There are so few tribal fusion choreographies taught on DVD! There’s the fantastic Arabian Spices from Sahira, of course. Also her Ali, which I’m personally not fond of because of the forced Indian moves. And then there’s the Fantasy Bellydance series which has at least one tribal choreography on each of the 3 videos. Some are short and some are partially taught – but they’re there. And I don’t know of any others.

So… no one was surprised when I bought Aubre’s Tribal Essence choreography as soon as I heard of it. If you’re like me and your eyes are bigger than your wallet – just put yourself out of your agony and go buy it. But if you’re watching your budget, here’s what to consider.

Difficulty level
I’d say this is perhaps a medium difficulty level choreography. A few quick comparisons:

Arabian Spices – TE is more difficult
Ali – TE is more difficultCombos on tribal fusion DVDs – TE is more difficult
Fantasy bellydance – TE is tougher than Ariellah’s and Darshan’s but not as tough as Sera’s.

What makes TE difficult is the focus on the stomach work. While other choreographies also have quick stomach rolls and pos but they mix it with a greater amount of other bigger moves. In this choreography, the torso and stomach is in an almost continuous flow of movement. So—you must have your stomach rolls in at least passable shape. There is one backbend and a drop but they can be done to whatever extent you want. The stomach work, you have to do to the same extent as the instruction.

Are you ready?
Beginners… go do something else first! This is definitely not a beginner video. In fact, if you haven’t done enough tribal style isolation work in particular, and haven’t worked with any of the tribal combinations, this video is going to be too much at once. But if your omis look 3D enough and if your stomach rolls don’t look like you swallowed a porcupine – go for it.

Instruction style
The teaching moves fast. Clear and adequately detailed, but fast. Aubre is matter of fact, but not cold or clinical like some instructors. Sahira, for instance, is hugely warmer. But Rachel Brice is considerably colder on her DVDs.

Format
Now here’s an odd thing. You’d think there are only 5 combinations and this is a smallish choreography. Not so. It’s a long one because each of the 5 combos is so detailed it needs to be broken into two halves. I’m wondering why they didn’t just break the whole thing down into smaller combos! So you have a section that says “First six eight-counts” and then “Second four eight counts” etc to make up one complete combination. I’m guessing this format is because the moves flow into one another more than usual and a further breakdown may be too fragmented. Also, dancers of the level the instruction is targeted at can handle this sort of breakup easily enough. There are also repeats that include one combo building on the one before it. That’s a good thing because it’s really needed here.

The issue of how to learn fundamental moves has been handled here by putting in a separate little section, “Video Glossary”. Here, Aubre takes up some of the fundamental moves and explains what she means by them. You don’t get into absolute basics ad nauseum,  and yet you see some basics her way.

The choreography
Whether one likes a choreography or not is fairly subjective. Speaking for myself I’d say I like parts of it. Some segments are very pretty but I’d have preferred some larger and more dramatic moves waking it up a bit. In the beginning, it’s spellbinding, specially when done by a group of three dancers. After a while, I feel it could do with some moves that have a stronger presence. But well, someone else may feel differently and I’m no expert on choreography. The music is a lovely piece called Teasing Ways from DJ Mosavo’s Serpent’s Garden. You can see the choreography here though it’s filmed separately for the video.

Performances
The video has a solo performance followed by a group done by dancers from Aubre’s Lumina Dance Company.

Extras
Ain’t none.

(The photo here is an awful picture taken of my screen A workaround until my laptop can remember how to take screenshots again. The screen itself has some problems. So, keep in mind that Aubre and her dancing look a lot nicer!)