Belly Dancing: Undulations - Women's Fitness

Belly Dancing: Undulations - part of the women's fitness video series by GeoBeats. Now we are going to learn how to do an undulation, which is this action. So, what I am going to do is first go up on my soapbox and preach to you about the pecs. The pecs are muscles that are chronically shortened with people. Everything we do, our arms are in front of us, so these muscles get very short and the shoulders pull forward. What you need to keep in mind for the undulation is to stretch the pecs. Doing what you are, in effect, doing is moving the ribcage in front of the shoulder girdle, which means I am getting a stretch here. So, I highly recommend just standing in a doorway and opening the pecs before you start this movement. So, I am going to angle my body forward, push the ribcage in front of the shoulders. Shoulders are pressed down. Scoop up, tilt the ribcage. I will show you from the side. The front of the ribcage is higher than the back. Then I roll down the belly, squeezing. Now, I am set up for the next one. Forward, up, tilt back, and center. Excellent. Good. Forward, up, back and center. A lot of times when you are learning this, the shoulders want to come with you. They do not understand they are not invited to this party. They have to stay down, away from the ears. It is all about the ribcage. So, another thing I like to remember is if you think of the sternum having a big ice cream scoop sticking right out of it and a wall of ice cream in front of you, and you are trying to get a rounded scoop. Absolutely. It is wonderful for the spine. Forward, up, back and center. Forward, up, back and center. The other thing to keep in mind when you are doing this is to an imagine an invisible horn between the chin and the chest so that you do not let the neck get involved unless you want to for a different kind of effect. There are some people that like to engage the neck, but for our purposes we are going to keep it nice and neutral, very relaxed neck. Feeling a nice wave in the spine. Excellent. So, one modification, and some people refer to this as a body roll, instead of feeling it only in the upper body, we are actually going to engage the pelvis a little bit. It makes the movement larger and richer. So, what I am now going to do is start with a bent knee, come forward, up, back. Here my legs have straightened. As I contract, the knees bend to pull me forward. So, I am sort of pushing off the knees to have a forward body roll. Arms can be down by your sides, out, up overhead, the possibilities are endless. Forward, up, back and center. Good. Now, the reverse of this movement starts with a bent knee, a tuck in the pelvis, I am engaging the low belly, pushing the belly button straight back to the spine, rolling the hip bones forward, and the chest follows. So, it is a sit, tuck, roll up. Sit, tuck, roll up. Last one, and that is your undulation.