Homework for week one:

• Focus Area: The Oriental Entrance Piece.
  
  
• Read the Oriental Entrance piece section of my Dance Set Primer.
  
  
• Supplemental reading for you Jalilah's "About Raks Sharki" and Salome's "A Brief History of Oriental Dance".
  
  
• Practice your walking, step-together-step, suspend-fall-fall, quick-quick-long. Think about gliding, pay careful attention to your posture, be very lifted like a queen, extend and float your arms, adding a little juicy shoulder reaction (understated) and drawing very simple patterns as you move about the room.
  
  
• Find an Oriental Entrance Piece that you want to work with.
  
  
• The piece I used in class was Nesma's "Nesma't El Nile" off of the CD Del "Nilo Al Guadalquivir - Oriental Dance Vol.2"
  
  
  

Homework for week two:

• Focus Area: The Oriental Entrance Piece.
  
  
• Read the liner notes on the Oriental Entrance in Dancing with Genies. If you don't already own this CD you will have to purchase it to do this assignment. Never fret, it is worth every penny, both music and liner notes.
  
  
• Take some time thinking about the extention in your arms. Work with really increasing their reach and expressiveness as you do every movement you put in your Oriental routine.Check out the extension in the arms of these dancers: Nagua Fouad, Mona Said, Samia Gamal, Naima Akef
  
  
• Practice your Arabesques. Think about creating a spiral through your body, extending to your limits, really pointing your toes, extending your fingers, lifting your heart, dropping your shoulders lengthening your neck, lifting your chin, enlivening your expression. Also think about increasing the juicy time it takes to reach your full extension and increasing your hang time (suspension) as you float like an angel in heaven before you continue by landing softly into plie for your next step. I've found a pretty good example of some Arabesques as done by Tito in this clip of him dancing to Eshta Ya Amar. There is one at 39 seconds followed by a variation on an Arabesque and several more at 1 minute in. He doesn't have nearly the extension here that I've asked you guys to shoot for, but he does have a nice sense of juicey suspension, despite the fact that he is doing them so quickly. Do look at the extension he has in his arms throughout the rest of this clip.
  
  
• Practice your chaînés turns. Remember to bring your feet together when you turn and remember to spot. Watch this clip where Naima Akef does some amazing chaines turns,
  Also notice the wonderful exension in her arms, you will see two arabesques in there as well, although they go by quickly and several arabesque-like steps that are a variation on that theme.
  
  
• If you have an Oriental entrance piece that you want to work with, bring it to class next week.
  
  
• The piece I used in class this week was Rihlat el Ghawzia off of Jalilah's Raks Sharki Vol. 3-Journey of the Gipsy Dancer

Homework for week three:

• Focus Area: The Oriental Entrance Piece.
  
  
• Practice some of the arabesque variations we did in class. Then go look at footage of one of your favorite Oriental dancers and identify and learn one arabesque combination. Bring it to class next week.