Belly Dance Crash Course

Gosh, has it become difficult to evaluate new basics videos or what!   There was a confusing number of them when I started dancing, and now there are so many more – and good ones at that. Oh hey, one or two of Michelle’s own videos compete with this one.

While you can’t review a basics video in isolation from all the others out there, you also can’t ignore that each one has its strengths and that no single instructional video teaches you all of belly dancing. Typically, dancers who rely on videos a lot have huge collections of them. So if someone were to ask me whether I’d recommend this (or any other new basics video) I’d first quiz them in great detail about lots of things. Like video collection so far, how in depth they want to get into belly dancing, whether they go to classes otherwise or not, etc.

After all that circumlocution, let’s get to whom I think this video is right for.

Funny thing is, it depends on which half of the video we’re  talking about. To take the beginners’ section first, I’d have to say that this really is a crash course. It’s quick and gives you the absolute fundamentals. Hip bumps, pelvic tilts, circles, figure eights, and undulations are explained nicely. But what’s really nice is the little drill section after each chunk. These are gentle and short enough for beginners to practice with – and an option for more knowledgeable beginners or intermediate dancers to use if they feel they don’t want to work too hard on some days.

Many moves that others consider basic – the one-hip circle, chest circles, variations with side to side hips, hip downs – are not taken up here. That makes it ideal for someone who wants to learn a bit of “light” belly dancing and get on with it and take it to the dance floor.  If you are the type who can’t bear to miss out on a movement even at beginner stage (like me) you’ll need more in depth instruction. I’m seriously thinking I will lend it to my brother in law who’s tickled pink with belly dancing and wants to try it out. I don’t see him concentrating hard and getting a maya right, but I definitely think he’d be able to shake it a bit with this short but safe instruction.

There are no combinations for beginners, and that’s in order since the drills will be enough work in themselves for a while before moving on to the intermediate section.

I do think though that a warm up would have been good after the posture section. Or before for that matter.

The section for intermediate dancers (or really advanced beginners) gets right into combinations and has you practicing faster versions of the movements taught in the beginners section. There are four combinations in all and these are very nice and usable. Modifable as well. Right from the start you can see that they fit different kinds of music, as Michelle changes tracks for fast and slow versions of the combos. The music, by the way, is really nice. Much of it is from Suhaila Salimpour’s Shehrezad, which I have to get hold of. Thankfully, the combinations are not disappointingly short or anything, and each distinctly gets into separate types of movements. Nevertheless, you could combine them and mix bits of them all up to make your own choreography. I like the combinations a lot and experimented a bit just today, mixing them with some from Jillina’s pop choreography video.

Combos in detail

The first combination goes best with a medium or fast tempo. It’s full of hip drop, drop kick moves, a turn and a shimmy. It’s not a difficult one on the face of it, but the challenge will be remembering when to drop kick, when to drop sit, drop and turn etc when you’re moving fast and repeating the combo on both sides.  The slow version is done to Keyboard Solo from Arabian Musicals Vol 2, Suhaila Salimpour. The fast version is done to Bongo Funk from Suhaila’s Shehrezade.

The second combo is shorter but more challenging than the first one. It’s the body wave combo and has some roll ups and roll downs done quickly to worry about. There’s also a deep deep dip and a hair toss which you’ll have to practice to get right but not practice that much as to hurt your back. Some safety tips here would have been in order. There is only a slow version of this combo and it’s done to Arabian Gold from Suhaila’s Shehrezade.

The third combo, the figure 8 combo, uses up eights, mayas, and a flat eight. It’s a slow sexy sort of combo and it has two moves new to me (though I’m no one to go by). These are a pivot with an up eight and a bounce added to the trajectory of the flat eight. Slow to Keyboard Solo again and fast to a nice modern Turkish sounding piece that hasn’t been named.

The hip circle combo has medium traveling circles, large hip circle with a dip, and snake arms. This one is rather short and maybe the easiest of the lot – except for the deep dip. Arabian Gold and Bongo Funk again.

So there we are. Another basics video for belly dancers. To sum up what I think this video has to offer: a quick get-down-to-dancing instruction on absolute fundamentals, gentle short drills food for beginners and doable for non beginners who want to take it easy, and – four great combinations to play with.