All three of Jenna’s instructional videos have been incredibly generous in content. In The Heartbeat of Bellydance she teaches you three complete drum solo choreographies, beginning with a short, easy one and building up to a long, detailed advanced one. This video, one of World Dance New York’s best releases, is probably a part of every belly dancer’s video collection. Bellydance, Basics and Beyond is a comprehensive in-depth belly dance beginners course. Jenna explains and demonstrates all the fundamental moves in very solid detail. She gives safety tips all through and moves you through a warm up, basic moves, compound moves, traveling steps, arm work, combinations and practice and more. All in all it’s a three-hour workshop. I revise my basics with Jenna every so often, correcting and polishing the basics.

The Next Level: Transitions, Turns and Layers takes up beautifully where Basics and Beyond leaves off. Unlike with many videos, there’s no doubt that is a clear step up from beginner to intermediate (for want of better terms).

Tough seven-minute warm up
I’ve seen so many warm ups on so many belly dance videos. I’ll tell you straight off that this one is different. It’s not that there are new movements, but that there are complex moves that change after just two or three repetitions. You begin with some head rolls following a figure-8 trajectory. You go on to some shoulder rolls. And that’s where easy ends. From then on you go straight to undulations, double undulations with level changes, hip twists with a layer of upper body undulations and more and more moves. I personally have a big problem with movements changing after just a repetition or two. You just hear and get the explanation and begin to try out the move and it’s time to move on to the next. But perhaps more advanced dancers will find that easy. I try to solve this problem by watching a few zillion times before working with that section.

The warm up here is made up of full fledged belly dance moves rather than stretches, yoga, or pilates exercises. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I can’t say - but it’s challenging. I tend to do different warm ups when working with this video and use the warm up like a long challenging combination. I use it for skill building.

Many many moves in a hip layering drill
Much in the style of the warm up, Jenna takes you through a series of hip moves using the flow rather than the repetition method. You will not find yourself doing the same move 20 or 30 times. Rather, you’ll go from one move to the other like a long, long combination. The “drill” aspect will have to come from doing this whole sequence many many times. The moves include mayas with twists, twists with reverse undulations, one-hip horizontal circles layered on a traveling step… ah, there’re too many to list!

How I tackled this segment is by watching it many times. Then, I went so far as to record the audio part and move it to my iPod. I listen to it in the car or during other free spells and mentally do it along. Then I actually get to the sequence for real and work with it. Only with many repetitions will one get it smoothly. Nice and challenging.

This is a very different layering drill from say, Sadie’s or Michelle’s. The whole approach is different.

Upper body layering
Rib cage circles, shoulder pushes and shimmies in different patterns, shoulder shimmies layered on chest slides, torso rotations, squares, hip circles, and on folkloric steps. This is a short short intense drill. There’s no breakdown and explanation of moves here. Remember.. this is the next level. If you need breakdowns you’ll need to go back to Basics and Beyond.

Both these drills are also a lesson in transitions as you move smoothly and quickly from one move to the other.

A bit of a turn

Explanations begin in this section as Jenna breaks down each turn. She explains each in detail with all associated body movements, footwork, arm work, weight change, etc. She goes through several turns before moving into the actual drills segment. This begins with showing you how to spot. And then, systematically, you begin working on the turns, first with the main elements and adding on more as you go along. Many of these are used in the choreographies later on the DVD. Beautiful, graceful turns. I haven’t worked with this section yet, but just watching it makes me want to.

The only thing that comes as a bit of a shock is that this too is a super short section. It’s over before you know it. Thankfully, the choreographies will use what is in the drills and you’ll get practice, but I have to admit I’d have liked much, much longer drill and turns sections.

Celebration of Rhythm
I have thoroughly enjoyed learning this choreography. Thoroughly. I worked with Jenna as systematically as she has worked to teach the 9 combinaitons that make up this choreography, set to Celebration of Rhythm from Jehan’s GoddessDance CD. It’s a saidi-like piece with the second half being quite drum solo like. I’ve loved the idea of completing it.

Jenna first demonstrates the whole choreography. Not in costume. And then we go through each combination, one at a time, with two rounds of practice with music each. Each combination has only its own practice sessions, not the previous ones in a building block format. I’m fine with focusing on one combination at a time. The teaching is at a lovely pace. Not too fast at all, and not painfully slow. And it’s completely detailed.

This choreography is quite lively and I’ve performed it (informally) to small appreciative audiences. It’s a perky, cute one.

Raks Bedeya
If you add the previous 9 combinaitons to the 27 in the second choreography, you have a staggering 36 combinations on one DVD. And remember that’s not the only thing on the video. When I compare this with a lot of other videos, specially some from IAMED, I’m amazed at the amount of content one gets for less than half the money. You can’t get more generous with combinations, really. Two whole performable incredibly-taught choreographies.

I haven’t learnt this second choreo yet but plan on getting to it pretty soon. After Jillina’s Egyptian Pop. It’s a long, long tough one. Lots of turns, nuances, detail. It’s a very pleasant choreography and one from which you’d be able to take away so much. All the transitions and turns are packed into this choreography. Get through it and it would affect the rest of your dancing, for certain.

Raks Bedeya is from Wash Ya Wash 2 and is a lovely piece with lots of variation built into it. Changes of pace and all.

This choreography moves a fraction faster and does have chunks practiced together rather than only one combo at a time, going all the way through 27.

There’s a cooldown of gentle stretches.

Performances
Jenna performs both choreographies in costume. She looks cute and if you work witht his video, I’d really recommend looking at the full choreography on each practice session. You’ll take in the nuances that kick in only during a stage performance.

What would I give it on a 5-point scale? 9.