Online Resources

As a dancer, nothing beats practicing. However, sometimes having extra information, or something to read or to help you practice can be a great aid, introduce you to new music, help you clarify some concepts, or merely discuss issues that are bouncing around your head as part of your dance life.

If you do Cabaret, or want general tips and technique, you could do worse than following Mahin’s Bellydance Quickies. There are technique videos, combo videos, some discussion, and a few performances. Great way of finding out new dancers to follow, or getting acquainted with new styles.

If you dance, ATS, there are several options:

• Fat Chance Belly Dance® has a YouTube channel where they post drill videos regularly
• The ATS Friday Challenge group on Facebook offers a safe space for dancers to upload videos and, if they want to, get feedback. There’s a new step to practice each week and should be a great resource if you work better with a prompt
• Carolena Nericcio-Bohlman’s Blog hasn’t been updated in a while but still has plenty of useful information

If you are a Fusion dancer, the Tribal Fusion UK Facebook Group is great for some general discussion on technique and style.

Software and apps:

• The Amazing Slowdowner has versions for iOS, Android, PC an OSX, and will allow you to slow down music, and create loops , which is brilliant for practicing choreographies.
• Slow Down Music Player works a bit like a cut-down version of the Amazing Slowdowner, and last time I checked, it was free, and also played in older versions of iOS
• VLC Player allows you to do the same, but with videos: this is perfect if you want to slow down videos on the fly, and has versions of iOS, Android and even Kindle Fire
• the Dance Moves List will give you a list of ATS® moves and links to videos approved by Fat Chance Belly Dance® showcasing them; just select the move you want to watch and it will come up. There’s also an Android app here

Finally, a site I strongly recommend everybody reads, regardless of style, and *particularly* if you are already teaching, or thinking of doing so, is Monika Volkmar’s Dance Stronger blog. All of it. Yes, she’s not updating it. However, all of the information in this blog is *pure gold*, and has up-to-date science-backed information aimed specifically at dancers. Sadly she isn’t running her Dance Stronger program anymore, which is a shame, but a lot of the info will be very useful.

So there you go, a bit for your brain and a bit for your body. Now go dance!