Bellydance DVD Review: Twins Basic Moves and Fat Burning

Next another DVD back from 2001 (god I am old!) from Veena and Neena, the bellydance twins.

Again this DVD is similar to their previous ones. They don't talk during the workout. There is a voice over. The video is good and they look at you as if you are in a fitness class. Which this is a fitness DVD so fair enough. The content is basically basic drilling. Some of it was too slow for me. I put it on fast forward a bit to help me with boredom.

This is an extreme beginner DVD. Like the kind of DVD you give your friend, family member, or coworker a DVD to do "bellydance moves". If you are a dancer you understand what I am saying. If you are any bit of a seasoned dancer you will be bored with the slowness of the DVD. I will give them this, they really describe the moves really well so for the absolute beginners this is fine and clear.

Verdict: Sell, though not because it was bad, it is just too basic to warrant taking up space on my shelf.

Oh yeah the end performance in the black and gold lame was classic 90s bellydance costume. Love it. And could have done with out the dark shadow dancing to the introduction.

Cheers,
Lauren

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

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

Bellydance DVD Review: Princess Farhana Intermediate Workout DVD

Happy shimmy Sunday! Here is the 2nd DVD from Princess Farhana. this is the intermediate component of the set (it came as a 2 pack).

LOl so the introduction has scrolling words with dancing, which I put on fast forward, I mean I don't want to read this. She then talks (and reads off cue cards) which just feels odd again. There is a warm up, technique, rolls/flutters, dance, and then drum solo. Again she talks while she dances while facing you, I always like that.

The sound is better you can hear her. However, I hear cars in the background. I could not help but laugh. She had a really good explanation about stomach flutters and undulations. OMG finally! And she even showed the book technique in order to demonstrate how to isolate your abs. So great! I finally had my aha moment with getting stomach flutters over an undulation. THANK YOU PRINCESS FARHANA!! Finally! I got it and with some drilling I'll have it. But she was the first one to explain it in a way I could actually grasp doing it. That is what stood out the most from the DVD. Thank you again. 

Performance at the end. It was better than the other one. Though I could have done without the cheesy effect of her magically appearing on the stage (bad video effects). I will give her this, she always has gorgeous costumes!

Overall a good explanation again of moves. I would not call this a workout. She did throw some things at me that I was like huh-nice take! So I enjoyed myself. I am most likely to keep this DVD just for the drilling on the stomach flutters.

Cheers,
Lauren

Bellydance DVD Review: Rania's Cardio Shimmy

Another Rania workout DVD. And it is all about the shimmy! Yeah! Happy shimmy Sunday!

I was excited about the DVD, b/c I wanted a sweat! Again we had nice video menu. And you can select what you want to do. And even bonus features.

Now the bonus workout is just from her daily quickies. It is the abs one. Now there is a weird group dance intro in the dark. This DVD is a group format but she still voices over all of the workout.

Now there is a basic shimmy combo she teaches you that you will always go to. But then you do small sections. They are all basic easy moves. Which is good if you have bellydance knowledge. This is a good bellydance fitness that incorporates bellydance. I enjoyed the workout, I got a good sweat. Again, you are not going to learn a dance but you will get a workout.

The DVD includes: warm-up, combos, then a cool down. And all the girls in the DVD did AWESOME with smiling the entire workout. They looked so happy and perky, which is what I did not look like during the workout. There were 2 performances. Now I do not care for her style of performance. Sometimes she has very wide eyes (only when she performs) that looks like she is deer in highlights. Sometimes she stares at the ground. She is not much of a stronger performer. But she always has beautiful costumes though. Props to her!

Verdict: keep, I could use a DVD to sweat to and have some fun.

cheers,
Lauren

Bellydance DVD Review: Rania Daily Quickies

Happy Shimmy Saturday! Time for Rania's Daily Quickies. Now this is a fitness based DVD. There is no bellydance at all. Maybe just a move or 2 there.

 

Now I may not be the biggest Rania fan but I waned to give her a fair shake. And I could use a workout. The menu of the DVD was set up nice. You can select one of 5 10 minute workouts. All which target a certain area.

Now I am not also a fan of dancers having 6 packs. You just loose the feminity which the dance so entails

 

 

Now she voices over her workout. There are no other dancers.

There are 5 portions

1. Abs- bunch of crunches which really I could get a better ab workout doing pilates

2. Arms, chest back. I got really bored with this workout. I added my ball to get a better workout. Also she says nothing about doing weights. She then threw in push ups (which I hate).

3. Legs/bum. Squats, and some ballet moves.

4. waist- this is where she actually did some bellydance moves. Again I got bored.

5. Flexibility- which was some stretches. Nothing really fancy. I would rather do yoga.

 

 

This work out was not fun. I think that I would rather do something else then keep this DVD. I did get a little sore in my abs the next day. So the verdict is to get rid of this DVD. I have funner workouts. 

Bellydance DVD Review: Urban bellydance by Fitness Essentials

Happy Shimmy Sunday. So I might as well pull another fitness bellydance DVD bandaid off, metaphorically  speaking. By the same group, Fitness Essentials. This one is Urban Bellydance.

Luckily not much was spent on this DVD, as you can see it was purchased at Ross. I think this was a gift from someone. 

I didn't want to waste a lot of my camera and space with this DVD again. Again it talks about Denise Druce but Heather teaches the class. This time with 2 other people. And yes a man is with them! 

The total workout time is around 31 minutes with the bonus stuff. My first comment which came out of no where was these people are playing dress up. Having a sparkly waist belt doesn't make you a bellydancer. The workout was like a dance class or a zumba class, or jazzercise or salsa. Actually, when you see some of them move I don't see a bellydancer I see a salsa dancer. But I am guessing they took a few lessons (?) and thought well it is close enough to salsa, yeah let's make a bellydance fitness DVD. It is all the same right?

Well wrong. It was awful. I don't know which fitness dvd from this group was worse. At least the other one had bellydance moves. This one has like none. Actually, the workout is a hot mess. It looks like the backup people didn't even practice or go over what they were going to do while the cameras were on. The girl in the green frequently goes in front of the guy. The people in the back also are clueless just have no idea. AT least in this DVD the sound quality is better and so is the video.

Verdict: Toss. It wasn't even fun and I did not get a sweat going. I was bored. Not worth the money.

I am so glad I have no more DVDs from this group. I promise you no more reviews from them!!

Cheers,
Lauren

Bellydance DVD Review: Fitness Essentials Bellydance

Happy Shimmy Saturday!! Yeah! Got 2 more DVD reviews this weekend. Both are by the same Fitness company called: Fitness Essentials. The first one is the bellydance workout.

Even though the DVD says it is by Denise Druce, a girl named Melissa actually teaches the "class". Actually she blabs about her company and about her gym and this goes on for a long time. The entire DVD plays for 57 total minutes but the workout is 31 minutes. So 26 minutes of this DVD is talking. Yeah really. That is a lot of time-time I don't have. The menu is as follows...

The instruction really is not instruction. She does not give proper technique or form. She tries to explain moves but can't actually properly execute them. Yeah it is that bad. She lacks flexibility a bellydancer is supposed to have, isolation, and her moves are stiff and she moves other parts of her body while trying to move another. Actually in this section the sound quality is awful. It is really hard to hear her. Her coin belt over powers her speaking. Also you hear weird background sounds. Like someone on the phone. Yup. Actually as a dancer, it is almost too painful to watch. But let's move on.

Actually this picture is part of her performance at the end. That went on way too long. Actually, she gives a look like- do I have to keep dancing? Er. Um let me add this move. Or this move.

Ok back to the workout part. There is a warm up, work out, and cool down. 

Finally they gave her a microphone to hear what she is saying.  But her bra has too much metal that it interferes with the sound with the microphone. The workout was just her, no class, again with bad isolations (like her butt moves when she tries to life her chest). Again the instruction is not very clear, she also does not have a clear understanding of what a figure 8 is. Or what the difference is between horizontal and vertical figure 8. She got really confused. I did not sweat nor what I sore the next day. 

This is what I really dislike about fitness instructors who take a bellydance class or something and think they can make a fitness class with it. This was AWFUL. And I don't say that much at all. I also don't like it when dancers have 6 packs and no meat on their body. In my opinion (and take it at that) real bellydancers have meat on their body. You see their moves. I would rather take a class with a meaty dancer than one with a 6 pack. Bellydancers are not meant to have 6 picks.

Verdict: Sell. Get rid of it. OMG do not buy this DVD at all. I might not even be able to sell it after this review. LOL.

Cheers,
Lauren

Bellydance Review: Twins; Arms, Buns, legs, etc....

Shimmy on Saturday! Wahoo. Got some more DVD reviews in store. Oh yeah, I am doing my DVDs! Wahoo. Next up another fitness geared video from the bellydance twins. Ah this brings back memories to when I first began dancing in 2001. This DVD is from 2001.

This DVD actually has 2 parts. Arms/Abs and Hips/Buns/Thighs. You can do either.

Actually the intro starts off with then dancing in the dark. It is sort of odd. Then the lights come on and they start talking. I am really is the dark shadow dancing necessary? 

The workout of course starts with a nice warm up. I did get a good arm burn. And the next day I was slightly sore. Always good. It is a basic workout video with some basic bellydance moves. The moves are simple but again, I felt the soreness teh next day. The video was good in quality, however everything is dubbed over with voice. I just don't care for that. I like it when instructors talk while they dance. It just seems to keep the tempo. The workout was about 30-35 mins. I think the first section is stronger than the 2nd (the hips, etc).

Then there was a bonus performance section. And it brought back memories from when I first started to dance where lame was in thing with costumes and so was arm gauntlets. LOL.

I mean check out the gold lame (tissue?) arm capulets. 

Yes sequin dot harem pants. 

Don't get me wrong. They are great dancers. This was a fun workout.


Verdict: Maybe. I can't decide yet if I want to keep or sell. I was sore.

Cheers,
Lauren

Bellydance DVD review: Amira Mor Energy

Shimmy on Sunday! My next DVD is another Amira Mor DVD in my collection. It is her energy DVD. circa 2004.

The video opens up with her, I guess on her patio near a (green) pool and a lot of statues. 

Yes that water is really green it is not my camera or my old TV. 

She introduces the DVD (which her cute accent) and her group performs yet near the pool and the statues. I am so sorry but the whole time I was watching this I kept thinking of the sopranos. The pool and the statues just reminds me of New Jersey and the tv show sopranos. No offense. 

So those are all the screen shots I have of this DVD. I just can't get over them dancing by a pool on the patio.

The layout is as follows- intro, group perfoms and teaches 4 segments and then the choreo is repeated for you to dance along. The run time is about an hour. She does have a microphone on and talks while she dances. She does the dance though facing you so you have to mirror her or be confused. The dance she teaches is to Habibi Ya Eini. It is a cute basic beginner choreo. However, she only gives some counts, and if you are a counting sort of dancer this will require some work for you to learn it. 

The question is would I perform this choreography? Probably not. First of all, I am not dancing at all- so no. LOL But if I was dancing in a restaurant setting and needed some easy content this would be a easy thing to quickly add. It is a very traditional song and for an arabic audience they would love it. I however, interpret the song differently.  

Overall this DVD is fun and easy and I enjoyed myself while doing the DVD. I got a good sweat going, so I am happy. I would also like to give them props for having their snake arms in sync. I would say this DVD is not for the intermediate or advanced dancer to learn a choreo. But this is geared towards a beginner student. 

Verdict: Time to sell. Not because I didn't enough dancing to it. I just need the space. And well I am not dancing.

Cheers,

Lauren

Bellydance DVD Review: Amira Mor Fitness

Shimmy on Saturday!! From here on out through the rest of the year I will be posting all of my bellydance DVD reviews on Saturdays and Sundays until I am all done! I am finally going through my DVDs here, still going to try and finish all 70 by the end of the year and complete that New Years Resolution.

Yay! Always good to get some exercise. I am going to focus on the DVDs that are more fitness geared and less of technique/choreography based. Thought I would try out Amira Mor's Fitness first.

Here is the menu. There is only one selection. You can't select any chapters. Please forgive me again I have pictures taken on camera on my old tv (that won't die regardless of storms, power surges, and moving to various states). 

The DVD opens up with her dancing in some sort of hall or restaurant. Her costume is a little bit too crazy and bare for my taste. Then she has her troupe/students (one of which is her daughter). Again, I just feel sort of weird with them baring so much leg. Ok on to content

There are 6 segments.

1. Prep

2. Arms/shoulders

3. upper body

4- hips

5- walk

6- dance together

So goes through basic moves, isolations, all very slowly. I did not break a sweat. I actually got so bored that I did it in fast forward. It has a run time of 45 minutes and I just couldn't let myself loose that much time in my short day. Now I did notice that sometimes she doesn't do both sides to the same extent. 

The format of the class is like a workout DVD. She faces you and explains things. It isn't like a dance class where you want to follow the person in front of you (which is how I learn the best). She does have a microphone on her and talks while she dances.   

At the end of the DVD is a melee of dancers at the end, dancing to music. 

Basically, I would not call this a fitness video. 

My overall verdict: Time to get rid of this DVD

I would probably not recommend this DVD even to students who are just starting out. I think there are probably other DVD's with better explanations of moves. Also I think the name is off, not a fitness DVD. Production wise it was good. Clear shots, not weird angles. Sound was good. 

Again these opinions are my own. Had I actually worked up a sweat, I would consider keeping it but space is hard to come by in the city. I need the space! 

Cheers,
Lauren