Thanks Quickstep, but I was wondering about exercises for my upper body. I can actually isolate my hips very well, my upper body is the problem, it's always still...
Any ideas?
Thanks...

Fire. Why would you want to move your upper body. If you do this will cancel your hip movement. We often do an excercice, Rumba Walks, where we extend our palms straight foward at shoulder height with our finger tips apart, that is one shoulder width apart. We then walk to music getting as much hip movement as is possible and keeping our fingers level and to our front. Dont forget to brush your ankles in a Walk. Have no gap between your thighs. Get your instep as high as you can. and send that forward step or backward step as snappy as you can. Like flicking your foot into sand. A DVD to get is Slavik's Inovation on the Rumba. On it there is everything you are liable to need. Former World Champion Karen Hardy when asked how long should we keep practicing Rumba Walks, she said forever. Use of the arms has its own story and technique. Best of Luck.

Hi Quickstep, please tell me where to buy the " Salavik's Inovation on the Rumba". Is this the exact name of the DVD? Thanks.

DJSilver. The fuller details on the Slavik tape is on another part of these writtings. The disks are from www. dancesportinternational.com au. Well worth taking a look at. Each dance is one DVD. There is more than enough on each disk. The name is Inovation they are made in Japan. The disk cover is all in Japanese except for the name Inovation Fortunately the language spoken inside is English. If I could read Japanese I could give more details.

I think I understand Fire's problem. You do want to be able to move your rib cage. Ideally, I think, the rib cage should be making a figure eight also, but in the opposite direction as the hips--when right hip is back, left side of rib cage is forward and so on. All that, while keeping your shoulders level and your head still.

To practice that, I just do that. To isolate the ribs, first try standing with your hips still and move your rib cage to the left and right and forward and back, then one side forward and one side back. Get your back muscles involved. Then you can work up to figure 8s. I do hip figure 8s in isolation, then rib cage figure 8s in isolation, then figure 8s with both (in oppostie dirctions). Isolating the ribs is hard, but it does get easier with practice.

You can try belly dancing at your local gym or you can get a tape on it. It will help streach your belly, hips, and torrso.

One more suggestion: The car is a great place to practice rib isolations (when you're stopped at a light, I don't suggest doing this while moving :) Your hips are belted still and you can stablize your shoulders by pushing a bit against the steering wheel. With those parts stable, you can move your rib cage in all directions.

Thanks Ellen, that's exactly what I needed! I also thought I didn't need to move my upper body, but as I mentioned, I have been hearing from different guys that they feel I don't move my upper body enough for them to notice and think I'm stiff! I'll keep practicing these exercises and hopefully I'll be able to incorporate them when dancing!
Thanks again... Fire

You're welcome!

Fire, I don't doubt that you could do the cuban hip motion. When I was taught it, my problem was moving the my rib cage with it. I couldn't do both at the same time. It's like chewing gum and walking at the same time. What I did was I practiced the two separate for a while until I feel comfortable and loose/relaxed with both then I combine them. For the ribcage isolation, sit in a flat hard chair and firmly grab/hold on to the side of the seat as you perform those lateral rib cage isolation, slowly and stretch as far as you can. After doing 30 of those, start to speed up the tempo. Then change direction and go back and forth, then do a full circle and change direction of the circle. I think your muscles haven't learn to relax yet. This exercise will help them relax. I'd do it for 2-3 minutes at a time each day. Hope this helps.