Belly Break©


What is Belly Break?

To give a clear enough answer we have to go back to belly dancing itself and its meaning.

Belly-dancing:

In the dictionary we find following descriptions:
Kramer: The rhythmic movement of belly and hips;
Koenen: In Africa, West and South Asia shown dance whereby the dancer rhythmically moves hips and belly, while standing almost still.

In our opinion belly dancing is the most feminine dance we know, where one’s body transfers the emotions by perfect muscle control and isolation of movements.

There is no such thing as ’the’ belly dance.. But nearly every belly dance form has the following elements in common:
  1. The erotic/sensuality factor.
  2. Strongly isolated movements, especially of the hips, belly and pelvis area.
  3. It is a feminine dance, the dance stresses “being a woman”. The female body therefore is the most suited one for this dance.
  4. The movements are adjusted to the natural possibilities of the body.
With this definition of belly dance as a basis ultimately the Belly Break was developed as a dance.

Belly Break:

In van Dale’s dictionary we find the following description of “dancing” : dancing is the rhythmical movement of the body.

However ………
Rhythm is also culturally related, as we know.
The oriental rhythm is not ours and when practising belly dancing we missed our western European dance elements. Following the inner call, step by step our own cultural elements were added.
This development was enhanced and refined over the years with as a result that the western European elements were incorporated more fluently in the process.
The original dance form and dance content shifted and ultimately led to a new dancing style.
Because elements of break dance played an important role, the name belly break dance was chosen.

In short : Belly Break.

Danseres in Belly Break kostuum


A definition of Belly Break and a short history of its development
The main part of Belly Break movements can be defined as double / staccato isolations of the body. You need to have a firm bellydance (technique) foundation and good isolations to be able to do this well, otherwise the movements look “funny”. In other words, if the movements look “off”, it could mean that the individual isolations are not good enough yet.
Belly Break as a dance form was developed by Yamila and Myriam Schoeré. In 1994 Myriam graduated from Yamila’s school of Oriental dance (a 3,5-year professional training for bellydance performers and teachers) and her presentation was the first showcase presenting this new dance form.
Initiated by Yamila the “Stichting Dans van de Morgenstond” (Foundation Dance of the Dawn) was founded in 1996 with the goal spreading bellydance as an art and developping Belly Break as a new dance form. An important milestone was the presentation La Casa, after "The Home of Bernarda Alba" by the Spanish writer Garcia Lorca, using Belly Break movements and dance to express emotions and convey a story on stage (this presentation was produced in 1997 with help of governmental funding).
Nowadays Belly Break presentations can be seen each year at the annual international belly dance festival.
Which music?
Mostly used is music with drums/percussion (to showcase the staccato movements). But Belly Break can be danced to all kinds of music, as long as you feel happy with it, be it slow or quick. It is not necessary to use specific belly dance music.
Where can you learn this ?
You can learn Belly Break from the graduated dancers / teachers from Yamila’s school of Oriental dance (see course schedule) in all classes where courses for advanced students are given.
How can you use it?
Belly Break movements are very suitable for usage in drum solos. This dance form looks very good on stage because of the optical enlargement of the isolated movements. But also the slow / slowmotion movements in Belly Break are beautiful.
Copyright©
Belly Break© is a trademark of the Stichting Dans van de Morgenstond (Foundation Dance of the Dawn). This trademark is protected by copyright. Unjustified use of this trademark is forbidden and unlawful and will be prosecuted.



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