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.
I can’t wait to start working with this, I love her silky style.
At the moment I’m doing the Rachel Brice dvd a lot, and although hers is not a style that I want to emulate, I’m enjoying working with it a lot. I especially like the shimmy drill and yoga sections.
I do prefer Irina’s dance aesthetic though, she moves beautifully, and it looks far more accessible.
Silky… now that’s a wonderful way to describe it. I’m eager to see if you agree with me on this video. It’s really a bit different from the others. You do know there are two Sera videos coming up, right? Solar and Lunar?
Ooh, no I didn’t know that Mala those sound promising, but I haven’t even opened the East coast Foundations one yet! I did enjoy the first one though. I had a little go on the new Anasma, but it is crazy-hard, much too difficult for me!
I’m enjoying doing some easier stuff at the moment, and being a lot more disciplined about doing a bit every day.
I’ve been working with this dvd a little over the last week, and I completely agree with you, Mala. I decided I couldn’t be doing with the warmup, not that there was anything wrong with it, but it felt a bit rushed compared to the Serpentine one. I love the combinations, found them very difficult at first, but by the second or third time of watching they got a lot easier. I just wish there was a bit more repetition. I know you can skip back easily with a dvd, but I’d prefer not to! I’d like to repeat the combinations around 6 times, instead of the 2 or occasionally 4 on the dvd. It would probably feel like a bit more of a workout then too. But I love her dance style, and I want to dance like her, so I’m going to keep practising with this one for a while!
I tried the workout on Elisheva’s video — very similar to the one here — and found that easier to learn. It’s a bunch of sun salutation sequences. The flow does warm you up. But I got a little discouraged with the difficulty level of the combos here. I’ll try what you did and watch both tutorial and actual combos a few times! Isn’t her performance pretty?
I haven’t even unwrapped Elisheva’s dvd yet, actually there are a few that I haven’t looked at, Fayzah Claudia fluid tribal, and Love Potion are still sitting here unopened too. Shame on me!
Irina’s combinations are very pretty, and how they are put together makes sense, but I always feel like I am just beginning to get the hang of one and it’s time to move on! Yes, her performance is gorgeous, I love her arms. Although her dance style clearly involves a lot of strength and athleticism it just looks so feminine and delicate.
You’re kidding me Ruth. You can buy and not unwrap? I would plain die! My DVDs arrive at a friend’s house because I’m at work, and I hyperventilate until I get my hands on them. It takes me 60 seconds to put the DVD into my drive. Nothing can stop me. If the DVD isn’t working, they have to call in the paramedics.
Elisheva’s is a very interesting DVD in a very interesting format. I don’t think that video’s got its due. I haven’t reviewed it either and really must. The Fayzah is out of my league but also interesting. This whole recent lot of WDNY tackle all the tougher moves in tribal fusion. But hey, I only recently got past East Coast Tribal 1 and haven’t even finished Asharah’s combos. I sometimes drop them if I get stuck at some little thing. With Asharah’s it was doing a shuffle step with a layer of quick omis. Plain step, yes. Shuffle step…couldn’t. I have to figure that one out. But after first disliking the choreo, I changed my mind and do want to finish it. Even the music’s grown on me.
I have to admit I just get torn figuring out which one to work with. There’s enough material for a lifetime but if I don’t get to the DVDs, what’s the point! Should I go back to the Anasma 1 DVD? I loved that… or should I finish the Asharah? Or should I try the pretty Irina video? Oh dear. That’s how I end up not doing diddlysquat.
Ha ha,that could be me talking too! I do exactly the same, flit about deciding between dvds I want to work with until I’m so confused I don’t do anything! Opening yet another new one seems like another added layer of complication at the moment, so I’ve just bought several and not opened them for now. I know I should at the very least check if they work, but I just haven’t got round to it yet. I liked Asharah’s, but it was so big, I never got as far as the choreography. I find the only way I can do it is to pick 2 or 3 and work with bits of them regularly over a few weeks. You’ve inspired me to open the Elisheva though, I’m curious now!
Many people have this problem — getting hopelessly confused and doing nothing. I make it worse by starting these “schemes” and programs. I’ll say, let’s work with this one for one month and only then move on to something else. Or, let’s work with a different one each week and never mind if it’s not finished; we can come back to it. Or finally, in utter disgust, I’ll think: let’s just do bits from whatever DVDs are interesting at this time! But then all sorts of things come in and ruin the program. I’ll get bored if I stick with something for a month and inevitably a new video will turn up. In a week, I never manage to finish whatever I started and so I don’t end up changing it for the following week. That derails the scheme. The third one works but annoys me because I get upset that I’m doing little pieces that add up to nothing. I even tried a spreadsheet with scheduled sessions with enough variety. Yoga and Blanca’s choreography, for eg. Then, TF consitioning and an old choreography. That turns out to be too structured and it’s often exercise vs dance because I want to get thin and by the time I finish a whole 45-60 mins of proper exercise, I don’t want to dance. What a tough life it is!
Elisheva’s video can actually be done in bits and pieces though.
She has little bits accessible separately from the menu, so you can just go in and pick anything up for that matter. For example, an omi ending in a one-side lock. If you feel like adding that to your conditioning session, it’s rather nice. There are also two separate chunks for intermediate and advanced. So, that circle and lock gets layered on to something else in the 2nd level… I forget what. Sadie of course does a brilliant job of this level drilling stuff. In fact, I’m going to do ALL the Level 1 drills from her Thrillin Drillin. So there. But not today….
I do like Sadie’s Thrillin Drillin, I might put that in the mix for next month.
I’ve decided I’m going to pick out 4 dvds each month to work with and try and concentrate on them. I just keep them next to the dvd player, and I’m going to try not to overthink it! For September I’ve been using Luscious, Irina, Serpentine and Autumn Ward. I have had a look at a couple of others, Azhia’s dvd arrived, and I bought the Ariellah one at last, but I’m going to save working with them until next month. At the moment I’m pretty busy with proper work, so I’m pleased if I can get in 3 sessions in a week.
Yes, overthink is exactly what I do with all this. Overthink and underdo!
Who’s Azhia’s? What dvd is this?
Mala
It’s called drills, preparation and cooldowns, she sent a few out as a special offer recently on Bhuz. It looks okay, from what I have seen so far, but I need to have a more thorough look at some point.
Oh, do tell when you see it. I’m a sucker for drills even though I have no end of them already.
I’ve decided to copy-cat you and also pick 4 DVDs to play with for a month! My month starts now right through October because I won’t be in town for a week so it’ll even out. I’m picking Sadie’s Thrillin Drillin, Anasma’s first one, Ballet for Bellydancers, and Love Potion! Balanced, you think? I’m setting no goals. Just playing with any of these four.
Ooh, nice combination! I might use the same ones for October, then we can compare notes. Although I’m looking forward to giving Ariellah a whirl, so I may do a switch with Ballet for Belly (which I have only briefly watched) I normally aim to do 3-5 times per week although that does not always happen, if there’s no set goal then I don’t need to beat myself up about falling short!
Okay! I done today’s session. Sadie’s Level 1 drills on Thrillin. Not pushing myself. My isolations are rusty right now. Creaking at the hinges.
The combination has a bit of everything. Drills, little combos to just dance, more classical combos on Ballet for Bellydancers and some weird and tribal.
Yes, it would be fun to compare notes.
I like that with 4 you can cover quite a few bases, I like to have something tribal, something classical/egyptian, one that is a bit ‘out there’ or new, and a follow along workout for when I’m feeling brain-dead.
I did Irina’s total body combo (the 3rd one) this morning, followed by the Serpentine shimmy drill and yoga for backbends.
I’m already looking forward to switching over to your selection in a week!
Ruth… I did very badly with this. Probably why I went quiet. Actually I’ve hardly danced! Swamped with multiple bits of work so when I get a free spell, I exercise instead. Ouch. So miserable. How did you do?
Me? I was utterly useless too! I’ve been busy with work too, and did the same as you, just a bit of exercise. I went to an Anasma workshop again last weekend, so feeling a bit more inspired again. I did a bit of Anasma today, not much, about 20 mins, and I’ve left it in the dvd player to do more later! (yeah right…)
LOL! That makes two of us, it do. No wonder both went ominously silent on the subject.
)
I’ve watched Irina’s Tribal Fusion Workout dvd several times to try to get a feel for the flow but, for some reason, it just isn’t “grabbing” me. I’m not sure I like the way it is structured and I think it will be while before I get around to using this one.
Irina is a lovely dancer, I LOVE her smooth syle and the dvd certainly looks like fun but, despite all of those atractive features, I have rather ambivilent feelings about the dvd. Hopefully, I’ll warm up to it after I’ve actually worked with it!
Oh well, maybe I’m not inspired to jump into Irina’s workout right now because I am sooooo out of shape that I know I couldn’t keep up with her pace!!! *sigh*
Mala, you asked about a dancer named “Azhia” after Ruth posted that she had gotten her dvd “Drills, Preparations and Cooldown”. Azhia lives in Philadelphia and I’ve been fortunate to have met her several times when she performed at my teachers’s haflas. She is a lovely person, an accomplished dancer, and an excellent (highly in demand) instructor. I’ve heard that her dvd is quite good and I’m seriously thinking about getting a copy before they are all gone. I’ll send a link to her website. It’s the only place you can buy her dvd.
Here is the promised link to Azhia’s website:
http://www.azhiadance.com/store.aspx
I also wanted to ask Ruth what she thought of Azhia’s dvd!
Here is a clip of Azhia’s dvd. (Albeit a short one.) Too bad it doesn’t give one more to go on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FczftPs27NY
There are also several of Azhia’s perfomances on Youtube including one with my friend and favorite drummer (besides my husband, that is!) Joey Tayoun.