Raqs Akia

Tribal Fusion Belly Dance Yoga, Isolations, and Drills: A Practice Companion with Rachel Brice

Reviewed by Anala Rabari

This DVD has an introduction by Carolena Nericcio, creator of American Tribal Style belly dance. It has 3 different workout options in 15 minute increments in which you can turn the instruction on or off. It has a 3 minute bonus performance of Rachel Brice and outtakes from Carolena's introduction as well as information on other Bellydance Superstar products and merchandising.

Carolena's introduction gives a brief history of American Tribal Style dance and segues into information from Rachel on the program such as supplies needed for the workouts, these include basic yoga supplies such as a mat, blocks, and a blanket.

The workouts themselves are great. I love that you have 3 15 minute increment options so you can always fit some workout into your busy schedule. When I first got this DVD I felt that she talked very fast while trying to explain some of the yoga poses in the warm-up section and it was hard for me to follow. However, by about the fourth viewing this was no longer a problem. Also if you aren't use to doing yoga you may think some of the positions are impossible. Be sure to be patient with yourself and don't push yourself to stretch further than you are comfortable with.

After the warm-ups she starts each belly dance move at a slow speed and then increases the speed as the workout continues. Again you may have problems processing the instructions at the speed she gives them for the first few views. And each workout option ends with a set of yoga cool downs.

The 15 minute workout covers hip lifts, stepping hip lifts, hip drops, stepping hip drops, chest lifts, and chest down to stomach undulations.

The 30 minute workout has a slightly different warm-up, and builds on the previous workout by doing all the previous moves and adding chest drops, stomach up to chest undulations, pelvic tucks, and hip circles. The cool-down is also slightly different.

The 45 minute workout has the same warm-up as the 30 minute one and it includes all the previous moves covered, except for the hip drops, and it introduces the moves of combining chest lifts with chest drops and vertical ribcage figure 8. The Cool-down is slightly different from the other 2 routines.

So as you can see each successive workout builds on the previous shorter workout.

My main criticism about the DVD is more info on optional moves and positions. Brice does a really good job of saying if you have weak wrists do this, or if you are new to yoga stay in this pose and do not go on to the next. I like that she does this, but I wish the production had taken it a bit further. She does not always demonstrate the optional pose or move and when she does it goes by very fast. I wish they had thought to have more people in the room who could continue to demonstrate the optional beginner moves.

Also I wish that there were chapter selections with in the workout programs. There are times when I would just like to practice certain moves and it would be nice to go directly to that section of the DVD rather than having to fast forward. And finally when Rachel is doing hip work such as lifts, drops, or circles she is doing these really nice hand movements that I think are wrist circles, but they look nothing like mine and I think it would be nice if she took a few seconds to explain what she was doing.

 The camera work during each workout routine is great giving you a variety of close-ups and full image shots at appropriate intervals and lengths. The setting of the DVD is a dance studio in front of a mirror which is also really nice as you can see different angles at the same time. The background music during the warm-ups is from the Tribal Metamorphsis CD by Pentaphobe and I really like this music. The workout music is from Issam Houshan which I also really like. The bonus performance piece is hard to critic. There are a lot of severe cuts and changes in camera angles which makes it hard to follow the motion of the dance; however, these artistic cuts and angles do flow with the movement of the music even if they make it hard to watch the dancing.

 I think the main thing a potential viewer needs to know is that you do not need to be a tribal dancer to benefit from this DVD. These are basic moves that all dancers need to know and everyone needs to repetitively practice these moves as they are done in this program. I will also say that you do not need to know yoga to use this DVD either. The movements are very simple and easy to pick-up and they make for wonderful warm-ups and cool-downs.

 If you find that you have a hard time practicing your moves over and over and you need a little encouragement to do so, I think this just might be the DVD you need in your library.                                                       

The Heartbeat of Bellydance

Reviewed by Anala Rabari

In this one hour and 25 minute DVD Jenna offers 3 levels of choreography, beginner, intermediate, and advanced all are to the maqsoum rhythm. You have to be ready to use the pause button as the moves are gone through quickly. The emphasis on Jenna's technique is to dance to the accents rather than any underlying beats or music embellishments.

The thing that made warm-up stand out from that of other DVDs is her actually inclusion of the ankles and feet which is something that a lot of programs neglect.

Choreography Workshop. The choreography has 4 segments: performance, breakdown, demonstration, and then practice. The performances are the same ones that you find in the performance section of the DVD. The breakdown section quickly breaks down every move in the choreography from start to finish. The demonstration section is her dancing the choreography in the practice studio in front of a mirror. The practice section is the breakdown of the move followed by the demonstration and then a demonstration of all the moves up to that point. For instance, on the second move you get the breakdown, a demonstration of it, and then the demonstration of the first move going into the second move. During the breakdown, practice, and demonstration sections there is a double box at the left side of the screen that shows you what choreography you are on and what combination in that choreography. For instance if it says 1-5 you are seeing the 5th combination in the first choreography. During the practice the name of the combination pops out next to the box when Jenna starts to each it and during the demonstration section they have smaller numbers pop out to the side that show the sets of 8 counts for the move.

Rhythm workshop with Raquy is an excellent resource for anyone trying to understand Middle Eastern rhythms. Popular rhythms such as Baladi, masmoudi, and ciftetelli are covered as well as 5 others. Each of the 8 rhythms are explained clearly as to where the heavy accent beats fall (or doums). Raquy then claps the beat while counting it and then demonstrates it on her drum. Finally each rhythm is played to performance caliber with Jenna joining Raquy with example moves that might look good with the rhythm.

The Shimmy Drills section is broken into 2 parts: shimmy layering drills and 3/4 shimmy drill. In my opinion her shimmy layer starts out very simple by just having you do an Egyptian shimmy with various upper body movements. Then she moves on to shimmies with pelvic contractions/releases, hip slides, releve, level changes, hip lifts, hip swings, slight lean back or forward, spine flex, hip circles, hip figure 8s, mayas, umis, and undulations. I wish she would have talked more about her weight distribution during these moves. Her 3/4 shimmy drill breaks this shimmy into it's most basic form and you learn to step forward, back, and to each side with it. she then speeds it up to about a walking tempo, then to a normal tempo, and finally to a fast tempo. She also covers how to do this shimmy with a scissor step and a hagla step. For me, as a more advanced dancer, the beginning tempo was painfully slow, seriously I don't remember ever seeing anyone do the three quarter shimmy this slow. Although I think it was good for me to remember to slow my moves to a more extreme level because it helps me to concentrate on my form and to be a better teacher.

For performances She performs in front of a live audience with a mirror behind her so you can see her from a variety of angles at the same time. It looks like this might be in someone's house as she has a small dance space. The thing I found odd was that the audience wasn't doing anything. They weren't smiling, clapping, tapping toes, or zaghareets so it looked like they weren't enjoying her dancing. In the fourth performance she dance to live music and only then did the audience start clapping and only for part of the dance.

In the music section they give the CD information for all the "canned" music that is used on the DVD. They show the cover are for the CDs that are used in the main choreography section with all pertinent information that you would need to know to buy the CD. They then list the songs and CDs they are on for the warm-up and shimmy drill music.

The extras section is pretty simple with bios of Jenna and Raquy. I think the bios could have been in a bigger font to make them easier to read, but their website information is a big enough font that you can probably go there to read more comfortable. Also included is Raquy's discography and a photo slide show of her trip to Cairo. You then have the usually ads for other products, contact information, disclaimer, and credits, although I will point out that they do give you the privilege of teaching or performing things on this DVD as long as you give credit to Jenna.

In overall terms of this DVD the video image quality could have been sharper in places, but not to the degree that you miss anything important. At times the editing between move breakdowns and demonstrations is jarring and it appears that the production company didn't know how to use fades to transition between scenes so you often get a green screen editing marking which can be distracting. Sometimes the lighting is a probably too as there is a large window to Jenna's right that can cause problems depending on the angle she faces. The sound quality is excellent. It is shot with Jenna facing a mirror so you see the front and back view of a movement at the same time. This program does assuming basic knowledge of a lot of moves and proper dance posture. As with any DVD there are times when you wish the instructor would be more clear on what body part or which side they are talking about, but Jenna overwhelmingly gives very clear simple instructions. I think she does a great job of explaining transitions between moves which I feel is something other programs leave out. At times there is no sound at all and I actually think this helps me concentrate more on watching what she is doing. Because it goes assuming some knowledge of dance posture and certain moves this DVD might be too hard for true beginners; however, I think for anyone who has been through a belly dance class this DVD is an excellent resource for learning drum solo technique, rhythms, and shimmy drills and with 3 choreographies to choose from you are sure to find something you like.                                                                           

Princess Farhana: Belly Dance Basics

Reviewed by Anala Rabari

This 50 min. program is divided into three sections: intro, warm-up, and techniques

During the warm-up Farhana demonstrates the moves incorrectly to show you how not to do it. Which as a teacher I find that showing students what not to do can be extremely helpful to them and most videos do not show common mistakes which could be helpful in correcting yourself.  My only complaint about the warm-up section is I wish it had been a little bit longer.

After the warm-up section she explains belly dance posture.  I was happy that she addressed this issue as a lot of videos do not; however, I feel since she did incorporate some bellydance moves in the warm-up she should have discussed posture before the warm-up.  She also briefly covers some basic arm movements.

Basic hip movements: Like most commercial bellydance DVDs she demonstrates hip movements on the doing. During hip drops she talks about isolating and making sure that you aren't rotating the non-working hip at the same time. Hip drops with brush kicks.  She gives good illustrative and analogies such as magic markers on the hips to draw the circle.  I like her attention to little details that get left out of most instructional DVDs such as how to finish off a move with a little stage presence and discussing where your weight is in the body.

After going over the moves by themselves at a few different speeds she then goes over how to do them in combinations with other moves she has gone over. 

Basic shimmies - I really would have liked it if she had spent more time on the shimmy; however, she does go back to the shimmy later on in the program.

Travel steps - I like that when she is teaching the traveling moves the camera angle is such and she exaggerates her moves just a little to where you can really see the transitions she uses to change directions.  I also like how she demonstrates the traveling moves using various strides of steps and from various angles.

Hand positions - she demonstrates wrist circles in both the inward and outward positions. This is then expanded on in the hand and arm technique section where she has you go through nearly every arm position you can think of in bellydance.

She then introduces layering by having you again work on the arm and hand movements with a stationary shimmy.  I like this idea as I have a few students who struggle with their shimmies and I think a lot of us forget to pay attention to the detail of our arms and hands.  So what better way to tackle these common problem areas than at the same time.  

Figure 8's: She reminds you to separate your upper body and lower body.  She addresses the issue of trying to make both the circles of your figure 8 the same size.  She teaches both the forward and backward horizontal figure 8 and the vertical figure 8, otherwise known as mayas.

Undulations: At first I was surprised that camels would be included in this DVD because I think of them as a more advanced move rather than a basic although in hindsight it probably is a good idea to include some challenging moves so you can use the DVD to help you grow as a dancer.

Bonus Features: Performance, Bio, and a guide to belly dance styles

The DVD would have been better with more chapter options so you could choose which techniques to go to.  Overall there are car noises in the background at various points in the program but not too much to be really distracting.  Also halfway through the program the audio fades but then later comes back up.  I guess this could just be on the copy that I rented though. Farhana continually reminds you about posture through the program.  Her sense of humor makes things really fun to learn.  Farhana does a great job of explaining to you where your weight should be during the moves.  The video production was really good too zooming in and out so you can see the moves close up and at a distance.  I feel that this DVD would be great as a supplemental to any beginner's class, but like even the best of DVDs it is not substitute for a really life teacher.                                                          

American Bellydancer

Reviewed by Anala Rabari

This DVD is an awesome look at how the Bellydance Superstars became a phenomenon. Included are depth interviews with the production team of the show and the lead dancers. You get to hear the honest details of what it takes to make a living at bellydancing such as doing 6 shows in one night back to back. You also get to hear the good and bad of what dancers experience from their friends and family because they have chosen to be belly dancers. One of my favorite scenes was all the dancers in Bali, Indonesia having a round discussion about what they think is important for an audience to know about belly dancing. There is a short segment on the affects that 9/11 had on dance classes and the teachers that is further explored in the bonus footage. The history of the dance, costumes, and historical movie footage are covered throughout the production. You also gain insight into the hazards of touring such as getting cards stuck in ATMs, costume malfunctions, sharing stages with rock bands, inter-state child labor laws, accidentally driving the wrong car, and all the girls sharing a charter bus as a dressing room. There is some great bonus footage of Mary Ellen McDonald, a dancer and musician on the techniques of playing zills and tambourine while dancing. She also does an amazing job of explaining shifts in rhythms and the structures of some rhythms.