Aziza’s Ultimate Bellydance Pratice Companion
December 27, 2009 by admin
Filed under Belly Dancing DVD's
Product Description
Want a challenging bellydance class that trains you to move every body part with grace, power, clarity and fluidity?
Need a dance practice that keeps you at peak performance?
Aziza, an internationally renowned artist… More >>
Aziza’s Ultimate Bellydance Pratice Companion
I purchased this dvd from a bazar based on the reviews on amazon, and my disappointment with its content made me write my first review on amazon after being a customer for years:
- The dvd is very much over-priced considering that it is a budget production & second-hand content. Notice how there is always a good review added here when someone has a copy for sale!!
- This dvd is recommended on Aziza’s website for “experienced bellydancers”. But its cover & title doesn’t correctly represent the content. It is basically an exercise dvd, the content lacks originality if you are experienced in bellydance and in parts the repetitiveness is boring. It claims to teach “stationary techniques”, but this is a cover up for the fact that it has been filmed in a small confined space. You can see if students and the teacher tried to move, they would trip over each other. Student’ look more novice than experienced. Visually it hasn’t got a nice presentation since in parts the teachers movements are obstructed by student’s hand & arms.
- Special feature favourite music recommendations: the dvd was advertised for “experienced dancers”, then your intelligence get insulted when two cds are displayed on the screen. There is no explanation about what type & style of music they are or how they are relevant to the “stationary techniques” taught on this dvd.
- Special feature live performance: You get to see more of the back of people’s head than Aziza’ dance moves. In parts, two third of the screen is covered with the audiences hair & shoulders. Although you can’t rate Aziza as high as the likes of Sahra Saeeda and Shareen El Safi, her performances are ok. But on this dvds, Aziza dances as if she has been cornered. There isn’t enough room for her to dance her usual style of moving from one side of the stage to the other.
- As for the fan club of “Aziza is a gem and so is this dvd”, I am sure she is a lovely girl. But if you have studied the Egyptian style of bellydance, then Aziza is good but typical of her type: toned body and nice outfits with good technical display of an acrobatic sequence of movements while the music is being played in the background. Bellydancing is an art, not a “challenging exercise” routine (unless one is a couch potato). As for the word “Ultimate” in the title of this dvd, you just have to laugh at the arrogance of the person who chose to use it.
Rating: 1 / 5
Why Amazon always asks me for my view? I may receive many attacks afterwards!
The teacher is a bit on the plump side; she is of the biggest build amongst all my DVD teachers but she is not obese! There are many new things I have learnt from her like moving the arms, wink, and dancing non-stop. She has a very attractive face and smile!
But I have grown through this stage. In comparison to 21 shimmies that I bought at the same time, it is not challenging enough! You can either have it or give it a miss, unlike 21 shimmies, which I would recommend everyone buy it!
Rating: 4 / 5
This is one of the best belly dance practice video on the market. Aziza, a wonderful teacher and dancer, teaches a small group of ladies of different levels, ages and shapes so you can see how the same movement looks on different people. The lesson includes a warm-up, then drills for the arms, the torso, the hips and shimmies. At the end, Aziza’s performance is so outstanding that it deserves 5 stars, but I gave the video only 4 stars because I found it a little short and maybe not varied enough considering its promising title “Ultimate belly dance practice companion”. Maybe a second volume for more advanced students would be a good idea. I am really looking forward to it.
Rating: 4 / 5
Aziza is one of the best dancers and performers around. Her technique is solid, and she is performer with “soul”.
Many dancer have the technique but lack the ‘soul’ so they are simply boring after a minute or two.
A must-have!
Rating: 5 / 5
Even after several years of dancing, non-boring drilling DVDS are hard to come by. I found Aziza’s dvd to be inspiring. This isn’t just because she is a great dancer. It is obvious that Aziza enjoys what she does.
There were times in the DVD when Aziza actually noted that certain moves do cause tension on the body. She actually noted how moves should feel on the muscles (and that it may not always feel spectacular). I liked very much that Aziza did not just stand there calling out numbers at the video camera but actually interacted with her students throughout. I felt more like part of the class not just a spectator. This has inspired me (and my daughter) to take a workshop with Aziza very soon.
Rating: 5 / 5