Bellydance Review: Jillina Entrance Choreography DVD

Happy Shimmy Saturday! Today's review is Jillina's next set of DVDs, first one of the 3 pack is the entrance choreography. Which I promise you I have seen before with the Superstars. I think this is a modified version of their choreography. I am just saying...

The DVD menu is much more expanded than her previous DVDs. And each section you can drill much longer. A definite a step up from the previous DVDs.

There is an intro, a warmup (which is longer than the other DVDs), technique, combos and then choreography.

She is in a different studio, that almost tricks you to think she is outside but she isn't. But it is a big full length mirror, which she honestly doesn't have enough room to dance in front of and stay within the limits of the mirror. Most of the DVD is her talking and explaining things.

Now she does explain well, as always, the moves and drills them. Each is its own chapter and you pick which one you want to drill. And you can redo just the drill part until you feel comfortable. Then it is the combo part which again you can practice for a long time. But again we got some weird camera shots. Is this necessary? It does not help my learning curve.

Next we put the combos together for a choreography. It is Entrance to the Stars song and a cropped version. In my first run of the DVD, the sound is not in sync with the moves. Overall pretty easy to learn. As with many of her choreography, there are lots of turns and undulations. LOL. I would call this a solid intermediate/intermediate advance choreo. A lot of it has to do with the quickness of the turns as the choreo is fast. Otherwise the moves are not super advanced. After the entire DVD, as always I feel like I have a good grasp of the choreography.

In the end, she performs it live and actually starts off with isis wings on and then takes them off. It is nice to see it live.

This is a keeper. Cute dance.

Cheers,
Lauren

Instructional Bellydance with Jillina Level 3

Ok last part of the Jillina 3 part series (no worries she actually has another 3 part series that I am reviewing). Again 2003, same sort of setup like all the previous DVDs. It is an advanced choreography to a Hakim song. Ahhh Hakim, I love Hakim.

Again stretching is small. Technique is clear. Combos lead to choreo. I had issues with these combos
4- gets vertical 8s mixed up again
9- hits were hard to understand which hip and it up, up or up, down, or down, down
(there are 10 total combos btw)

There are a lot of turning in this choreo. Drilling combo 10 may be hard for some people. Again way too much zooming. I just want to see the choreo. I need to see feet and direction I need to face. I really hate that. Stop zooming!!! You are not helping the choreography!!!

Definitely an int/adv dancer choreography. Lots of turns. Live performance at the end. But again some of the camera zooms on her abs/hips really is not what I want to see. I almost feel it is inappropriate.

She always has really great interaction with audience, she is truly an outstanding performer. Which with the zooms you miss. As a dancer I want to see all of her dance from head to toe. Because she truly performs head to toe.

Verdict: Keep. I never get tired of her choreography. :)

Cheers,
Lauren

Bellydance DVD Review: Jillina #2

Ah another Jillina DVD. Oh how I love Jillina. I can watch Jillina all day. This again from 2003. The Song is Warda.

As you know this is part of a 3 part DVD series. I reviewed #1 here, go and check it out. The second is supposed to be a intermediate geared DVD. Again she talks while she instructs in front of the mirror. Just like a class.

The warm up is little like the previous DVD but the technique is clear. Combos led to choreography.
I had issues with these combos
2- has R/L vertical figure 8s backwards
7- too many zoom ins, I felt like I needed more feet and not hips
8- too many zooms, also too short

Even in the choreography part I wish less zooming would happen. I get confused with what direction I'm supposed to face. I got confused on the hip circle part. But man she can flick that hair fall like its nobody's business. Watch if you have neck problems, this area can be problematic. You also have floorwork, but little of it, but if you can't come to the floor you will have modify this entire section. There is no cool down. Overall I thought the choreography is cute. It is not super county so if you are one of these people who need counts, you will have problems. She performs the choreo in front of a live audience but modifies it. Still good.  BTW I love the outtakes on the credits.

Verdict: Keep. Love the choreo. The video and sound is good. The content is good and useful. I would say this is definitely an intermediate choreography.

Cheers,
Lauren

Instruction Bellydance DVD #1 with Jillina Review (Layla)

yeah yeah, blah blah, I have NOT been keeping up my review of bellydance DVDs. There is just not enough time in the day for me. I think we all can all agree that there are not enough minutes in the day!

But I did get one DVD done. But I did this DVD a long time ago. This DVD came out in 2003. Wow I feel old. I learned it years ago and I have taught it to many, many people over the years. And now I decided to add some life to the dance with some staging and teach it to my student troupe. So I revisited this DVD: Instructional Bellydance with Jillina Level 1

There are 5 sections to the list: stretching, technique, combos, choreo, and performance.

  

The stretching portion is short, few stretching. I prefer a little bit more of a warmup. 

Now if you are a strict counter-this DVD might not be for you. There are few combos with counts. 

One of the things that I also did not like about the DVD is the individual combos are not chaptered. So when you do a combo you can't repeat or skip to the next one. I really like that option in choreography dvds. 

She does break down combos good and the choreography is clear. Tho there are just a few things that I caught that were just slightly off during the runs: how many undulations for the slow part and in one part is it up, down, up, down or 2 hip drops. But that was just a small detail. 

The production quality is really well you see the front and the back of her so it is easy to learn and pick up the moves. And she talks while she dances. For some reason I really like that, I do not like voice overs. 

The end performance is different than what she taught but I really like seeing variations of the choreography. Tho some of her changes are just not conducive to a big group, b/c it would be impossible to get in sync. But it is nice to watch. 

I of course made it my own and for a group of 6 people. I played with angles and directions.  This is technically a beginner choreo but I would consider this an advanced beginner. There are a lot of undulations and a few things that may be difficult for beginners. 

Overall this is a great DVD, I think things are taught well and it is a cute choreo. Good DVD. 

And you just have to LOVE Jillina! I have actually had a class with her and she is great. Plus I have seen her perform live-also amazing! :)

Hmm Maybe by the end of the year I might finish them all.... LOL yeah let's see about that.. 70 left...

xoxo,
Lauren