Dance Movement of the Month
Hip Twists
Hip Twists are such fun and a great way to travel around the dance floor. My SaZ Dance Theatre partner, Roberta, while on holiday in Egypt, was pulled up by a dancer in one of the big hotels. When Roberta tied her shawl around her hips, the dancer’s eyes and attitude asked the audience ‘does she know what she’s doing?’ They danced together but when Roberta traversed a circle around the dance floor with hip twists, the audience went crazy. They KNEW she could dance!
The energy comes from the hips twisting front and back. The legs are straight, but not locked, and we feel the evenness of the movement as the hips moves front and back. With starting hip twists, I like to think of surrounding the hips with a box.
The hip twists from the front corner to the back corner. When the right hip is back, the left hip is front and conversely, left hip front, the right hip is back. In twisting, we take the energy and beat the rhythm of the hip to the back or to the front. A fun exercise is to first twist the right hip back for 8 counts and then twist the hip front for 8 counts, making sure that the hips are moving equally front / back in the box. What is interesting is that the look of the movement doesn’t change but the energy changes from front to back. Do this to both sides and you see that you can really control the hip twists.
Next Month: Traveling with Hip Twists
Dance Well and Practice, Practice, Practice!
All articles are written by Aszmara.
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Previous Articles:
Hip Energy Part I Side - Side Hips Part II Up Down Hips
Moving Arms Through Space with Energy