Bellydance DVD Review: Temple of Jehan Ultimate Workout

Happy Shimmy Sunday! Today's DVD review is a fitness bellydance DVD. Which during the DVD I asked the question- if this is a fitness geared DVD why are you working out in jeans??

This is from New York Bellydance which I will admit I am not a fan of, they tend to be overly edited with weird background graphics, sometimes odd lighting, etc. A lot of fluff and stuff, I just want content. I don't watch bellydance DVDs for their background graphics I watch them for their content. So in my opinion they are a bit of a fantasy based DVDs. But since this isn't performance based DVD and a fitness maybe this one would be better. And yes it was. The format was filmed in a studio with a white background. Ah thank you. 

Here is the DVD menu. Each chapter has a name which is a section where it is lead by 1 dancer, with 2 backup dancers. However, everything is dubbed over with a voice. Grr. I dislike that. 

So there is a warm up, followed by: strength, sensuality, joy, passion, energy, and then a cool down. Now you have to know moves already, you can't go into this workout blindly. Also what is missing at times is they don't say everything they do. You must follow the video. Or else you totally miss it. Some chapters are better than others. But sometimes even I was confused on what I am supposed to do. 

In the sensuality section, I will give a warning- if you have any sort of head or neck issues you need to watch this section. It is just filled with hair and head flings even body flings. There was actually NO warning that if you have issues- don't do this part.  

In joy, it is filled with lots of jumping and high speed. I got really confused in this section. The other sections I could manage. 

Overall here is my take on this DVD: this DVD is a Temple of Jehan billed DVD. Jehan doesn't dance or even make an appearance. Nothing. There is no breakdown of any move. What is proper, what to do to avoid injury. If you are not a seasoned dancer where you know what to do to NOT hurt yourself, I would not recommend this DVD. You will probably hurt yourself. Not worth it. Also the whole dancing in jeans? Really? I know this is 2003 DVD, but come on none of us in the bellydance community bellydance or workout in jeans. None of us practice in jeans, unless we are somewhere and it is impromptu. Most of us practice in yoga pants or exercise wear with a sports bra. Also some of these bedazzled bras with big cheap rhinestones glued to bras feels really artsy craftsy. I know they were trying to go for that mysterious bellydancer feel. But really it comes off as cheesy and beginner. At least a few of them wore cholis. That was somewhat redeeming. 

And at the end is a cheesy trainer talking about safety. Well sort of. 

Now this was not supposed to be a fellow dancer bashing sort of review. But I feel what I feel. The overall question is would I keep this DVD? The answer is MAYBE. Why b/c I did get a sweat going, and some of the fast paced did challenge me. So was it a workout yes. And hence why I am possibly thinking of keeping it for a bit longer. :) But I would not recommend for the beginner bellydancer.

Cheers,
Lauren