shanmonster | Reverse Snake Arm

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While at the Tribally Yours workshop on the weekend, I was introduced to the reverse snake arm movement by Freyja.

I am having some difficulty in making this look decent. Does anyone have any pointers?

The best I can figure out is it goes something like this:

Extend arm.
Curl first knuckles of fingers.
Curl second knuckles of fingers.
Fingers curl completely under to fist
Wrist curls under.
Forearm curls with fist down and inward as elbow raises.
Upper arm turns inward as shoulder raises.

Does that sound about right?

For those who are unfamiliar with this move, you can see Khalida do it around the 2:00 mark on this video.

Current Mood: curious
Current Music: Transglobal Underground - El Hedudd

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we learned that move in hip-hop too and it's kicking my ass! I'll be curious about the pointers you get because I need them too! :-)

Sera teaches this move on her new DVD, East Coast Tribal (http://www.amazon.com/Bellydance-Tribal-Combinations-Strength-Workout/dp/B000FSL8WG/ref=sr_1_1/102-4544110-9903321?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1174001159&sr=8-1). I haven't been able to do it without feeling completely uncoordinated and spastic.

I still need to finish working my way through that video. It's interesting!

The move is called Double Headed Cobra in the Yang old form. Its a small circle version. If you have seen the little Asian girls in Cirque de Soleil holding cups of water or candles and moving their arms around behind their backs and around without spilling anything, that's the big circle version. Sorry, that's the best description I can come up with right now, and I can't find a video on Youtube. The big circle version is much easier than it looks, I can usually get my senior citizen classes to do in in about five minutes. Get one hand first, then the other, then both, and experiment by going backwards and then play with timing, etc. Khalida is not getting the really cool possibilities with this because she is engaging her arms and shoulders only and not her scapulae, which adds an extra joint and rotation. She is also not engaging her tantien properly, and lacks strength. One of the applications for this dislocates your enemy's shoulder. If I can figure out how to upload video to youtube I will, but don't hold your breath as I just got new video equipment set up and am still learning about it plus I'm not the most tech savvy person around.

--bdw

Re. the double headed cobra, is this what I'm doing around the 1:04 bit of this video?

If so, that's a different movement. I refer to the one in my video as candle dance arms, although I must say I like the sound of double headed cobra more.

Yes, it's the same movement. You are doing it one hand at a time, she is doing only the up and down parts in two dimensions, three if you include time as a dimension. I try to get my students to do it as large as possible with one hand, then the other, then both hands at the same time. Most can do that in a few minutes. Most find it easier to do it back-to-front--you are doing it front-to-back with your left hand, then back-to-front with your right, preserving momentum. Most find it easier to do it back to front in the beginning, and it's done that way in the Tai Chi old form. I try to get them to touch the side of the head, then come around and touch their side, then repeat ad infinitum; the touching seems to make it easier.

Then I try to get them to offset the movement--the right hand brushes the right ribs while the left hand touches the left side of the head. Again, back to front seems easier, but I lose a few of them at this point. Again, larger is easier. Then I try to get them to touch front-to-back, and I lose more of them.

By making it as big as possible, they engage all of the involved muscles. At this point, I ask them to make the movement smaller and smaller, even smaller than Khalida is doing. Then I try to get them to hook the movement through their tantien and pelvic floor muscles. Then, I ask them to lift one leg and hook the movement into their leg--both arms and the leg working together. For some reason this always makes everyone start to laugh: always as in every single time; I am beginning to think it may involve that part of the hippocampus in some way. Perhaps the main reason seniors do Tai Chi is for balance, and adding the legs in this way makes an immediate improvement, it also makes an immediate improvement in my Kung Fu students balance and movement. Again, I am wondering if it engages part of the brain in a new way. Anyway, as big as possible to learn, then smaller and more delicate as desired.

One of the big tricks here is to engage the shoulder blades. It effectively adds an extra joint to the movement, making it more powerful and more graceful. Most westerners carry their emotions in their shoulders, which makes for stiffness, both physical and emotional.

I hope this wasn't too long winded. I was trying to be clear, plus its one a.m. To paraphrase Frank Zappa, writing about dancing is like playing guitar about architecture. I did most of a half hour TV show about this movement; in the old form it's the first movement immediately after the first Single Whip, which means that Yang, Lu Chuan thought it was extremely important. Again, I plan to eventually put the whole series on Youtube, but I have to learn how.