Solo The Art of the Turn

[Belinda]

50th, Winter, 515 av
20th bell
Rearing Stallion, Syliras

The hands were up in the air poised with fingers artfully splayed and arched with the elbows slightly curved out as her head turned towards the musicians as the flute started a haunting solo piece. The Belly Dance conceivably could be applied to any music, they say. She turned her body towards the flautist with a grace and smooth movement with a knee cocked forward and her arm out and elbow cocked. The wrist turned in a slow rotation with a fleur as of drawing a flower in the air. The other wrist shadows this movement afterwards that was situated behind the hip. The flute trilled and echoed slowly and poignantly at first

She let the haunting music wash over her as her arms undulated in a wave to interpret the haunting wave the music portrayed. The hands combined the fleur of the wrist turning with the undulation as the dancer walked the arms up and over as she turned. It felt like the story of a morning sunrise. Syna peeks over the rise and warms the air. The warm air moves over the land as the water ripples and the birds waken. Belinda on the turn stopped and posed artfully for a tick or two letting the music make the movements. She often did her best work on improvisation. There was the turnaround as her upper arm made the turn in counter point ending with the controlled ripple of the abdominal muscles. Her body tall and lengthened as one could see the muscles moving smoothly in the ripple.

The arms came trailing down still undulating slowly from shoulder to wrist in a graceful flow to represent water or the flow of air or to add that ripple of seductive beckoning. The raven haired beauty loved the expressive art of dance. Her body told the story and painted the picture. The abdomen started undulating at that moment in counter point to the arms undulating. They took turns in some story of waking, of the arms speaking to the abdomen as the concentration of movement would send the eye from arms to sleek muscular abdomen. This went on for a few ticks before she stepped out and included the whole body in the undulation as the beat picked up with the flute’s melody.

The hip snaps up in threes before curving back and starting the three snaps again to the increased beat of the music. The morning was awake and now it was time for activity of animals to drink or hunt or take care of their havens. There was a step forward with the hips swaying up and then back. The turn from there was a bit off but a step back and she recovered without disturbing the flow.

The hips shook side to side as the hips snapped forward instead of up in doubles in flow with the music and the beat. The arms constantly moved and stayed up that would gracefully flow around the body. In a sudden bit of improve her torso moved sideways and curled up as the head in isolated movement moved side to side as the hips picked up the double time forward snap movements. The body moved with the flute the hips moved with the drums.

There was another turn as she had to catch herself with a back step and covered it cleverly with hip snaps. Inwardly she was cussing herself out. The song ended as she stopped and posed with the beat. The hand clapping was gratifying. The woman curtsied and inclined her head. The hand motioned towards the musician as it wasn’t just all her, though she was the eye candy interpreting their music. The woman moved off of the dias and into the crowd to let the musicians pick up a tavern song that filled the room with a cheery light. She laughed with the crowd, gave a hip snap to some as she wound her way to a place to sit.

663 words

[Belinda]

Belinda had enjoyed the Tavern she danced at and it made all the more pleasant to meet a troupe of bards and dancers had come in for a tankard or two of ale. The had taken up winter refuge in Syliras. This was an unexpected surprise. There was an almost instant kinship between Belinda and the Troupe as a couple of them were also half Beshiran. After her performance, she sat down and talked to the band as they drank ale and traded stories. The woman laughed. It was nice as she hadn’t had much to laugh about. Those damned green eyes kept haunting her. This helped her try and push them aside as it was just someone she slept with for one night. What did it matter? They started talking shop for a little bit as they pointed out her imbalance in the turns. Belinda had to agree it was an issue as you can only do so much on your own.

The next day she arranged to meet them at an enclosed location to pick up or learn different dance moves. One of them noticed her turns where out of balance. It would be nice if she could get those turns, spins and twirls better. The raven haired beauty had done alright in trying to figure it out on her own, but it only goes so far. The woman wore loose linen pants and shirt with a camisole underneath. She needed to be able to move freely. They greeted her warmly as they were still breakfasting after a night of drinking. Those with hang overs were obvious as the elders of the troupe scolded them like a mama hen would do with her chicks. Belinda stifled a laugh at one clip of the back of the head. She drank a little juice with them and explained she didn’t want to get too full before dancing. One of the dancers who was also eating very lightly agreed. You didn’t want to dance on a full stomach. Physical exertion of any kind can make you sick if you had just eaten, she learned. This she had done on instinct after puking once. It only took one time for the young lady to learn something.

They spoke of small things and it was nice to hear after not having her mother for some time. She fought down a couple of pangs of jealousy as she smiled. The moved some furniture as she took her shirt off. The drummer set up and someone with a alto pipe. The elder man was there as he provided instructions. They broke it back down to basics. Belinda had explained she seen it and tried to mimic it. The woman had no formal instruction with turns. Her mother taught her the belly dance, but the turn was not relayed to her before her mother died.

The man nodded and explained the basic ingredients of a turn. Arms in an L, leg back for balance and down. Arms were out in an L out, leg back, bend the knee and down. He said that was a plie. Then add the half turn. On the turn the leg back comes up with a firm abdomen and turn. What leg is back is the direction you were turning. The arms would move from the L into the arms being curved straight out front. The way her arms would go around as she did it would throw her off. Belinda needed to learn this basic before trying something like that. The foot is connected to the knee at that point making a line solid through the abdomen. The man said to make sure her abdomen is ‘pressing’ into the back on the turn. That was the secret to the balance, the abdominal core along with the back. Keep it centered and you would stay balanced.

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[Belinda]

The woman went through drills with the man as she did the L with the arms, leg back, the other knee cocked forward, squat down in the plie. It felt unnatural at first as she was used to more freedom of movement. She gritted her teeth and was determined to get this. Leg back, cock the knee then squat down. She pressed her abdomen into her back as she felt the balance of it. ‘there it is.’ The Plie’s came easier. The man encouraged her as they then added the half turn.

The half turn bobbled a bit as she thought of everything but her core. The man shook his head and patted her abdomen and back. He said to keep focus on that. She tried it again and the half turn went smoother. Again, he said. He tapped out the count with a stick. Each movement was to the beat. It was slow at first. Arms out, leg back, knee bent, plie down back leg up against the knee and turn. It was getting better. Again she performed the move. She put a little more fire in the turn as it went a bit too far and she caught herself. The man laughed as he said to her to learn the basics then add the passion.

She had to laugh. The man’s wife winked at her as he could be insufferable sometimes but meant well. Belinda picked herself up and went at it again. She did the half turn a few more times before the Man was satisfied and said they could try the full turn. The young woman nodded as she got into position. Back leg back, bend at the knees, lift leg up and turn. She had thrown too much muscle into it as she turned well over and down. They picked her up as she was angrier at herself. Belinda is usually more graceful than this. The man again reminded her about her core. Focus on her center.

The girl got a drink of water and took a breath or two before going to the center and trying again. Her eyes closed as she focused on her abdomen and ‘press’ back right in the center. The leg was back, bent at the knees in the plie, lift up, keep tall and core strong. The turn completed. There was a bit of a bauble but it completed. Again, the demanding man said with his stick. He beat out the steps as she did it again. Each time had more certainty to it. Keep to the basics he kept saying. The dancer did several full turns in the chimes that followed as she smiled at the man. He stated that from here she could do doubles and triples, but to be patient with herself and remember her core.

They had time to drink water and dab sweat from their bodies as they spoke of trying a routine with a turn. The young dancer added her two coppers worth into the mix as the collaboration of this was rather fun. There was no small surprise as the man who was teaching her could also belly dance. This should be fun to see.

533

[Belinda]

They practiced certain parts of it separately and then together as they worked out the details. A couple of the half Beshiran’s including the man who was teaching her joined her in a little routine as they also knew the dance of the belly. The drum started first as Belinda followed the others as they taught her the simple routine that included a turn. The woman she danced in tandem with they needed to be in time with each other. The raven haired beauty had tucked her camisole bottom up and over the top part so her abdomen was revealed. They saw how fit she was. The half Beshiran borrowed a hip scarf to wrap around her hips.

The hips marked the drum. The abdomen and arms seemed to move with the alto pipe. They walked out in tandem with the feet matching strides as they stopped with right foot out with toe on the ground and standing tall. The knees bent as the body sunk down and the right arm lifted slowly with the music. It was ponderously slow as the fingers and hands were relaxed and slightly curved. The left arm would slowly lift up as they together moved with intro melody of the music. Both arms where curved artfully over the head for a half tick it posed before the right arm undulated down. Then the left in a flow like a waterfall. This was done again and half way on the second pass both arms stopped square with the shoulder suddenly and with a sharp snap. The gentle delicate calm flow suddenly stopped was a slight thing but it was purposeful.

The hips moved gently side to side at first with arms still up to the sides at the shoulders in a relaxed artful post as the hips moved. They both then walked while the hips moved side to side. The arms were forward in supplication, in greeting it seemed. The arms were raised as they swayed side to side and the hips snapped primarily to the right. The hip snaps were added in earnest as they popped out. Belinda found herself out of sync and doubled on one side to bring herself back into sync. She would have to work on that. They walked forward and then back as they were the counter point to the man’s dance.

They then stopped as the drums started popping out a solo and it was decided that the shoulders and breast movements in snaps and pops was what was in this part of the music. The shoulders popped right then left. The shoulders would roll back before doing it again and the shimmy. The shimmy of the top was a classic movement. A controlled shimmy requires muscles one may not know they had. Belinda gritted her teeth as she worked to keep those muscles going. She made it as they posed with the knee out with toe pointed and lifted the arms slowly again one at a time.

The hips turn to shimmy. This she had down pat, the shimmy turned into a walking shimmy as this required focus. They added steps to it as the foot wentout and to the side as their bodies went to the side and turn. Belinda remembered to keep focus on her core and curl her arms forward for balance. The turn was finished with a hip snap as they stepped out and went to the otherside and turn. She was half a tick off on the turn as she got out of sync with the other dancer. They moved with the build up of the music as their movements became more dramatic and the two female dancers became support for the dramatic touch the man was performing. Their movements were mirrored at this point. They repeated the same movements with the music before picking up the man’s movements as they danced in concert with the hips moving at furious paces with the drums.

The music was done and she stood there posed breathing a little hard. The man clapped as they stopped. Belinda started to apologize but she was stopped as they said it was her first time with a team. All she needed was practice the woman talked to her about her center being different than the man’s. Men’s centers were in there abdomens. Women’s centers was in their hips. The woman whispered to her mind her hips and the core she should do fine in practice. They broke for midday meal and talked about dancing, music and life. It was a good day.

764

[Konrad Venger]

Hey, Bel! Once you get back and deduct your Seasonal Expenses, I'll grade this up, no problem. PM me when you get back!