could you spot the problem? If so… post below and tell me when it happened!

And if you are a dance performer, I want to know – What’s the biggest performance SNAFU you’ve ever had?

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I was having a conversation over text with a prospective student the other day, and she confided in me that she thought she might be too old to start learning, but she had always wanted to belly dance.

I didn’t ask her age (partially because you just don’t do that, and mostly because it really doesn’t matter) but she offered and told me she was 52.

Luckily it was a text message or she would have heard me laugh.

Little did she realize, but she’s the perfect age to learn to belly dance!

Think you need to be under 40 to learn to belly dance? Think again!

Belly Dance is a cultural dance that has been danced by people of all ages for many years.

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Join the FREE Beginner Belly Dance Jumpstart and start moving with more confidence, grace and sensuality now: http://SahiraBellyDances.com/Jumpstart

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Stop holding yourself back and dive into this beautiful art form that has brought confidence, grace, creativity, health, and sensuality to many women over 40 and beyond!

In fact – many of the most amazing dancers are women who have a lot of life experience, as these experiences help infuse your dance with a depth of emotion and understanding that is not so common in younger dancers.

In this video, you will learn the basics you need to get started on your belly dance journey if you are a beginner over 40.

We will talk about the importance of posture and muscle control and how these beautiful and sensual movements will not only get your heart pumping, but also benefit your strength, stability and flexibility – all of which are incredibly important as our bodies age.

Once you’ve gotten the basics here, you are ready to join me for my FREE 7-day beginner belly dance jumpstart. Put some sassy shimmy in your step and check it out here: SahiraBellyDances.com/Jumpstart

✨ Jumpstart Your 2025 with the Belly Dance New Years Countdown! ✨

Join now for FREE: SahiraBellyDances.com/BestYear

Don’t wait until January 1st to make your new year incredible. Belly dance into 2025 with confidence, joy, and some awesome new moves!

Join me for a special FREE 5-day belly dance event designed to help you set your intentions, build your dance confidence, and create the foundation for your best year ever.

The Belly Dance Countdown is more than just a fun dance program; it’s a celebration of self-discovery, empowerment, and community.

🌟 Dance & Movement: Connect with your body and learn moves that inspire confidence and strength – no experience required!

🌟 Motivation & Mindset: Receive daily guidance to set your 2025 goals with purpose and clarity

🌟 Supportive Community: Join a vibrant group of diverse people, each exploring belly dance and self-expression at their own unique pace.

Perfect for Every Body – all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels are welcome.

Whether you’re brand new to belly dance or looking to deepen your practice, this program will uplift you both on and off the dance floor.

🌺 Start your journey to a joyful, confident 2025 before the year even begins!

Join now for FREE: SahiraBellyDances.com/BestYear

**** Join me for 5 days of FREE classes in the Belly Dance New Year's Countdown, happening from December 28th - January 1. Registration is open now at http://SahiraBellyDances.com/BestYear****

I often think about belly dance as an engineering project.

While that may seem really odd, I was an engineer before I was a dancer, so my brain is just wired to think about things this way. 

And in all honestly, it gives me a serious advantage on the dance floor. I can understand and break down complex dance movements and combinations into their smaller component pieces, and then stack them together like building blocks to create just about anything. This makes learning more advanced dance movement so much easier.

Want to learn the secret?​

In this video, we’ll drill 10 essential isolations that every belly dancer must know. Once you know these well, pretty much any other movement in the dance can be thought of as a combination of two or more of these building blocks. How cool is that?!

Whether you’re dancing for fun, fitness, or performance, this drill will elevate your belly dance skills.

Ready to try it? Yallah!

* Join me for 5 days of FREE classes in the Belly Dance New Year’s Countdown, happening from December 28th – January 1. Registration is open now at http://SahiraBellyDances.com/BestYear*

💃🏻 Join me on the dance floor: https://SahiraBellyDances.com
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🔥Get your Belly Dance practice gear here: http://SahiraBellyDances.com/Spring
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Are you a New Year’s resolution fan? Or more of a goal setter?

Or perhaps you think it’s all bunk.

I get that making a big deal out of the new year is not for everyone – but there is HUGE power in taking time before the beginning of a new season to set some goals and put solid systems in place.

***** Set yourself up for the best year ever here: http://SahiraBellyDances.com/ShimmySociety *****

I also understand that this process is not everyone’s bag. Lucky for you, it’s totally in my wheelhouse.

And I’ve created a brand new FREE New Year’s dance program to help you harness the power of the new year without dealing with the ridiculous stress and inevitable crash and burn of the whole resolution thing.

Welcome to The Belly Dance New Year’s Countdown – 5 days of dance, community and motivation that will inspire your mind, energize your body and set you up for your best year ever!

Registration will open on December 16th, and you can join the community now to get a jumpstart on an incredible new year.

Here’s the community:

Join us now… the party will begin soon!

In this video, I will break down how to use a metronome effectively to supercharge your zill practice. ***Join an incredible free community full of finger cymbal enthusiasts sharing their love of the zills: https://www.facebook.com/groups/zillicious***

Practicing with a metronome builds rock-solid timing, sharpens your musicality, and ensures you’re always on the beat, no matter how fast or slow the music.

Join me here to learn the metronome essentials you need to sync up your cymbals with confidence and precision, so you can dazzle on stage with flawless, confident rhythms.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned dancer, using a metronome in your practice is a game-changer – so hit play and take your finger cymbal skills to the next level!

Here is the metronome I use in this video.

Join an incredible free community full of finger cymbal enthusiasts sharing their love of the zills!

Use your metronome inside this FREE course designed to give you a solid foundation to become the zillstar you are meant to be.

Find connection, confidence and empowerment as you explore the beautiful world of belly dance . Learn more at https://TheBellyDanceJourney.com

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The older I get, the more gratitude I find in daily life for the little things.

I don’t know how much of this is due to aging and how much of this is due to the decades that I have spent learning about the inner workings of the mind and the science of happiness.

It may also have something to do with the daily yoga/meditation/gratitude practice that I have been following now for the last three years.

So while my newfound gratitude is probably due to a mix of all of the above I have to admit that it has been a big game changer in my life.

After my daughter was born I experienced an intense postpartum depression that flattened me for over two years. Coming back from that was incredibly challenging, and that is when my study of happiness and the science of the mind began.

One of the many things I’ve learned is the power of our words over our emotions and perception. In honor of this time of year, I would love to share this idea with you.

The way we speak – even if it’s just to ourselves in our own head – is a huge influencer of how we feel and the way we view the world.

For example, when we say “I HAVE to practice now.” or “I HAVE to cook dinner.” it’s taking away our authority and choice on the matter, and making the activity feel like a chore or an obligation.

What happens if we instead say “I GET to practice now.” or “I’m GOING to cook dinner.”? While a seemingly tiny difference, this neurolinguistic programming builds a pathway in our mind that colors the way we look at and feel about these activities.

So today I invite you to join me for this moving gratitude practice, and to learn a beautiful belly dance combination in the process.

Light a candle. Take a deep breath. We get to dance now.

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If you would love more of this mindful, empowering movement, I invite you to check out my one-of-a-kind belly dance program – The Belly Dance Journey. Find connection, confidence and empowerment as you explore the beautiful world of belly dance .

Learn more at https://TheBellyDanceJourney.com

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Does whether you are right-handed or left-handed matter when it comes to playing finger cymbals?

Should every pattern start with your right hand and then alternate? What if you’re a lefty?

Have you ever notated a pattern R R RLR R RLR, and then got home and had no idea how to play it?

These questions are ones that confuse a lot of dancers when it comes to playing their finger cymbals.

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Get a rock-solid foundation for your finger cymbals practice so you can feel confident and competent on the dance floor. Join me free “ZillStar” course now and become the zillstar you are meant to be!

http://SahiraBellyDances.com/Zillstar

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Believe it or not, there was a time in the history of our art form when hand patterns were mandated by teachers, and only certain methods of playing were allowed.

Though this is changing, there still remains a lot of confusion as to which hand to use at what point within a finger cymbal pattern.

In this video I am here to demystify the best way to pattern your hands when playing the finger cymbals and to call total BS on hard and fast rules that require everyone to play the same way.

So whether you are right-handed, left-handed, or somewhere in between this video will break down the ways you can choose to approach your zills so that you can find the best method for your practice.

Want to know the most common way that dancers play their zills? ​Cast your vote in my completely non-scientific poll inside the Zillicious online community here!

Get a rock-solid foundation for your finger cymbals practice so you can feel confident and competent on the dance floor. Join my free “ZillStar” course now and become the zillstar you are meant to be!

http://SahiraBellyDances.com/Zillstar