The JWAAD Book of Belly Dance
This gorgeous book by Josephine Wise is the definitive handbook for all JWAAD trained dancers and teachers. It sets out all the basics of knowledge that a dancer needs, and is a useful tool that all Belly Dancers should own. Buy it now and join the ever-growing community of dancers who share a good grounding in Belly Dance education.
“I am proud to be the patron of JWAAD, which is doing so much to promote Belly Dance in the west.” Nadia Hamdi
“Josephine Wise is one of the most inspiring and respected Belly Dance artists and teachers in the UK and worldwide. Her book is the most informative, useful and inspiring book on how to Belly Dance you’re ever likely to read.” Galit Mersand
“A generous, caring and open-minded teacher without whom I wouldn’t be dancing today.” Raphaelle Masson
“Josephine Wise is a force to be recognised in the world of Belly Dance.” Lynette Harris, Gilded Serpent.
Click here for a great review of this book from Gilded Serpent.
Click here to read ‘I wrote a Book!’ by Josephine Wise
This book covers the basics of how to warm up, clear explanations of all the movement types and how to use props such as the veil and finger cymbals, stick/cane, melaya, shamadan and many more. It also includes clear explanations of dance styles, Middle Eastern music, rhythms, costuming and background history.
Over the past 30 years Josephine has developed a very distinctive and accessible method of enabling students to understand both the physical technique and the cultural intricacies of Belly Dance. She recently decided to put the basics into a book as a reference guide for future generations of dancers, and to make sure her reliable method of explaining dance technique would be available to everyone, not just dancers who can make it to her classes in London and workshops around the world. The book was beautifully designed by John Gosler, meticulously edited by Yvette Cowles, both of whom were essential parts of its creation.
JWAAD is the UK’s foremost school of Belly Dance, with professional training courses accredited by One Awards (formerly OCN North East). This means that professional study courses within JWAAD are assessed by a government-approved body, and are usable for acceptance for further education and by teaching insurance schemes.
For Teachers
‘Tips on using the book in class’ by Sue Baker
I have been using The JWAAD Book of Belly Dance for planning my lessons and courses – I choose one technique each week (this week it’s Hagalla) and use the book as guidance. I break it down and build it up using the different executions of the move as described in the book.
I also have the book to hand as an aide memoire – I refer to the section that I have been using for those students who have a copy of the book so that they can go home and rein-
force the technique if they so wish.
I use the book to show appropriate costuming, Arabic drum rhythms, and much more – the finger cymbal section has even inspired me to write my very first sagat choreography for students. Also, this term I have based my improvisation part of the class on the different sections of the orchestra, using the book illustrations to show the students what the instruments look like.
The large font and the spacing make it excellent to find what I want very quickly. The photos have helped me with techniques that I have not come across before or am less familiar with, helping me to clarify my own technique. It is reassuring to know that I am teaching the techniques properly. The red sections are invaluable as they are great coaching notes. The book is beautifully designed and it is refreshing not to pick up a belly dance book with a cheesy photo of a belly dancer – the mystery of the cover makes you want to look further.
As you can tell, I am very happy with it, and the feedback I have had from my students has been very positive.
Click Here to Order Your Copy Now
One copy – £19.99 (P&P – UK £3.95 – Europe £6.67)
Orders from the USA and the rest of the world – please email us at sophie@jwaad.com for postage costs.
Please allow three weeks for your book to arrive as books are printed to order.
For their contribution to the making of this book, Josephine would like to thank the following people:
Kay Taylor for running the JWAAD Professional Training programmes and for being tireless in her pursuit of accreditation, Yvette Cowles for her knowledge of history and publishing and for helping to get this book finished, Raphaelle Masson and Adam Warne for their expertise in accurate writing of rhythms, Sophie Wise for checking my punctuation and all her hard work ‘belly dancer wrangling’, and Margaret Krause for her Summer School skills and for always being there. I would also like to thank my husband, John Gosler, for designing this book and its cover, and for supporting me through absolutely everything.
The creation of this book could not have been completed without the wonderful dancers in all the photos, including those who gave their time to be photographed for the warm up and technique sections: Yvette Cowles, Margaret Krause, Gwen Booth, Nuxia Nereisidos, Maelle Roger, Samantha Neal, Catherine Bartholomew, Harriet Gervasio and Norvell Cenac.
I have tried to list all the photographers whose work we used. Please email me if I have missed anyone:
Kathy Cheung
Margaux Duchatel
John Gosler
Richard Gosler
Isobel Radice
Kay Taylor
Alan D Smith
Victor Gutierrez (Promoteo)