You Can Bellydance! Absolute Beginner Belly Dance
November 4, 2009 by admin
Filed under Belly Dancing DVD's
- Sophisticated. sensuous. spiritual. irresistible. The Art of Bellydance! Based on the natural, organic motion of the human body, bellydance is easy to grasp, accessible for people of all ages and fitness levels, and looks fantastic on any body type. Even the basic vocabulary of bellydance you learn as a beginner is enough to let you express yourself through sophisticated and luscious movement
Description
Sophisticated… sensuous… spiritual… irresistible… The Art of Bellydance! Based on the natural, organic motion of the human body, bellydance is easy to grasp, accessible for people of all ages and fitness levels, and lo… More >>
You Can Bellydance! Absolute Beginner Belly Dance
I had no experience with bellydance before I purchased this DVD. However, while it is a neat concept (the dance is broken down, the pieces practiced, and then put together,) this product is not realistic for a true beginner.
1) The light skinned instructor wears white clothing against a white background. Her moves, while slow to be instructional, did not stand out enough for me to copy them effectively.
2) The instructor wears long, baggy pants, so it isn’t possible to see how her leg is positioned. I can see the tips of her toes, but I can’t even tell if she is wearing heels or if she is just flexing her foot.
3) The dances are pretty boring. Not that I expected to do much the first time, but I actually got this video for exercise and muscle toning and the dances are so boring and minimal that my heart rate doesn’t even go up.
Rating: 3 / 5
Menu options:
Dance 1 – very easy, slow music style, slow movements
Step-by-step (instruction only) Learn & practice (instruction & practicing routine as you learn) & Practice (routine only 12+ times)
Dance 2 – drum solo, more energy, more interesting, faster beat
step-by-step (instruction only) Learn & practice (instruction & practicing routine as you learn) & Practice (routine only 12+ times)
Performance – Neon showing her skill
Music – text on what music you hear so you can buy it if enjoy it
Neon is a beautiful dancer…. she’s more fluid then most, she almost moves like she is a snake & awesome head balance ability as well.
With that, I found her older dance instruction dvds very cold with no backgrounds & no music. I also found it advanced compared to Jillina, Neena & Veena, Dolphina, Rania, Jenna, Suhaila, Rachel Brice, etc. etc. Yes, I have a large collection.
With this one, I was hoping she’d have more instruction & still have you try the new move several times like a workout before moving on. No, this is more like learning a dance routine & she barely spends time on any move before moving on.
The cold stark white background is boring & the lack of music during instruction is killer. Now I know why her old ones had graphics of how to move, she tells you a few things, but nowhere near enough for beginners. She shows you 1/4 speed 2x about & then 3x in normal speed as she counts out loud 1-8 like dancers learn. The pace is slow & easy, you would burn more calories walking probably.
I tried playing a belly dance cd I got with my “art of drum solo” belly dance dvd to help with the monotony, but it still didn’t help.
If you want to learn with more repetition, try the belly dance twins best, Rania (though she’s REALLY stiff), Suhaila (though she’s a bit too challenging for most beginners in terms of athleticism) or the “ultimate bellydance fitness” which shows you in 1/2 speed & then normal speed which is how I learn best.
This is best for beginners who want to learn an easy routine & who have an idea how to do the basic moves.
You can see a preview of her style on youtube under “you can belly dance” & “Dance Today Bellydance” (which looks 100x more lively/fun then this one) or her name for many clips of her.
Rating: 3 / 5
This is the DVD I pop in to watch and practice over and over again. It’s simple for a beginner like myself to follow the steps. I bought this along with Neon’s – Instant Bellydancer: a crash course in belly dancing, and am very pleased with both. The best part is the practice sessions which are on continuous play. You can have extended workout sessions, or just watch and listen to the music and the dance.
Rating: 5 / 5
I found this to be a valuable collection for my dance library. The first segment teaches what many instructors fail to teach- orientation and smooth transitions early, this video will guide you easily. Transitions from left to right are created by teaching the pivoting of the foot almost magically, creating smooth and graceful dancing, no more boring dancer, learn to dance for all your audience, not just those facing you! The cross step with use of the arms over the head and framing the head,taxsim which is much overlooked, hip pushes, beautiful traveling hip circles,undulations.The second segment teaches a funtastical drum solo,easy to learn. It is easy to add to this choreography and make it more challenging.There is so much in this video, learn to flow gracefully or bump to the beat of the drum, let beautiful Neon guide you into a spellbinding journey of this mystical dance. Overall, I totally enjoyed the quality of this video and the only improvements I would make would be the backdrop or setting which needed color. Learning from a video is easier in my opinion if the instructor faces a mirror or works at an angle and the student follows along. Overall those are minor compared to all that is offered.
Rating: 5 / 5
Being fairly new to bellydance I was greatly helped by this DVD. Neon demonstrates basic moves and strings them together into two very nice dances. Nothing too flashy here: just good info. Why didn’t I give it five stars? Not being formally trained in bellydance, I had a hard time watching Neon’s knees to see which leg was bent and which was straight. She’s wearing flare-leg pants and heels which makes it a bit difficult to determine the exact bending-straightening action so necessery to the moves. I eventually figured it out and enjoy Neon’s style tremendously!
Rating: 4 / 5