It was while watching the opening scenes of Disney's "Aladdin" that I realized exactly what made the camel's gait different from the gait of most other animals. A horse or cat walks by moving one front foot forward, after which the opposite hind leg moves. For the next step, the other front foot moves, followed by the opposite hind leg. To observe this for yourself, get down on all fours and walk; you'll notice that if you move your right hand forward, your left knee follows automatically. But a camel walks by moving a hind leg first, then moving the front leg on the same side. Fine, but dancers have only two legs, not four! Based purely on observation, my take on the camel walk is this: the back foot moves forward, causing a back-to-front sway in the pelvis, which in turn causes the front foot to advance. The back foot never advances beyond the front foot. But it seems that there are almost as many approaches for executing this move as there are instructors. Let's see what the books have to say... Suzanne de Soye (La Danse Orientale et Ses Accessories) seems to have the simplest approach. The left foot is in front, with the right foot behind it. The left foot advances while the pelvis is pushed forward, then the right foot catches up with it. De Soye suggests executing the move on the balls of the feet, or alternatively, with one foot flat and the other on the ball. She doesn't say which should be which, but perhaps we may infer that the left would be flat and the right on the ball, if we keep the same order in which she mentions these points. What differentiates this method is that she executes the step on the diagonal while holding a veil - in this case she faces the right foot on the diagonal, with the left arm stretched out to the front and the right arm overhead. I like this simple approach very much, and especially appreciate the lop-sided effect which results from having one foot bent and the other foot flat. I find it easier, however, to move the pelvis along with the back foot rather than the front.
Dahlena's approach (The Art of Belly Dancing) seems by far the most complicated. She begins by describing two different rolls - one to be executed by the rib cage, and the other by the hips. She suggests practicing each separately before combining them: the rib cage roll which moves from back to front, then the pelvic roll from front to back. The next step is called "the camel rock", a very simple move. With one foot in front, the weight shifts from one foot to the other without moving either. When a tiny step is added to each foot, this becomes the camel walk. It can also be done stepping backward rather than forward. Finally the rib cage and pelvic rolls are combined with this camel walk to produce a "torso roll" variation, imitating the swaying movement of a real camel's gait. Whew! I can't begin to imagine how I could roll the two halves of my torso simultaneously in opposite directions. And perhaps the whole concept of rolling the torso is more complex than it needs to be: just think of pushing the ribcage forward, then pulling it back - you'll see that it rolls very nicely all by itself! Ultimately, of course, it's up to you to decide what you like and what suits your body best. There is no syllabus for belly dance; nothing is cast in stone. Which, to me, is one o fthe many wonderful aspects of our dance. And why you're free to let your "inner camel" walk whichever way you choose! |
