Travel Steps Study Guide 2.4: Foundations, Turns

Foundation Concepts and Terminology: Belly Dance Turn Technique

Flowing Out in Turns

Unlike Western dance forms, which often emphasize pulling in and up to turn, belly dance turns flow out, with a horizontal or grounded feeling. Belly dancers often turn with a shift, tilt, bend, or twist in the body, drawing spirals or multiple circles in the air. Layers on turns add still more circles upon circles through movements like hip circles, reaching arms, head rolls, or veil work. Turns in belly dance are usually initiated from a movement in the hips, solar plexus, or shoulders. The most common exceptions are cross-pivot turns, led by a pull from the free foot and the hopping pivot of Saidi dance, led by the unweighted leg .

Countertwist Technique

In the same way that belly dance uses torso movements to initiate turns, counter-twisting movements of the hips or upper body are sometimes used in belly dance to stop rotation, creating a feeling of unfurling energy and then snapping it back in. Countertwists punctuate the phrasing of combinations, creating both a visual and emotional accent in the flow of the dance. On a practical level, a countertwist allows the dancer to complete a turn with one foot lifted from the floor.

Placement on the Foot

Most belly dance turns pivot on the ball of the foot with the heel relatively close to the floor, but high heel lifts may be used. The cross-pivot turn rotates on both the ball and heel of the foot. Alternating toe-heel pivots create a gliding movement sometimes used in fusion. Heel pivots may be found under movements that shift body weight back, like hip circles or undulations. Some belly dancers also use heel pivots in turn technique borrowed from Indian dance.

Defining the Direction of Rotation

Inside and Outside

Open and Close

In Western dance forms, the naming convention for the direction of a turn reflects movements that are defined in terms of a working leg and a standing leg and the technique of initiating a turn by pulling in and up. “Inside” and “outside” turns are named relative to the side of the body of the working leg. An “inside” turn rotates toward the standing leg, and an “outside” turn rotates away from the standing leg. In belly dance, however, the “working” part of the body is usually the torso, and most turns originate with a movement of the hip or shoulder on the same side of the body as the weight bearing leg, so “inside” and “outside” feel opposite from the way they are named in Western dance. For instance, a pivot on the right foot might flow from a push of the right hip, or from an outside swing of the right arm. From a pure belly dance perspective, an “inside” rotation turns the working side of the body toward the unweighted leg, and an “outside” rotation turns the working side of the body away from the unweighted leg.

In Travel Steps, turns are named as movements that open or close, relative to the shoulder or to the hip over the weight-bearing leg, and relative to the energetic feeling in the belly, solar plexus, or heart . A pivot “open” is a clockwise pivot on the right foot or a counterclockwise pivot on the left foot, and follows a movement that opens the front of the body. A pivot to “close” rotates counterclockwise on the right foot or clockwise on the left, and follows a movement that closes the front of the body.

Movement Breakdown for Turns

In Travel Steps, pivots and steps are always treated as discrete components in movement breakdowns. Pivots happen between steps: weight is transferred to one foot in a step, a pivot moves the free foot over a new location on the floor, and then weight is transferred in another step. In step-pivot combinations, a pivot often takes a full count. Count “1” for the step, “2” for the pivot. Steps and pivots flow together in faster turns and turns across the floor, but the breakdown is the same. Step on the count, pivot between steps.

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