Choreography notes are a tricky thing.
As you may or may not know, there is no standardization to Belly Dance terminology, and as such when you’re trying to read anyone else’s choreography notes it can be very confusing.
For example, “Do hip circles travelling in a cirlce, going in a left direction, starting off with your right foot, hands together alternating touching your forehead and belly” can have VERY different interpretations between students! It could be both entertaining and enlightening to see how your own personal notes are interpreted, however that’s not always the goal at hand.
Not everybody likes and uses choreography notes – I personally have a really hard time trying to follow notes and dance at the same time, but sometimes they can be useful in review after you come home from class and need a reminder of what happens where and when.
When you’re creating choreography then notes are absolutely essential, of course. How else will you remember what you’ve decided to do at which section of the dance? However, when it comes time to translate your quick creation notes into something that can be followed by someone else, that’s where the issues arise.
My advice to both the choreographer and the student is to not take choreography notes too seriously. We choreographers can kill ourselves trying to describe every little detail of every move, but in the end it is our teaching that will complete the translation. And by the same token, students can study the notes in great detail on their own if they so desire, but without proper instruction they could end up doing a completely different dance! Use the notes for review only and respect your teacher’s creation.