If you’re a seasoned dancer you’ll know how to roll your hips, but do you also know how to use your core to control the move and keep your back safe? A popular move that’s used across many dance forms, including Latin, Bellydance and Tribal, are broken hip circles, also known as omis.
I love this move, because it can be done in so many different ways from small and contained, to frivolous and fun, and yes even as a shimmy. But the foundation for all these is the basic move, so I’ve created a short video explaining which muscles to use, which you can see on my YouTube channel here.
I do see a lot of dancers who seem to confuse this move with twerking! But although there are some technical similarities in the position of the hips, broken hip circles, especially the kind I’m teaching, are much more controlled and require muscle strength and isolation. So if you’re new to dancing, or your core isn’t as strong as it should be, then you will need to discover (or re-discover) the muscles needed to create this move, and that’s where going over the basics is key. If you still aren’t sure that you are doing it correctly, then make sure you check with a qualified dance teacher or even health care professional (my osteopath is great at judging the safety of movements and how they are created, even though she can’t dance!).
Unlearning bad technique is so much harder than learning it correctly in the first place, so do take your time to build the muscle control, as well as muscle memory, before moving on to more advanced variations of this move.
You may be familiar with my technique videos by now, and I am constantly adding new moves to my to-do-list. But if you have something specific that you’d like me to cover, then please use the comments below to let me know.
If you’re a more experienced dancer and looking for some more advanced tutorials, then join me for my upcoming Advance Your Dance Online course, where personal feedback and bespoke learning is delivered alongside pre-recorded technique videos of a higher complexity.
I hope you enjoy brushing up on your basic broken hip circles, and as always, if you have any feedback on my video, suggestions on how to teach or learn this move at a basic level, or even some basic combinations, please let me know by using the comments below.
Happy and safe dancing – always 🙂
Dorte
Did you miss my last post? Read it here: How to control your taqs
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