Bellydance DVD Review: Princess Farhana Basic DVD

Happy Shimmy Saturday! A DVD from a bellydancer. This should be better.

Now I will say I have not always been the biggest fan of Princess Farhana but this DVD changed my mind. She is not a hippy dancer, which I am-there in lies my strength, hence why she has never been always in my radar. But with that said that does not mean I can't learn something from her. And I did! 

She had a separate guide to the styles of bellydance which was nice to have. And even talked about the history (albeit from cards- you can totally tell she is reading my cards, it is all good). In the intro before the whole DVD you see some old school performances from her which I just loved. She gives a good warm up. She also talks while she dances so it just feels more personal. And you get her personality. 

One of the things I liked about this was she talked about how the belly can be a separate part of the body. And each part of your body as its own zip code. Nice analogy. Good talk about posture, arm positioning- I liked that. Also what is proper and the right way to dance. 

She dances in a studio with a curtain in the background. However the sound is a little shady. It goes in and out while she dances. And if she moves to a certain part of the stage it was almost hard to hear. Also there was some weird camera cuts. Since I know most of the moves, I just drilled and listened to her interpretations and advice on technique. 

There was also a performance part. Not going to lie, it was a bit boring for my taste and it was also not live so it is a bit hard for a dancer to get the energy from the audience. I will say this, and I also ride my students on this, she looked at the ground a lot. I sort of expected more from a professional dancer. Sort of a performing no-no. 

Overall I did like this DVD and I would recommend to beginning students. Now I would not call this a fitness DVD, it is not aerobic by any means nor is it an intensive drilling DVD. I did do arms that she drilled on my fitness ball and wow that was a workout! She is really good at explaining things so you will learn something and even if you are past beginner this is great for teachers who want other ways to explain moves to beginners.

MAYBE as a keeper. Depends on my space.

Cheers,
Lauren