Bellydance DVD Review: Princess Farhana, balance

Here is my last Princess Farhana DVD. This one I was very excited about. Sword and Shamadan. All about balance. Any pointers I am always open to!

It has a bunch of chapters. However, I will say this they are not very long. 

The production quality is good. She talks to you while she dances however she faces you so you will mirror her. The sound is ok, like the other one you can hear cars driving by!

She has a good introduction with pointers with swords and shamadans. One good one for the shamadan, or a candelabra, is to not leave your candles in your car for even the slightest of time. Always bring more than you need and your own matches. Look for doorway clearance, air vents to blow hot wax, keep all your props on the floor for storage. Simple things to make life easy.

The routine portion in let's review, is a general song, nothing elaborate and can be used for shamadan too. It is not a full walk through so if you were looking for a routine you could use to perform this is just a stepping stone base.

Her performance is impressive with her sword floor work and transitioning from standing to ground is need. The boob balance, not always a fan. But she really teaches good technique.

Verdict: this is currently a keep. I would say this is for beginner sword performers but intermediate in bellydance skill. You need to know everything prior to putting a sword on your head.

I thought this DVD was just full of really good information and instruction. I wish I had watched it sooner in my life. I don't know if I would keep it for a long period of time should I need to save on space and I am a veteran sword performer. Though she did give me some good information that I had not thought of before.

Well I am catching up here. The wedding in Florida was fabulous but I got no rest and had to go straight back to work and I have been busy. And I am also trying to get adapted to winter. I acknowledged the fact we got early cold weather here and went through my clothes transitioning my summer to winter. Where fall went... I have no idea. But I got rid of 4 big bags of things! We cleaned up our place. Ahh. But my poor blog suffered. I normally keep things pre-written and scheduled but towards the wedding I was lucky to have things done in normal life. So I did manage during the incident here when I felt better, to get some sewing done. I just need to get some end pictures done and edit them. That is all that is holding me up and time to write. I do have a lot of DVDs done and more reviews to come. I may have this week be all dedicated to bellydance DVD and next week get back on my normal schedule.

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