::more than somewhat::

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Two amazing looking DVDs coming soon from Sera Solstice and the Solstice Ensemble.

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Irina Akulenko is one of the softest and most graceful tribal fusion dancers I’ve seen on video. Soft, because her moves are feminine and pretty rather than the hard and sometimes robotic moves that are used in tribal fusion. Graceful because she’s beautiful to begin with and her ballet training gives her fantastic form. She has a very wide range of movement. She uses a lot of arm work – again, the pretty kind rather than the serpentine — and she’s expressive. Irina’s dancing is also simpler rather than being gimmicky – and that’s a total breath of fresh air. When I saw the preview for the Bellydance Tribal Fusion Workout DVD, I couldn’t wait for it be available. Somehow the moves she was using looked more accessible to a tribal fusion beginner. And while I may have done a bit of tribal fusion drilling, I haven’t done so well with combinations or gone through an entire TF choreography. Well, except Arabian Spices. Irina’s performance on her new DVD particularly won me over.Mossy, young composer of the song used for Irina’s choreography,   was quite blown away when he saw her performance. Not only was he amazed at her dancing, he thought she really danced his song, Retrying, as he felt it.  That’s a great compliment to a dancer, wouldn’t you say? Well, finally I do have my copy of Tribal Fusion Workout. I’ve only worked with it a little yet, so this is a “first look”.

A different format Although many of the essentials such as tutorial of basics, warm up, cooldown, practice with and without music and cues, performance etc are in the familiar format seen on other World Dance videos, the main workout on this video follows a different arrangement.

Everything fits into three big chunks – upper body, lower body, total body. These three sections each comprise one meaty combination of four smaller mini combinations. Irina begins by teaching one mini combination. For example, that could be a maya layered on some footwork and paired with a level change and takseem figure eight. This is explained and drilled a few times. She then moves on and adds another mini combination and drills that. And then she is joined by two other dancers and all three of them take it from the top. After this, we switch back to Irina on her own for the next two mini combinations, and again the three of them take it from the top. After four mini combos, the full or mega combination is over. So that’s the instruction pattern followed for each of the three segments: Learn mini 1, add mini 2, dance both. Add mini 3, add mini 4, dance whole combo. This is different from most other formats where you learn the moves in detail with no music and then practice a couple of times with music. I have to admit I found myself getting a little confused at first. For anyone buying this video, I’d suggesting watching first to get familiar with the format.

Combinations

I really like the combinations Irina uses. As I said before, there are no gimmicks. And yet, these are challenging combinations because there’s some layering right from the start. I’ve always been thoroughly challenged with multi tasking in belly dance and so I didn’t find I could just barge in and “do” the workout.

To give you an example of one bit of simple layering: you set up sharp side to side hips in a right left right right, left right left left pattern. And then you layer a set of arm movements over this pattern. Wrists in, wrists out, sweep up, sweep down, palms down…etc. Total beginners, have fun, because I know for sure I couldn’t have done this a few years ago. However, if you’re dancerly or have been dancing anyway and are just starting out with tribal fusion in particular, it should be just fine. The combinations use a rich variety of movements, from mayas and undulations to piston hips to shimmies. There’s plenty of footwork, level change (which you can modify) and arm work.

Beautiful arm work

In this program, you don’t get to keep your arms still in table top or relaxed at your sides. Arm moves are very much a part of the combinations throughout. While I wouldn’t call these overly busy arms, I would say there’s constant arm movement – and that’s a good thing, even if it is challenging. The style is not Rachelesque. You don’t resort to snake arms all through. Instead, you’ll find you have to move the arms in large sweeps and presses and include a lot of wrist work. This is what makes the plainest most basic move very expressive. I would liken it to Sera’s East Coast DVDs, perhaps, which also involves something beyond extreme snake arms.

Drills, workout or dance?

Now, here’s where my opinion may differ from ohers. I don’t find this a sweaty workout. Perhaps if you don’t budge at all, but I’m comparing with actual fitness workouts, and I would not say that someone should buy this video to lose weight or sweat off the inches. Certainly, you get some toning, but that’s true of all dance programs. It’s only a workout if you use the term loosely. Is it a set of drills? Not in the very repetitive sense. If you think of drills as something you’d find on Asharah, Ariellah, Sadie, or Michelle’s videos, then this is not the same format. You have some repetitions, but not as much as you might want for drills. That said, from what I know of World Dance’s approach to drills, they like to redefine them to have more variety and changes so that they’re more fun to do. Speaking for myself, I like long repetitive drills, for some reason. When they are a few repetitions only, I think of them as combinations being practiced. Oh well, a matter of semantic preferences, perhaps. Is it a dance? Definitely. And it cannot be otherwise. These are combos that can be considered standard to tribal fusion and you can very easily use them in your own improvisation and combinations.

Who is it for?

While it’s easy enough to say it’s for everyone, I’d say total beginners should not make this one of their first few purchases unless they’re particularly keen on tribal fusion. For workouts, drills and basics, there are other options, including from WDNY. But if there’s a particular attraction towards tribal fusion – as was the case with me – don’t miss out on this. For advanced beginners who haven’t done any tribal fusion dancing but would like a touch of it, this is a good option as it doesn’t get into hardcore tribal. For advanced beginners who want to expand their tribal fusion repertoire, this is a good one. For more advanced dancers, I wouldn’t presume to speak, but I’d say they could use it for a refresher and teaching ideas. Or just to plain enjoy nice combinations with a graceful dancer. Overall, this is a pretty and enjoyable package. Not spectacular, but very nice and more to play with for tribal fusion enthusiasts.

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Kytheria, another name for Aphrodite, is a fitting name for Drumspyder’s elegant new album of slinky, sensual music.

San Fransisco-based Drumspyder, whom I interviewed earlier, composes unique percussive music that blends so many genres and regional influences. In that sense, it’s “world music”. But you could also classify it as dub or downtempo. Or maybe it would be best not to classify it at all. You can hear jazz, rock, folk and other genres right through.

On the Kytheria album, there are.fourteen wonderfully rich tracks of listening. Interestingly, each track is quite distinct in its style — and yet very Drumspyder. As with the previous albums, this is great stuff for tribal fusion dancers, but it’s just plain great listening as well. My favorite is the first track, The Nocturnal Stealth of Cats, which has what seems to my ear, distinctly Indian influences. Though it could be Middle East as well. Another lovely track is Return of the Dark, sensual and yet fast paced and somewhat trance like. Turning is also a trance-like track and one which would be quite nice for whirling, in my opinion. Ah, all the tracks are really nice. I normally can’t handle how artists just insert Western instruments into music from the Orient, but Drumspyder has managed to mix them seamlessly and naturally so that they just fit and can’t be any other way.

For those interest, Kytheria is published by Dakini Records.

Tags: Belly dance, General // 8 Comments »

This looks really good and I’ve been looking for something to remind me what turns used to be like. I had a tough time with them in jazz class so I’m hoping this will reset turns for me. Only problem is the release date is so far away… I certainly hope there are slow and easy drills!

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Since I began working with Beyond Balletone, I’ve become even more impressed with it. In my review, I had said this was a fantastic cardio workout. Three weeks later, I stand by my statement.

I’ve been working with this DVD regularly and to my amazement and delight, am seeing some benefits. My belly has started to go down (though a friend of mine keeps warning me it’ll go down in history and nothing else) and my upper arms are thinner. Legs as well. Balance has improved. Lovely.

Why I think this workout works is because the movements used are large rather than difficult. There’s sustained activity for a whole hour (unless you want to stop earlier) and although the variety of moves is limited, the expansiveness of these moves keeps the heart rate up. Gradually, I find I’ve been able to do more and more of the workout at one go and am now 45 minutes into it. In fact, all that’s left is an express version of the workout, and a cool down.

As I’ve progressed with this workout, I’ve figured out what is it one can do to extend the challenge – not that it’s a low challenge workout to begin with.
1. Get into good form so that more muscles are called into play. Although Sharon Fable tells you it doesn’t “have to be pretty”, I disagree. Eventually, it must because as you try to conform to the right look, you work harder .
2. Enlarge the moves to make sure you are getting the most out of it So, if you’re reaching forward, focus on reaching further and further without compromising form and balance. This will enhance the stretch and will elongate and tone the body more.
3. Focus on flow and balance so that you use the core fully, strengthening it some more. End each movement with a foot or leg lift rather than letting yourself settle on the floor with the toes. Increase the height of the foot or leg lifts significantly to up the balance challenge.

These few things will increase the shelf life of the exercise program.

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I completely love the look of this one! To me, it seems to fit somewhere near when East Coast Tribal I came out. Straightforward but lovely combinations. I love Irina’s style too.

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I never judge a workout by the amount it makes me sweat. There’s so many parameters to a session of good exercise and the sweat factor can vary for many reasons, including how hot it happens to be in my very hot city that day.

But with this particular cardio ballet workout, led by Shanon Fable,  I can’t help noticing because halfway through it I’m covered in sweat and my heart rate is up and all I can say is this is the first review I’ve written in a state of collapse on the floor. And I haven’t even gotten to the two bonus cardio workouts at the end of this workout yet! Not today, please not today!

Beyond Balletone is another one of the wonderful ballet based workouts I’ve discovered this past year. I have loved, loved, loved working out with the ones I’ve used. That would be Standing Pilates, Angles, Lines and Curves, and Elise Gulan’s Element Ballet Conditioning although I do have quite a few others. I’ve noticed that if I just stay regular with these and reduce the junk I eat, the effects begin to show. Unfortunately, I tend to get too many breaks in the exercise schedule (most of them my own doing) and once I’ve succeeded in cutting back on junk food, I go back to it. Ouch.

But back to Beyond Balletone, which is part of a series of videos, all of which I don’t have. They don’t need to be worked on together. Beyond Balletone works on balance, muscle conditioning, strength and endurance, and cardio. The amazing thing is that it looks dead easy – and turns out to be a killer! I think what makes it so solid a workout is that large movements are used. These are kept up without a break – not even between segments – and include participation from the whole body. It’s a beautifully conceptualized and innovative workout. Fantastic for the posture as well, as you have to reach tall with all your energy for every other move.

There are six segments on this DVD. The warm up starts with your feet and toes, and I really like that. I wish all dance and exercise videos did a little bit of that because I’ve personally suffered from ankle twists and minor (but annoying and disruptive) toe injuries from stepping nice and vigorously before the muscles are ready for it. So, here we begin with exercises that get you to explore balance on different parts of your feet –the ball, both inside and outside part of the foot, etc. A particularly nice exercise is when you pick up each toe and set it down separately in a rolling and flowing sequence.

The warm up goes on to plies and leg lifts, shoulders etc, but all of it is unusual; different from others I’ve seen.

Pretty soon, you find you’re ready for the first muscle conditioning pattern. This is a “fall – back to up – tap – tap” exercise where you reach and fall forward a little and then get back straight and lift the leg and tap down the pointed toes twice. The reaching and going back are large moves and toe taps require balance, which immediately means you use your core. Before you even realize, your heart rate is already way up. Large arm moves help to make that happen as well. For each segment, there’s a “Power” session where you do a portion of the movement pattern faster. Whew. It’s great stuff.

Those who have done full-fledged ballet before may not find it challenging – in fact, they’re sure not to – but for someone like me who’s only done ballet-based workouts, it’s enough work and I haven’t been able to tackle the whole one-hour workout at one go yet. In fact, I started small, with two segments, and then four. I’m yet to go for the cardio segments which are sure to make me collapse in a total heap. The whole one hour has got to be something.

The three parts that follow the fall – back – tap – tap pattern involve side lunges and reaches and passes. The moves are very skillfully arranged in patterns and it’s jus tone pattern for the whole segment. That means repetition, which is good because you’re not wasting time learning new moves and sequences. I’m not sure if it would annoy some people, but as I see it, no one works with just one workout, so when you’re bored just do something else the next day. Should I choose to a ballet workout every day of the week (not really necessary), I now know quite a few. You can also put on some nice music and make up your own sequences. I do that sometimes, to tango chill music.

The four patterns you work with teach a lot of coordination – no doubt about it. Come to think of it, it isn’t that the movements themselves are so unusual; it’s the way they’ve been put together and the seamless non-stop moves sustained for a whole hour.

The cardio segments involve large walks forward with turn out (more toning), large side reaches, lunges, leg lifts, and pivots. She doesn’t require you to maintain a “pretty” form, but if you try, the challenge increases as you hold proper form throughout. The addition of the walks and some chase moves give the extra cardio benefit, although as I said, the workout is already quite cardio effective. And I exercise often enough, to notice.

At the end, there’s an express workout “Allegro” that uses all the patterns with fewer repetitions but in one big sequence. Very thoughtful and really nice for those who want to do a shorter but more frequent workout. It’s actually meant to finish the main workout, but I wouldn’t hesitate to use it with the warm up as an express.

Two important things about this DVD. One, the music is used beautifully to keep the workout going. It isn’t just random music but fitted well to the workout.

The second point about this program is the absolutely fantastic instruction, cuing, pacing and preparation from Shanon. So many other DVDs, including dance instruction, could learn from how this one has been cued. Shanon will count out or use the music to keep you going through the moves, but in addition, she’ll prepare you for what’s coming. I use a little test to see how well the cuing has been done on a DVD. Just listen to the audio only and try to work with that. If you find you understand pretty well what’s wanted and you keep pace, the instructor has done an excellent job. Well, this one passes the test hands down.

For non dancers, I’d recommend going through the video several times and trying out the moves slowly before going in for the actual exercise session. There’s a lot of coordination involved in these moves and you can get nice and mixed up if you don’t try them out slowly first.  I also recommend building up one or two segments at a time because it’s tougher than it looks and there’s never any point barging into a whole exercise program and then finding you’re just too tired to do it again for the next 3 days. So,, build up the stamina and the proper form and then keep it up for several months. That’s what I’m going to do!

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I had the absolute thrill of talking with Rachel Brice and got to ask her a whole lot of questions about her recently released video, Serpentine, a 2 DVD set, her life, and more. Though we were able to talk for only a while, I found Rachel fantastically warm, open and friendly and just the type of person you could chat with all day – if only she weren’t so busy. In fact, I have to say I was more tempted to chat and forget all about the interview. But I didn’t…

What made you want to work on another video? That too, a set of two DVDs?
Well, you know, I felt it was time to work on a DVD and I also saw the fantastic work others were doing with World Dance New York and I was really excited! Jenna’s wonderful videos, for example, are absolutely amazing. Also Sera’s East Coast Tribal videos. The quality of these and many others from WDNY is fantastic. So the two things just came together – timing, and World Dance. Just luck, I guess. I called them and they said yes, and there we were!

There you were…with two discs, not one. Was it a very big project for you?
It was a big project, but so much fun. I didn’t really set out to make two discs, but I had so much material, that it had to be at least two. I actually cut out a third choreography, you know!

Oh no… no no no…
Yes, this was a medium-paced choreograp hy, because we had a fast-paced one and another that was slow? There was just no room for it! Ah, another time.

Another time? Do you mean you have more DVD ideas in your head waiting to get out?
My god yes, there are so many ways this material can be presented and there are so many ideas. It’s so exciting. So, definitely, yes.

And are you overall happy with the way these two discs have turned out?
I’m very happy with the DVDs, though I see many things I’d like to change in the way I do things. I have to say that Neon is incredible to work with. She has brilliant ideas on how to present things and she coached me on how to create this program to really work. A lot of this is Neon’s expertise.

Tell me, where did you get your obvious love of yoga?
Oh, when I was a little kid, I saw a book on yoga in school and was captivated with a picture of someone doing the sarvangasana, the shoulder stand. I was a tiny girl, but I started practicing this. Later, when I was 16, I began studying yoga formally. So really, I’ve been interested in yoga my whole life.

Do you practice yoga everyday?
Yes. But I don’t necessarily do the asanas everyday. I do the pranayamas and other aspects of yoga.

Do you do any other form of exercise? And do you combine yoga with any special diet to help you stay in shape for dancing?
I do yoga and belly dancing – no other form of exercise. About 5 times a week for a couple of hours each day. Diet? I tried to. I even tried Ayurvedic for a while, but it didn’t work. I just make sure I eat fruits, vegetables and grains and a little bit of meat. But I love pasta and cheese and stuff like that, so every now and then, give in to it.

You worry about putting on weight?
Not really. I’ve always been skinny and in fact the worry is that I could maybe look as if I’m not well if I get thinner. (Interviewer sighs).

Why did you leave out sun salutation sequences from your yoga program on the two new discs?
I don’t do sun salutations. You’ll have seen them on my previous DVDs because at that time I was doing a different form of yoga, a sort of power flow. But in time, I’ve come to appreciate a gentler form of yoga based on sequencing. It’s also rather nice as I get older, to use this more sustainable form of yoga.

In the backbends yoga segment, I see that you’ve left out many asanas that other dancers seem to focus on. What was the basis of your selection of asanas?
I think that our lower backs are flexible enough. That’s not where the work is needed. It’s the upper back we need to focus on. So I’ve chosen asanas that heighten flexibility in the upper back. Many commonly used asanas can actually be adapted to contribute to safe backbends.

Why did you dedicate such a large portion of this DVD set to yoga? There was plenty of yoga on the previous videos as well, and there has been some criticism of that because you can get yoga anywhere, but you can’t get Rachel Brice’s style anywhere. Why not just have focused 100 percent on that?
It always cracks me up when people think that yoga is an afterthought to dance… I’ve done more yoga than dance practice and believe that it’s physically and mentally part of the dance. I also have my own style and selection of yoga, so that’s another reason to include it in the program. To me yoga, is not just about the body but about the breath and the heart – and there’s more to yoga than just the asanas. Most dancers do a warm up and cool down. My preferred way of doing that is yoga. Also, I’m aware that there are many people who have to save up to buy my DVDs. They shouldn’t have to buy separate yoga instruction if they don’t have the money to invest in both disciplines. And of course, if they don’t like the yoga, they just don’t have to do it. There’s enough on the DVDs to keep anyone busy.  This is a simpler, gentler yoga and it’s more accessible to people of different ages, sizes and so on.

Do you see yourself as the leading definer tribal fusion?
No! Not at all. I think I only fused two existing styles – Suhaila’s and my teacher, Carolena Nericcio’s. Otherwise, I was only really doing what everyone else was. I’m not really a great one for ideas – and I think that’s fine too. And I was shocked to see that people really thought so highly of my work.

Well, you’re pretty much synonymous with Tribal Fusion as far as the world is concerned! Whom do you admire as a great performer?
Oh that’s easy.. Jamila and Suhaila, who started this style. I’m inspired by Fat Chance Belly Dance, Mardi Love, Zoey Jakes, Unmata… they endlessly inspire me and fill me with admiration. I love seeing others perform!

How do you see Tribal Fusion evolving today? You know, at Tribal Fest, I saw that creativity is at an all time high. Everyone is doing such amazing and original work! Tribal Fusion is splitting up into many directions: hip hop, vaudeville, jazz, avante guard.. it’s very exciting and I’m blown away by the sheer creativity I see.

What makes you so tranquil and calm? Yoga?
I’m very different from how I come across on videos. I’m not very calm at all. But yes, yoga keeps me sane. It’s important to me. And to my backbends!.

What do you do when you’re not terribly busy traveling and dancing? I’m learning natural building! It’s very absorbing and satisfying.

Tags: Belly dancer interviews // 3 Comments »

WDNY’s already impressive Tribal Fusion lineup has an addition from the star who defines this genre: Rachel Brice herself. Starting with a nice and basic introduction from Tempest in 2006, they’ve steadily been taking it up a notch and then another notch until the just-released Serpentine. I know that dancers who read my reviews will want an answer to the general all-encompassing question, “So what’s it like?” As is often the case with WDNY’s videos, I find it a difficult question to answer because above all, there is invariably a stupendous amount of content – more than from any other producer. And for a really low price. Serpentine is no exception. In fact, it’s a 2-disk set in which Rachel Brice gives you the whole foundation of the unique signature style she dances. In four hours.

Yoga, the foundation

I think we’ve seen from Rachel’s previous two DVDs that it is yoga that got her where she is. It is the very core of how she moves and on this set of disks, she takes you through a complete program of preparation through yoga and isolations, the way she believes will lead to “strong, relaxed and sinuous movement.”

In previous reviews of her videos, I remember saying we didn’t want yoga from Rachel Brice, but the secret of how she dances. Well, it looks like yoga is that secret. If the aim is to dance like her and not do any yoga – forget it. In fact, this set is making me see the previous ones differently. Both the disks in this set have yoga programs spread over them. The content does not particularly repeat what’s on her previous videos, so this set doesn’t make those redundant at all. As an Indian, I’m happy to see she refers to the Sanskrit names of all the asanas. I think that’s a nice acknowledgement of where yoga came from in the first place. The yoga instruction is calm, disciplined and smooth – much as expected from Rachel Brice. It takes patience and motivation, until you get nice and addicted to it as people do, from where you’re on to a good thing. Rachel uses the downward facing dog position as a base and builds sequences for the starting or Yoga 1 session that starts the first disk.. On the second disk is the back bending yoga session. This section is unsurprisingly challenging but all doable except for one scary asana – the one where you put your hands backwards next to your ears and then lift everything up. You’re instructed to try this only if you’re really comfortable with it. I’m surprised not to find some of the positions other dancers recommend when conditioning the body for backbends. There’s the position where you sit between your knees (that takes weeks to get to) and then gradually bend back and place each hand on the feet. But well, since Rachel does very relaxed backbends, I have no quarrels with whatever her selection happens to be. If she says it works, I have no doubt it does. Each of the two disks has a “finishing yoga practice” recommended to relax and stretch with. In fact, Rachel has a small guide on how to use this whole program and change whi or classes you pick up to work with on each day of the week. Nice touch, that.

Isolations, the technique
There’s a ten-point posture check and then we begin with a shoulders drill. This is easy enough. But then, we go on to torso drill and things begin to change from other DVDs.

Right from the start, she has foot patterns and timing variations for you to deal with. That’s fantastic. While this is accessible to all levels and genres of belly dance, absolute beginners would do well to use a video focusing only on plain vanilla isolations first. Or learn these in live classes. It’s interesting but here’s where you’lll see Rachel Brice in regular belly dance mode. It’s interesting that WDNY or Rachel chose to use music loops of rhythms instead of the modern music they usually go for. Well, it’s better for concentration and timing but worse for motivation and variety. It’s also more drilly, I guess. We cover side to side chest seesaws, isolated waves of the upper body, and bigger waves that involves the back. Then we get into hip work in short but powerful drills. These include obliques and glutes on the up and down, pelvic locks, alternating small pelvic circles, interesting maya variations and other layered moves involving footwork and chest moves.

The whole isolations session isn’t what you’ll find on other videos and has a lot to work with. Breakdown here is brief and there’s quite a bit of layering and really, dancers who’ve got over the first brush with isolations will have a better time of it.

Shimmy drills
Overall quite a challenging shimmy drill. A few seconds into it you’re layering with shoulders, arms and torso moves and undulations. At one point there was a shimmy on, torso roll down and chest slides going on all at the same time. Come prepared to do sharp clean moves! You work with locks as well. Shimmy layering on other moves such as slides and circles also feature, but there isn’t a breakdown. As Rachel says, you just have to keep trying it. We also do the 3/4s. It’s a killer drill – the killerest I’ve seen for shimmies because it’s a lot of stuff squeezed into an intense and concentrated session.

Leg strengthening drills
There’s a nice segment focusing on building strength in the legs, much needed for keeping moves going while you change level etc. Toe-heel changes, releves, knee lifts, grapevines with passé, chair poses and level changes feature in this section. It’s a very nice addition to the whole program.

Two Choreographies
On Disk 2 are the goodies that we’ve wanted from Rachel Brice all along – combinations in her style. This is where we move into full-fledged tribal fusion style, but of the two choreographies, the first would help belly dancers in general to learn and sharpen some rapid-fire hip moves. The first choreography, set to an unusual piece of music, Kozarica Kolo, is sassy and uses a lot of contrast moves – sometimes slow and sometimes really fast. It’s a short piece and divides into two combinations repeated. But tough for those of us who haven’t worked on so much control.

The second choreography is set to Whisper Hungarian in my Ear and in this one, the moves luxuriate to the music. It’s also about as short. In fact, I do wish both had been about twice as long. In the performance Rachel does at the end, the Hungarian piece is extended to more combinations. The choreography ends in a backbend and a truly serpentine and Rachesque pose. There’s a great Practice Loops feature so you can keep running through the combo until you’re happy with how you’re learning it. Instruction In the yoga sessions, Rachel is calm as she slowly leads you the asanas. I find this a relief after working with some of the videos that never seem to pause for breath while shooting instructions at you. I think yoga practice needs tranquility – it’s part of the package. With the drills, she is businesslike as she makes you get on with it. And in the sessions for the choreographies, she’s warm and funny. As ever, she looks exotic and amazing no matter what she does or says.

The Rachel Lectures

At the end of the second disk we have a fantastic set of lecture classes. In these, Rachel demystifies and advises you on various tricky aspects. These little lectures are accessible separately on the menu, in case you want to work with one part and not another. So here, Rachel takes up backbends and gives some critical advice on what to do and what not to do. Very important for the safety of your back. Then, she takes up basic footwork for those who are fairly new to belly dance. She explains and teaches four arm patterns — simple ones. There’s a portion about how to understand the basic beat of the music. And finally she teaches you how to do the Ujjayyi breathing for the yoga. These lectures add impressive depth to this already solid program. I’m often amazed at how dancers can “give away” their skill, knowledge and style and that too for just a few dollars. This is one of those times. Although I still feel I’d have liked less yoga (which you can, after all, learn elsewhere) and more and easier combinations and arm paths, I think one can’t complain. Two choreographies, drills, technique, yoga, advice –what more can one want!

Tags: Belly dance videos // 20 Comments »

One of the most elegant workouts in my collection, Angles, Lines and Curves is also one of my absolute favorites. Taught by Kari Anderson, who also has other videos similar to this one, it look me quite a while to learn. In fact, I’d say I haven’t quite finished.

Moving from standing to mat and back to standing, the exercises are based on Pilates, ballet and yoga principles and movements. The whole mix is dynamic and flowing and is meant to make you strong, flexible and balanced. [Read more →]

Tags: Fitness // 10 Comments »