::more than somewhat::

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 by Mala
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Okay, so Volumes 2 and 3 of Belly by Sandra are here. In my review of Volume 1, I had said that all of the basic basic material should have been together, either on one disk or a set of two. It seemed strange that many upper body moves were not covered then. A learner shouldn’t have to wait for the such a large chunk of basic instruction – this would mean she would turn to other DVDs. I’m also surprised to see no strong continuity from Volume 1 to 2… such as in the menu style, the way variations and combinations are handled, etc.

Well, now it’s here and with it is Volume 3 on which Sandra teaches a choreography. I’d have opted to start a new set of volumes for the choreographies. But let me stop nitpicking and get down to having a look at Volume 2.

The strength of Belly by Sandra, right through from Volume 1, is that she manages to put an extraordinary amount of advice, explanations and tips without getting boring. On Volume 2, we start with a pretty and neat menu.

Instruction

The neat and logical structure in the instruction section divides everything into explanation and practice sub sections. For all sections and subsections though, Sandra gives you corrective advice. She tells you what you could do wrong, what you need to be careful about, what you can do to make the movement look better, and what to avoid to make it look bad. All of this advice, as I’d said earlier, isn’t tedious because even the explanation sections begin with demos and breakdown and you can start working with her.

Arms: In her arms section – which is always a good idea on a beginner’s DVD, Sandra gives excellent tips. She shows you a breakdown of the iconic snake arms, but she also you how to make your arms look longer, how to prevent shoulder injury, and more. She takes up a variation or combination which uses folded in snake arms and a large S curve pose. I wish there was more here, but well, the practice drill would help a beginner with building in the lift of the chest and arms and making movements graceful. Perhaps one variation which gets another move going…say a pelvic circle in addition to the arm move, would have been useful because that multitasking is something important to try out right in the beginning – more so than the Turkish Drop demonstrated on this video, in fact.

Shoulder shimmy: This is an excellent section, mercifully different from the usual and replete with tips I haven’t seen before, including how to keep the shoulder shimmy a shoulder shimmy. The variation is clever because it will make the learner use different speeds and isolate better as just one shoulder is used for a small portion. There are also good safety tips here.

Undulations:First there’s an undulation prep section. Here, Sandra explains the segments of this whole body move and shows you how to bring in different muscles. She shows you how to activate the diaphragm muscles for this move by inhaling, and by using a few tricks. She also explains in detail how to engage and strengthen the middle segment of your abs.. This prep section even has a practice session of its own and some challenging variations with level  change.

The main full body undulation section goes in-depth into this classic belly dance move. I find a few of the poses a bit awkward here though I understand there’s some extent of exaggeration to teach the dancer how to really engage right to the depth of the pelvic floor for this move. I find Sandra does this move a little differently from others — or so it seems anyway. This is specially for the lower half of the move. I am a little uncomfortable with the undulation here, but opinions and counter opinions on this are welcome.

Variations on undulations and the traveling camel include a version that uses the releve plie, a dipping undulaiton that many will be familiar with, and the second has a lift lift and dip right down with a big level drop to come up rolling. Watch out if you have bad knees.

An undulation combination is a rather nice addition here. However, the whole undulation section has the same slight awkwardness that I am not comfortable with. This photo from the combination shows what I’m talking about:

Reverse undulations of course have their very own section. It would take a while to put her tips into action. It’s a short section which goes on to the practice to a very upbeat piece of music. Variations, in their own section, include walking with the reverse (forwards and to the side) .

The reverse combo has pelvic drops and some footwork, shoulder pushes and chest drops with the reverse undulation.

The Turkish Drop!

Sandra doesn’t say you need to actually do the Turkish Drop but she includes it if you’re curious to see how it’s done. She also believes that it has elements used in other moves that need to be done correctly. That said, I still believe it doesn’t belong on a beginner’s instructional. In fact, it would have done fine as a bonus on the choreography DVD. I won’t give it away by putting in a picture and spoiling the surprise.

Large Hip Circle: Sandra’s favorite move is covered in some detail. Here again, I find she dips her chin into the chest almost on every repetition. I don’t know if this is a stylization and again, that’s something I’d welcome inputs on. Variations include traveling with the circle and some very nice  arm variations. I haven’t seen some of these before in fact. Also some variations on how the chest is used. Deep hip circles are also shown. The large hip circle section actually has the most variations of any move on the video. There’s one final and absolutely beautiful lean with the large circle. I don’t want to spoil the surprise with a photo of it. All the variations together with music make for a wonderful large circle session – except for the chin-to-chest part.

The large circle combo actually begins with some medium circles before getting into some of the more exotic large ones. It’s a danceable combo that includes undulations and more.

Twists: This section begins with some safety tips because you can get injured if you’re too enthusiastic. There’s a nice upbeat practice segment. The short combo for twists focuses on weight change. This is also a nice one you can take straight into your dance.

Finally, there’s a big practice section where you can go through the whole lot of the previous practice segments together. Cues appear on screen.

Sandra’s performance here is to a lovely Latin sounding piece of music. It’s a live performance, evidently not filmed for this video in particular. Sadly, they have the camera on her hips some of the time without showing the whole figure — common problem.

Tags: Belly dance videos by Mala
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The Luscious and Love Potion experience continues through one more delicious bellydance feast, Hard Candy. The preview explains it all in detail, as always. “Two candies in one wrapper”, Neon calls it. Fitness and bellydance. The music is particularly lovely and sounds quite inseparable from the dancing. I totally look forward to it.

Tags: Belly dance videos by Mala
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With her new video, Autumn Ward aimed to bring in the sophistication of the dance from the foundational level. Her objective has made this video different from most other basics videos, which focus on giving the beginner the full repertoire of moves.

The sophistication objective also means that this video is very “talky’. You don’t just start dancing from minute one. That’s both good and bad. Absolute beginners won’t have the patience because they don’t yet care deeply enough. On the other hand, if someone is serious enough about wanting to learn belly dancing in all its elegance, perhaps to get to performance level, then the instruction here will help build clean technique. That means detail detail detail. Even without doing a full-ish repertoire of moves, this video is long. If moves such as the one-hip circle, vertical eights, upper body moves and more had been included, this would have had to be a double disc set. Not a bad thought, in my opinion.

So really, the focus is on form here. Every aspect of form rather than every move known to bellykind.

And so we begin with a Foundation section, probably the most important on the video. Most instructional videos will take a moment to explain correct posture. Not so here. We go through complete head-to-toe guidance including the alignment of the hands and arms, feet and legs, the orientation of the whole body, balance and weight, overall stance and alignment and breath and flow.

`What Autumn does is to explain the rationale behind each concept, demonstrate how it works, how to do it, how not to do it and she also gives you a practical exercise to check or practice.  I have rather weak ankles and dreadful balance, and found her advice on how to ensure you place your feet properly and how to improve balance really useful.

My own way of working with this section would be a) bring it into the regular warm up I do and b) sometimes work through any one part of the section and immediately implement it in the dancing I choose to do after that. For instance, I worked with the feet placement aspect and then when I did a round of Bellydance Rhythms, I paid deliberate attention to the placement of the feet all through. This makes the moves come out more confidently, I must say.

The Foundation section is really like an enhanced lecture. Learners may find it tedious all at one go unless they’re dead serious. Breaking up working with it might make it easier. See, implement, come back and check.

The Arms segment is also foundational, which is perhaps why it follow next. It’s still within the explaining and demo’ing portion of this video. Here, Autumn goes through some basic arm positions, variations, and technique. She basic technique and broken line technique. Autumn actually uses her arms a lot and very prominently and this contributes a lot to the energetic and fully-present feel of her dancing, in my opinion. It’s my belief that following her tips here could make all the difference to how lifted and elegant you could look. The focus is more on energy and stength and how to use it rather than on giving lots of different arm paths and styles. So, for those looking for a mini encylopedia of arm and hand moves to pick from – this is not it. Rather, it’s information and demos on how to get the simplest positions look elegant and dancerly.

We get to another big section now: Building Blocks. This section opens up with a big menu of its own. The description of what is taken up is different from what you’ll typically see. There’s “Full Shift Side” which we also know as a large vertical slide. There’s side to side tilts, lengthen forward and back (forward and back slide), isolated shift side, and released shift back. Yes, you’ll find these on most other basics videos but Autumn takes these up in greater detail, changing weight and urging you to pay attention to certain aspects of form. So again, it’s for those who want a lot of finesse but perhaps not for those who would rather just get on with it without so much depth.

The building blocks are now taken to the next level. Tilts, shimmies and drops, 8s and circles, forward hips, undulations and twist-and-shift are all taight in detail, with each of these having its own menu of further broken down secitons. Many of the movements are advanced. The weighted drop, for example, is something you won’t often see on an absolute basics video. Also double drops, off-center circle, forward hips, and many variaitons on undulations. The basic undulation is taught with great care in what is the longest explanation I’ve ever seen before. I’m definitely going to correct and align my basic unduation with this section. But no reverse undulation has been taken up. I really would have liked that.

The Twist-and-Shift section is also, I believe, a fairly advanced move and difficult for a beginner to do cleanly. The basic twist-and-shift is taken up in three variations.

It’s here that we actually get into the do-along phase. Autumn explains her approach, and then gets into a medium-length warm up. It’s more of a warm up than a conditioning program like Asharah’s. There are many moves I’ve worked on with Sera’s East Coast Tribal, though it’s a shorter warm up on this video.

There’s an Arms flow and warm up now. You need to know what’s in the previous arms technique section to work along with this one. This isn’t a reetitive drill but a flow, so you need to be familiar with the seauence to keep pace. I’m not very good with flows that involve quick-changing instructions so I would need to watch many times before I can do exactly what she’s doing at the same time. The section will help improve transitions but you have to be nice and alert to catch the nuancing.Don’t forget to also follow the gaze.

Practice time! The practice flow section has seven little flows of about five minutes each. These are not dance-ready combinations though they do involve coordinating witht he msuic. These do increase in difficulty level as they go up to the more complex moves. While the first flow-bit is easy enough for me, the rest need to be carefully done if this beautiful form is to be maintained. When I tried it, I too wore a bra and hip scarf, as Autumn’s suggested, and this definitely helped me see if the move and stance was turning out neatly or not.  Each of these flow-bits is to a different piece of music. You can choose to do the entire set of seven with music and no voice cues.

The choreography is meant to see the movements taught in context; technique transforms into dance with the music of Solace – Azure from Iman. I must admit though that I’m not very fond of this piece of music. It’s too peaceful for me. This is a full-fledged choreography and it isn’t broken down a lot. You will get voice cues for moes that have the moves. You dance to both melody and rhythm. There are patterns in the choreography. The focus is on what Autumn refers to as stylistic integrity. This will be difficult for an absolute beginner to follow because choreography learning skills will not have developed. But otherwise, it’s not overdanced or brimming over with gimmicks – it’s clean and simple – which means it must be done with perfect technique to be worth looking at.

Again, you can choose a music-only option.

Autumn performs the choreography in costume and also another Autumn-style passionate performance on this video.

Autumn has an entire guide to this video. Links to excerpts:

http://autumnward.com/blog/?p=26
http://autumnward.com/blog/?p=41
http://autumnward.com/blog/?p=53

Tags: Belly dance videos by Mala
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