Bellydance by Dolphina
Reviewed by Anala Rabari
This book is broken into 9 sections. The intro covers the typical information on history, benefits, what to wear etc. I like that she included some muscle diagrams and that these are more detailed than others I've seen.
The stretching routine she gives is for warm-up and cool down. The directional arrows are drawn in a way to indicate movement which I found helpful. At the end is a quick reference with mini photos of Dolphina doing all the moves.
The book is than broken into 3 different experience levels for moves and routines. 12 moves are covered in the beginning and intermediate levels and 9 moves are covered in the advanced level. Each choreography is broken into 3 sections of 8 counts each.
Short notes are included with the instructions for the moves and routines that point to various body parts to help you know what every part of your body should be doing. Occasionally images are super imposed on each other so you can see progression of the move. After all the moves have been covered in the routine you get a “flow chart” of the whole dance. Several other chart summaries are included for quick reference. Also when explaining moves she listed pages of related moves. For instance when going over chest circles she listed the pages for chest slides, lifts, and drops.
Throughout the book she includes boxed information to supplement her main text these include: 33 Tips & Technique boxes, 21 workout repetition boxes for beginner and intermediate, 3 suggested variation boxes, and 6 points to watch boxes that often include photos of how it looks when things are done wrong. After a point she stops giving repetition suggestions for advanced moves.
A lifestyle section is included that covers costumes, music, and performing. The Dance style section covers ATS, Cabaret, Turkish, Modern Egyptian, Folk and Ethnic. A Resource section covers websites, music companies, costume vendors, magazines, books, events, festivals and study tours. The only CDs and DVDs included in the resource section are Dolphina’s.
I'm disappointed that this book did not come with a spiral binding as it would have made the book so much easier to use, but there is enough good information in it that it is worth the struggle. This book is better than other books because of the use of directional arrows, the “at a glance” breakdowns, workout repetition suggestions, and the full color photo illustrations that are very step-by-step frame by frame. At times it is difficult to see directional arrows and page turn arrows because of the color in the background photos. I like that they often give an insert photo of basic stance which is a good reminder of posture.
I like the “at a glance” section because it shows 4 pictures of the current move and 4 pictures of either the move before or after, so you see how the moves connect to each other. It would have been better if they had used the “at a glance” layout to show moves in the opposite direction as well. They say to practice moves in the opposite direction, but some students would probably benefit from having those pictures too.
During the routine sections I would have preferred it if Dolphina gave suggestions for specific songs or artists that her routines would work with, even if the music had just been from her own CDs.
I like that she layers movements. Other books layer hand and arm movements in the pictures, but Dolphina actually takes the time to suggest arm movements with body movements. The advanced routine is a veil piece and I was disappointed that she doesn’t even go over how to hold the veil.
One the whole I think this book is pretty good for instructional purposes and it includes more instruction per move than most others I’ve seen. In some places the photos look more like a flip book of the move. So this would be a good book for those that don’t have a teacher in their area or need re-enforcement of material covered in their classes. More experience dancers probably won’t benefit from this book very much other than perhaps getting ideas for move combinations.