REVIEWS ON THIS PAGE: Habiba - Gawaher Choreography; Star Power; Raks and Rolls; How to Belly Dance with Dondi; Ruby Jazayre - Private lesson 1 - Na'asa choreography; Habiba Quick Start Belly Dance;
Belly Dancing the Sacred Shapes; Instructional Bellydance with Jillina Level 1; FCBD Vol. 4 - Advanced Workshop;
FCBD Vol. 5 - Cues and Transitions; Farhana - Bellydance Basics; Layla Hazine

Total playing time : Approx 120mins. ALL REGION DVD

Gawaher - a Choreography in the Egyptian style by Habiba Although not a commercially produced production, Habiba's video does have good production quality and is professional presented. It is geared towards intermediate/advanced dancers. The music used in this DVD is clearly listed both on the packaging, and on the actual DVD itself, together with information on where to purchase the CD from. Habiba teaches an Egyptian style choreography to Samy Farag's "Gawaher" from his album "Midnight Magic" which is 15 and a half minutes long. Don't let the length of the music put you off! (See explanation further down). THIS DVD HAS THE BEST EDITING I'VE EVER SEEN, EVER. The main menu is very clearly laid out - you can either play the entire DVD, watch the live stage performance of the choreography, learn the choreography, or view the credits. Teaching of the choreography has been divided into 11 very easy to follow parts - the teaching part of the choreography has divided by the various rhythms/styles contained in the music, for example "part 1 the opening", "part 2 malfuf", "part 3 maqsoum", "Taqsim 1" etc - an act of brilliance, helping the student dancer become familiar with the rhythms in the piece while learning the choreography. Each "part" of the choreography has three sub-sections "Elements, Walk Thru" and "With the music". Although at first glance the secondary menu seems very busy, in fact this means it's very easy to get to the *exact* part of the choreography you want to learn, and you can just choose the bits you want to do, so you don't have to keep winding forward to back, or keep *repeating talk throughs* and walk throughs you've already gone over. In the teaching section, Habiba stands against a white background wearing a black unitard and hip belt. Although she doesn't break down each step in detail, she does some helpful tips for the more difficult movements. The choreography itself fits the music beautifully, and is dynamic with lots of different elements, and I found because Habiba's choreography fitted the music so well, I didn't have trouble remembering "what comes next". I liked Habiba's teaching style - she gets across the elements of the choreography very effectively, and without waffling. I was very impressed the the very professional standard of her teaching. As I said earlier, don't be at put off by the fact that the entire choreography is 15 and a half minutes long. The brilliant way that Habiba has put the choreography together in rhythmical sections means that you can in fact use most of the sections by theirselves as individual short choreographies, and easily edit the music down using Habiba's structure to create shorter versions of the choreography etc. Habiba's skill at choreographing and understanding of the music means each section of the choreography has a "complete" feel about it, so, if you do this, it won't really feel like there's part of the dance missing - also the music contains two drum solos which also can be used individually if you edit the music. Excellent value for money, "concise and precise" teaching style, well structured choreography - you can learn a lot from Habiba using this DVD! Highly recommended!

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Total playing time : Approx 60 mins. ALL REGIONS © IAMED Productions

Star Power with Amaya Most people who know me realise I'm a big fan of IAMED's instructional videos. I think a lot of students/dancers could possibly overlook this video, as it doesn't teach a choreography, or combinations. However, in my opinion, this is one of the BEST in the IAMED series. Why? Because you can learn fantastic choreography after choreography, and hot combinations galore and still not grasp what really makes a good dancer - how they present theirselves on stage, and developing that all important "stage presence" to be able to give amazing performances. The DVD menu is broken down into 12 chapters. Amaya's personal syle of dancing is Gypsy fusion - I know this has put Egyptian style lovers off this DVD, but Amaya's techniques can be applied to ANY dance style to create a professional, polished performance. Amaya has a superb teaching technique, and comes across as very intelligent and articulate. Everything is very clearly explained. Amaya starts from the basics - the importance of good posture - completely breaking down how to achieve this. She gives hints and tips on musical interpretion in creating choreographies, and creating interest/embellishments within the dance, demonstrating this using the same basic movement and teaches directing your energy out in to different directions to create different emotions within your dance. She also talks and demonstrates the various effects dancing on different areas on the stage creates. There are also plenty of performance showing just how effective these techniques are in action. Amaya teaches how to create a powerful, energetic onstage presence. I thought the section on pacing your performance was particularly helpful and there was some valuable information there. Several different methods of entering the stage and the type of performances they are good is also covered, as well as the importance of how you end the dance and leave the stage. There are also some great tips for creating emotion, feeling and creativity within your dance, and Amaya encourages the dancer to explore this. The DVD concludes with a dymanic, and thoroughy enjoyable live performance by Amaya demonstrating all the techniques taught. I highly recommend this video as it WILL make you a better dancer! Running time is 60 minutes. Amaya's personal website can be found at www.maria.amaya.com It's available from Aladdins Cave.

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Total playing time : Approx 66 mins. NTSC FORMAT © Princess Productions 2004

Raks and Rolls - Tantalizing Taqsim Technique Farhana is a performer and teacher based in Hollywood, California, USA. This video was filmed at the Moun of Tunis restaurant on Sunset Boulevard where Farhana has danced for over a decade. She has danced at parties for many dignitaries and celebrities, has performed at live concerts with the like of Hakim and Amr Diab and has been featured in numerous TV programmes. She teaches in the Silverlake district on Los Angeles. Her personal website can be found at www.princessfarhana.com. This video has overall good production quality. The edits between sections are very cute, with Farhana gliding across the screen performing mayas. The sound and the camera work is good, with two camera angles giving both full view shots, and close up shots of Farhana. The teaching content of the video has been well structured. It opens with a montage of performances by Farhana in different locations with veil, sword and shamadan, in mainly bedlah style professional costumes, which could give the student some interesting ideas on costume design. This video has overall very good production quality. The edits between sections are very cute, with Farhana gliding across the screen performing mayas. The sound and the camera work is good, with two camera angles giving both full view shots, and close up shots of Farhana. The teaching content of the video has been well structured. It opens with a montage of performances by Farhana in different locations with veil, sword and shamadan, in mainly bedlah style professional costumes, which could give the student some interesting ideas on costume design. In the introductory section, the screen is split into two sections. On the left, very helpful definitions of taqsim (both in a music and dance sense) roll up the screen credit-style, while on the right we see a costumed Farhana dancing to a nay taqsim with veil work. The definitions Farhana uses accurately and fully describe to the student the different types and styles of taqsim, and Farhan also points out that some movements come from the American cabaret of dance. Farhana giving the student some solid advice on developing technique for taqsims and interpreting solo musical instruments follows this. The warm up are easy enough for advanced beginners to follow, and consists of stretches and basic bellydance movements. Farhana wears black leggings, with a choli and hip belt, and her movements are clearly visible against the red curtained background. Technique: Rolls and Flutters:Farhana breaks down in a detailed way the breathing technique used to create and control rolls and flutters, and I found her teaching method very easy to follow. Technique is broken down slowly and clearly, and she gives some good advice on strengthening the diaphragm, before going on to the technique for performing rolls and flutters. Figure 8'S: Farhana starts this section by giving a quick reminder of the various basic figure of eight movements. She then goes on to demonstrate how the various figures of eights can be varied and embellished by overlaying them with shimmies, and gives useful, helpful advice on how to successfully layer a shimmy over hip movements. My personal favourite section of the video is in this part, as Farhana teaches interesting and lesser known movements, such as uneven figure of eight's, combining them with angle changes and she also demonstrates a stunning large hip circle variation which makes use of angle changes. Farhana also talks about how to flow smoothly from one soft hip movement to another, and altering the look of movement combinations with speed changes. All the movements are broken down well, and plenty of practise time is given for each movement before moving on to the next one. Camels and Variations: Farhana first reminds us how the basic camel movement looks. Along with better-known variations such as the reverse camel, and the body wave, Farhana also teaches some lesser known variations, such as the extreme camel, and one of own favourite variations, the torso-triple-ripple, and layering body waves with shimmies. Rib cage camels are also covered in this section. Farhana does spend time breaking down the technique used in her variations, which I found very helpful. Performance: The last section of the video has two performances by Farhana that were filmed at the Moun of Tunis restaurant where Farhana performs, and this gives a lovely backdrop to her performances. Farhana first performs to an oud taqsim, using veil work and all the movements taught in the video. she wears a beautiful, professional quality coral bedlah with matching veil. The second performance has a costume change; for this drum solo Farhana wears a fantastic blue and black costume with gold and silver accents. The drum solo revolces around the Chiftitelli rhythm, and Farhana effectively demonstrates how to incorporate the techniques taught into this video with this .rhythm (of course the same philosophy applies to the Wahda Kebira rhythm). I like Farhana's teaching style very much and she comes across on screen as a very pleasant, open, and helpful teacher, willing to share her all her knowledge readily with others. This video is geared towards advanced beginners and upwards.All the music used on this video is listed in the end credits. You will be ordering direct from Farhana, (not the Raqs Sharqi website).

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Total playing time : Approx 60 mins. DVD/VHS © 2003 Saroyan Productions

How to Bellydance with Dondi Dondi Dahlin is a performer and teacher based in San Diego, USA. Her personal website can be found at http://www.dondidahlin.com. Dondi is currently on tour as part of the Bellydance Superstars show. The DVD itself has been produced by Saroyan Productions - www.saroyanzils.com The video has a professional standard of production; there is excellent lighting, sound, camera work and editing. The DVD packaging is beautifully presented and contains a colour insert showing the various menus so that you can quickly see where material is located on the DVD. The navigational menu is easy to use and the chapters have been well structured. This video is aimed at complete beginners. The technique on this video is a mixture of Egyptian and American cabaret style movements. The DVD is divided into a number of sections: introductions, teaching segments, performances and bonus material. The video opens with a short snippet of Dondi performing a veil dance, which can be seen in full in the later performance section. Dondi follows up with an overview of the material contained on the DVD. As this video is aimed at completely new beginners, I would have liked to have seen a warm up included. However, Dondi does recommend that you warm up with some aerobic exercise, and carefully demonstrates some stretches that are specifically for belly dance. The opening performance is by three dancers; Dondi, Miranda and Nadirah, who are all professionally costumed. The dance they perform uses all the movements taught on this video, with the addition of zills. The choreography is simple enough for the beginner to learn by following (minus zills) once they have mastered the basic movements. The set has been beautifully designed, with simple columns draped with gold chiffon against a dusky pink background - it's very pretty while being non-distracting. In the teaching section, Dondi is accompanied by Nadirah and Miranda. All the dancers are wearing practice leotards with a simple hip shawl that shows up their movements clearly. Dondi has a great presentation style, and breaks down the movements clearly using appropriate visualizations to help the student "get the move". All movements are practiced on both left and right sides of the body where appropriate. Dondi begins by demonstrating the basic arm and hand positions used in bellydance. The movements are practiced to a number of different Arabic rhythms played live on tabla by Issam Houshan. The lower body movements on this video are: hip bumps (sharp side hip accents), Ami's (small hip circles), forward hip figure 8's, backwards hip figure 8's, big hip circles and egyptian style hip shimmies. The upper body movements are: upper body Undulations and shoulder shimmies. Travelling moves covered are: hip lifts with a walk, grapevine, u's (forward/back step). In the spin segment Dondi has some useful advice on spotting technique, breaking it down for the beginner and teaches a simple 4 step spin. For newbies, there is a good range of material to get them started - the only essential movement that sadly isn't covered here is the classic hip drop - as it is one of the most recognisable moves in belly dance, I felt it could have been included. Each teaching section is concise - the movements are practised for an average of 32 counts, which is OK, and if the beginner needs any more practice on any specific move, it's really easy to navigate from the menu straight to the required movement segment. The DVD has several solo performances by Dondi, all in American cabaret style costuming. For these sections, the set has been given an extra magical atmosphere with the tasteful addition of beautiful lamps, cushions, and Arabic style pieces. Dondi dances to a prerecorded piece of music, but on set with her are Issam on tabla and Jonny Elian on tambourine. Miranda and Nadirah accompany the percussion with zills. The performances here feature both the movements taught previously, and more complex movements, layers and techniques, as well as some very effective veilwork. My favourite performance by Dondi was her live drum solo which nicely shows the interaction between dancer and drummer. The main section of the DVD ends with some closing comments from Dondi. I liked the addition of bonus features on this DVD. There is another solo performance by Dondi, this time in a restaurant environment that has a large stage area, with a live band. The addition of the section shows the beginner something of how the dance is performed on professional level, and features a number of dance style and costume changes, from bedlah, to cabaret dress, and khaleegi thobe. There is also a very nicely presented slideshow of production photos, giving a glimpse into the making of the DVD, and a "behind the scenes" segment featuring Dondi, Miranda, Nadirah and Issam talking about both the making of the DVD, and the legendary Harry Saroyan, the man behind the project. In conclusion, this is a very nicely presented DVD - I liked the way it showed choreographies at various levels - beginners, intermediate. Dondi came across as a clear and friendly teacher. The credits helpfully list the music used throughout this DVD: "Dancingly Yours" from Journey into Rhythm; "Ancient Memories" and "Shamoosi" from Dance Illusion, both by Raja Zahr; "Solo Tabla" from Tabel Ya Issam by Issam Houshan,, and "Jamilah" from "Touching...Voice of the Soul" by Harry Saroyan. You will be ordering direct from Saroyan Productions, (not the Raqs Sharqi website).

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Total playing time : Approx 83 mins. NTSC FORMAT © 2000 Ruby Jazayre

Ruby Jazayre - Na'asa choreography Ruby Jazayre is a performer and teacher based in South Bend, Indiana,USA. Her personal website can be found at http://www.rubyjazayre.com. This is the first in the series of videos in Ruby's "Private Lesson" series. The video has a good standard of production; there is good lighting, sound and camera work. It has been professionally edited. The video teaches an oriental style choreography created by Ruby herself. The video opens with some helpful introductory remarks by Ruby on the structure of the video; what level of student it is aimed at (Intermediate/Advanced), and details of the music used on the video ("Na'asa" from the CD Souk Al Amir by the Georges Lamman Ensemble). Ruby advises that the video doesn't contain a warm up, but dancers at the level it is aimed at should already be familiar with how to do this. The video opens with a costumed performance by Ruby. She wears a very pretty black and silver professional cabaret dress. Ruby is dancing in a small, wooden floored hall, which has been cleverly lit to create an "on stage" effect that highlights both the dynamics and floor patterns of her choreography. For the instructional part of the video, Ruby wears a black unitard with a silver and black coined hip belt. Her movements show up well, but could gave possibly show up even more if she had worn a coloured belt. I didn't have any problems at all seeing and following her movements. Ruby teaches the choreography in small, manageable sections. The sections are: Opening sequence; Step pivot sequence; Grapevine sequence; Audnaseum; Zanuba; Recap; Reverse arabesque; Arabesque sequence; Recap; Reda Arabesque; Pivot sequence; 3 count turn sequence; "Happy step"; Rib cage slide; Ending. Ruby is obviously a very experienced, confident dance instructor - she gets straight into the business of teaching the choreography, and has a wonderful professional, very focused approach to teaching, which I very much appreciated. The more complex movements are excellently broken down, as is the footwork. Ruby teaches the choreography movement phrase by movement phrase; after each few phrases, she then coherently connects the sequences together. Where appropriate/needed, Ruby also talks us through the transitions and weight placement. I found there was just the right amount of practice time to learn the sequences - Ruby first demonstrates the sequence we have just learnt, then demonstrates it from the front, the back, and then from the top with music. Ruby is a very thorough teacher. As we practice the sequences with her, she calls out what movements are coming next to help reinforce our memory. There are also two "recap" sections as we go along where you get an extra opportunity at practising the sequences learned so far with the music. The choreography itself is dynamic and interesting. It uses a variety of travelling steps that have been beautifully embellished - (a variety of arabesques, grapevines, cross steps and floor patterns) - new intermediates could possibly learn some new ways of travelling effortlessly across the stage, as well as ideas for embellishing basic travelling steps. There are also some great ideas for layering movements with slides, and some wonderful barrel flips. In summary, I enjoyed this video greatly, and I came away feeling confident in knowing the choreography and sequences - this was because of Ruby's very focused, thorough method of teaching. Highly recommended! You will be ordering direct from Ruby Jazayre, (not the Raqs Sharqi website).

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Total playing time : Approx 3 hrs 40 mins. NTSC/PAL FORMAT

Habiba Presents Quick Start Belly Dance Habiba is a dancer and performer based in Pennsylvania, USA. Her personal website can be found at www.habibastudio.com "Quick Start Belly Dance" is designed as a course for beginners. The course comes as a set of two videos. It has excellent packaging and presentation, along with very good production quality. Although it is filmed by a single video camera, where appropriate, the camera zooms in to show close ups of the movement. The camera work is very steady and clear throughout. The music used on the video is a track called "Amarain" which can be found on the album "Rakasni Ya Habibi" by Samy Farag. This song plays continuously throughout the teaching sections, which can sometimes get monotonous, but is actually very useful for the beginner believe it or not, as by the end of the choreography section, you should know the song and the movement combinations taught to it inside out and be able to dance it without too much trouble, as it has been thoroughly drilled. The first video begins with a costumed performance by Habiba, dancing to a live drum solo in a restaurant, giving the beginner a taste of the kind of thing they can achieve with time, practise and work. Her performance is dynamic, and her technique tight and precise. This is followed by a short introduction by Habiba with some excellent advice on using the course material contained on the videos. Sadly, the speech track here is slightly out of synchronisation with the picture. However, the rest of the video (all the teaching material etc) is completely fine, so this is a very, very minor thing and doesn't affect the value of the material on this video at all. For the teaching sections, the set is very simple and does not distract or hurt the eyes; Habiba wears a black unitard/blue hip scarf and dances in front of a cream curtained background giving excellent contrast and it was very easy to see her movements. The teaching material on the video course are divided into the following sections: PART 1: UNDULATIONS; ARMS AND HANDS; SHOULDER SHIMMIES; CIRCLES AND FIGURE EIGHT'S, HIP ARTICULATION PART 1. PART 2: HIP ARTICULATION PART 2; BASIC EGYPTIAN STEPS TRAVEL AND ENTRANCE STEPS; CHOREOGRAPHY (TEACHING); CHOREOGRAPHY (PERFORMED); BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DANCE; IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE DANCE; RHYTHM CHARACTERISTICS; COSTUMES. The warm-ups on this video have been designed for complete beginners in mind. Habiba does a fine job of thoroughly warming the new student; all movements are broken down and clearly explained as the warm up progresses. This teaching material on this video is very well structured and is in the Egyptian style of belly dance. Each movement family has been group into a series of mini sections, or classes. A wide range of basic steps (shimmies, hip drops, lifts, circles, figures of eights, arabesques, Arabic travelling steps, transitions etc.) used in Egyptian dance are incorporated into this video, which gives an excellent foundation in the basic movements of Egyptian dance, including some nightclub style movements. The arm work taught on this video is very simple as it is aimed at a beginning level, it doesn't teach snake arms for example but the movements taught here do accentuate the hip movements very nicely. Habiba provides excellent breakdowns of the movement, working on each element of the move separately before building up into the full dance step. She also teaches plenty of variations on each basic movement in each section, which gives the student plenty of material to work with. Habiba explains the breakdowns clearly and articulately, and demonstrates them very effectively. Along with the basics of every move, Habiba also talks us through the footwork. In each section, Habiba teaches the movement first in a stationary position, before moving on to how to travel with the movement, and then how to combine with other steps from previous sections in the course, and how to vary each movement with different types of positioning and basic footwork and travelling steps. In the "Circles and Figure Eight's" section, Habiba's teaching is enhanced by the use of graphics overlaying her hips, demonstrating the movement pattern of the figure of eight. At the end of each section, there is a practice assignment that combines all the material taught previously which encourages the beginner to start dancing straight away to the music. These parts of the video are fun to do and give the student plenty of time to practice all the movements that they have just learnt. In these practice assignments, Habiba does a wonderful job in helping the new student in building a basic dance vocabulary and improve co-ordination by combining the movements with simple footwork, turns and arm combinations, and I found these assignments to be very useful. The next part of the video is the choreography section. Amarain is a long song and runs for just over 7 minutes, which could feel very challenging to the beginner, especially if you watch the choreography before the rest of the video! But it's unlikely that you'll have too many problems remembering the step sequences, as Habiba has thoroughly covered all the combinations in the practice assignments; so I'd really recommend working your way right through all the material on the video before attempting to learn the choreography, as by the end, you'll be well prepared for working with the choreography, even though it's taught in quite long sections, it's easy to learn. Habiba firstly talks through each part of the routine, before going through it again while counting us through it (essential for getting timing right!) and finally putting the moves to the music. The dance learnt here features many of the steps taught in the course, so you'll be making full use of the course material. The next section logically follows on with Habiba performing the choreography in full. There are some extra bonus sections; a brief discussion of the history of the dance and its evolvement through the passage of time; the important features of the dance (its basic identifying features), rhythm characteristics, and lastly, costumes. I thought the rhythm characteristics was very useful for beginners; Habiba talks us through a basic discussion of the structure of Arabic music and the maqsoum rhythm which is used in the song used throughout this video. Habiba actively encourages the student to begin to pick out and identify the rhythms used in Arabic music to help you become a good dancer. This last section on costuming has been well put together, with photos of various styles of costuming used in Egyptian dance shown as Habiba describes what style of performance they are normally used for. I thought this video course would be of great benefit to a beginner taking classes for the first time, as it will help them polish their basic technique, as well as challenge them with the more difficult moves on the tapes. There is plenty of material (3 hours 40 minutes!) to help the beginning student progress their dance skills, and this course should be a useful reference tool for them in their studies.

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Total playing time : Approx 60 mins. DVD/VIDEO NTSC FORMAT VIDEO

Bellydancing the Sacred ShapesTM The Goddess DancingTM are a trio of dancers formed in 1989 (Anita-Cristina Calcaterra, Cathy Moore and Karen Uminksi) from Boston, MA in the United States. Their website can be found at http://www.thegoddessdancing.com>www.thegoddessdancing.com. This DVD has excellent sound, lighting and overall production quality. The DVD menu is clearly organised with beautifully designed graphics, and very easy to read and navigate. The level of instruction is aimed at beginners new to belly dancing. Their dance philosophy has a very strong Goddess centered focus; the dance movements on this DVD are based on the concept of "Sacred ShapesTM"; which are found in both nature, and ancient cultures of the world. The shapes are: the Circle; the Crescent; the Figure of Eight; the Shimmy and the Undulation. This DVD purely concentrates on this "soft", core movements that are taken from styles of bellydance found around the world. It doesn't cover any "sharp movements" such as hip drops, pops or accents, and the arm positions are kept to a very simple minimum. The dancers demonstrate techniques on screen as a voiceover talks you through the movements and concepts. This voiceover is expertly done, and the movements are taught with beautiful visualisations to help you perform the moves correctly. The set background is decorated with columns and chiffon fabric, and this is in neutral colours so it's very pretty without being distracting. The dancers vary their costumes in each section; which range from practice wear, to costumes, as well as jeans and tops. The overview section gives a brief history of the group and discusses the concept of "Sacred ShapesTM"; for example, the undulation can be seen as representing the path of a river, or a woman in contractions; the shimmy can be visualised as excitement or fear running through our bodies, or the life force flowing through our veins. The instructional section is divided into six subsections: basic stance; circle, crescent, figures of eight, shimmies, undulations; there is a seventh section which is a performance routine entitled "The Creation Dance". I liked the fact that the basic stance is so clearly taught, and that it is often referred back to throughout the instructional sections. There is a warm up on this video, which, from a pagan point of view, is superbly done; the movements and positions very effectively invoke a whole range of different Goddess images, for example Diana and Kali. This warm up could also be very effective as a moving meditation, or ritual for invoking the various Goddess energies. The three planes of movement (saggital, vertical and horizontal) are also clearly explained here, with excellent video graphics demonstrating the point. In each instructional section, the pagan imagery of each movement is first discussed. There is an excellent range of movement variations taught in each section; building up from simple core moves to more complicated variations, and at the end of each piece, you are encouraged to try combining some of the moves learned so far. Each Goddess dancer changes position and takes her turn leading the group, which gives you a good idea of how the movements look on various body shapes. Plenty of practice time is given during this time for you to master the moves. At the end of the section, the goddesses all dance together using the movement/combinations of movements just taught, which is a wonderful touch. What I particularly liked about this DVD was the movement variations; for each shape, movements using that shape are demonstrated for the hips, torso, and head; for example on the circle section, hip, chest and head circles are taught. There is also a more unusual range of movements on this DVD, in the figures of eight section, head figures of eight are taught (I'd never seen this move before until I watched this DVD). Each section has a really good range of movement variations..some simple enough for complete beginners, and other's that are more challenging, so beginner's be able to use this DVD to build up their movement vocabulary, so you will have plenty of material to work with. There are two performance segments; the first being "The Creation Dance". This is set to a poem which was written by Anna Cristina which has vivid, and very moving, imagery of many types of birth and moments of creation. The choreography has been done with much sensitivity and feeling for the sentiments of the poem. While dancing, the movements of that accompany each section flash up unobtrusively at the bottom of the screen, allowing you to participate in the group choreography. The second performance segment can be found in the extras section; this time each goddess does a solo dance; each dancer conveys a different mood and expression through their choice of dance; Cathy performs a sword dance, Karen does some head movements, shimmies and figure 8's, which is followed by Anita-Cristina expressing herself beautifully through some expertly performed floor work, rolls, flutters, spins and turns, before the goddesses all join together for a group finale. While this is DVD primarily aimed towards the Pagan market, many beginner bellydancers will be able to learn a nice range and variation of soft movements, some drawn from the Middle East, and the rest from American or overseas interpretations of bellydance. The credits list all the music used in the video. A lot of thought and care has gone into the making of this excellent DVD.

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Total playing time : Approx 55 mins. DVD NTSC/PAL FORMAT

Instructional Bellydance with Jillina - Level 1 Jillina is a teacher and professional performer from California, USA. She is currently participating in the much-discussed "Bellydance Superstars" series of tours and workshops. Her personal website can be found at www.jillina.com This DVD is a slick, professional production which has excellent standards of sound, picture quality and editing. This is part 1 of Jillina's "Instructional Bellydance" series that is available as a 3 DVD box set (all levels) or can be purchased individually. The navigation menu is divided into 5 sections: Stretching; Technique; Combinations; Choreography and Performance. On this DVD Jillina dances in a fusion of mainly Egyptian/fused with American cabaret style of bellydance, with her feet placed shoulder width apart. For the main teaching parts of the video, Jillina wears a sparkly practice top, with matching hip belt and leggings, and dances with her back to you in front of a mirror so you can clearly what her legs and feet are doing. When necessary, the camera focuses in on her hips (from the front) so you can see the movement clearly. The camera angle from the back shows all of the hips, while Jillina's full body image is clearly visible in the mirror at all times, and this use of the mirror gets over the problem of the "reverse mirror" effect where you have to try to translate "left hip on screen means my right hip"; this will help beginners in particular to be able to follow this video more easily. Stretching section: This section begins with Jillina performing "Alf Leyla Wa Leyla" in costume, while she talks us through a basic introduction to bellydance. Jillina then demonstrates a number of stretches designed to warm up the muscles you will need to use this video. Jillina advises that you do a full warm in combination with this stretches. The stretches are suitable and gentle enough for a beginner. Technique section: Jillina demonstrates and breaks down all of the movements required to perform both the combinations and the choreography in this video. This is covered fairly quickly, but clearly. The following basic isolations are taught: ribcage; arms; hands; hip circle; hip bounce; backwards horizontal figure of 8; upwards vertical figure 8; Egyptian shimmy; shoulder shimmy; hip side hits, soaz pull and the camel. Combinations: This section contains 7 short, manageable and interesting combinations, with Jillina giving regular reminders on posture. Unfortunately, it's not possible to navigate to each combination without the use of the forward/rewind button, but there *is* an unobtrusive screen overlay telling you which combination is being taught. Jillina talks us through each combination once, and then you get to repeat the combination by following along with her to Arabic pop music a few times, giving you a sense that you're really beginning to learn *how to dance*, instead of just learning steps. Each combination is taught to a different piece of pop music using moves from the technique section. The combinations begin with simple sets of moves, and gradually build up into more complex mini routines combining easy layering, footwork, travelling and turns. Choreography: This section is taught in the same way as the combination section - in seven short, easy to remember sections. The choreography combinations are very similar to the ones used in the previous combination section, but vary slightly in order to fit the music - called "ALF LEYLA WA LEYLA" (originally sung by the late legendary Om Kalthoum). The version used on this DVD can be found on the album A Tribute to Om Kalsoum by the Cairo Orchestra. Jillina first talks us through and demonstrates the moves, then demonstrates them again several times over with the addition of the music. Each time a choreographic block is added, the dance is practiced from the top, reinforcing the choreographic patterns into your memory. I found this way of doing things allowed me to learn the choreography very easily. The choreography itself flows nicely with the music, and adds interest to the movements with simple layering, travelling, turns, footwork and level changes. It uses all the movements from the technique section, so you should get a good sense of really having made full use of all the material on the video by learning the choreography. A complete beginner may be slightly daunted by this DVD, so it is probably better suited to an advanced beginner, or someone who is rusty and wants to polish up their skills. Performance: The performance section is shot in a small, intimate setting in a club, in front of a small audience. Jillina wears a stunning, professional quality bedlah set which really accents her movements beautifully. She does an Egyptian style veil entrance, followed by a short song, and then dances the choreography "Alf Leyla Wa Leyla". Jillina dances the choreography in a slightly different, more complex way than is shown in the teaching section, demonstrating different ways of interpreting the same piece of music. The closeness of the audience to her really does highlight just how polished a performer she is; her stage presence comes across very well on this DVD. She ends her performance with a dynamic drum solo that uses accents, combined with some American cabaret techniques such as stomach flutters. As the credits roll, there is a section of humorous outtakes from the filming of the DVD, giving an insight into her sense of playfulness. The credits also list the titles, and artists of each song used throughout the DVD. Jillina's style has been criticised by some for being "too jazzy", but she dances her style extremely well and gives a polished, professional performance, and as a teacher does a great job of demonstrating the movements, so I recommend this DVD highly as it is really beautifully and logically put together.

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Total playing time : Approx 80 mins. © FCBD 1995 NTSC/PAL FORMAT

Fat Chance Belly Dance Vol. 4 - Advanced Workshop AMERICAN TRIBAL STYLE first started to evolve in the late 1960's USA with Jamila Salimpour's troupe "Bal Anat". The form loosely combines elements of Arabic, Indian, Turkish, Gypsy dance and costuming. FCBD was founded by CAROLENA NERICCIO, who designed the costume and the distinctive style of dance we see in ATS today - the costume being turban, Indian choli, gypsy skirts, coins, Afghan belts and tribal jewellery. This video contain advanced steps and variations for AMERICAN TRIBAL STYLE dance - it covers how to vary the basic ATS steps and movements taught in FCBD Tribal Basics Vol. 1.. It has great sound, lighting and production quality. The teaching sections are shot in a mirrored studio using a good camera angle - you can clearly see what Carolena is demonstrating from the front, and the back. She wears a simple black choli with leggings and a tassled hip belt, so you can clearly see everything she is doing; none of the moves are "masked" in any way at all. The topics covered on this tape are embellishments, variations, layering and complex steps. Her teaching method and style is very clear and I found it easy to understand. This video doesn't contain a warmup, but this video is aimed towards intermediate and advanced dancers who should already know how to do this. Each topic or concept is first beautifully explained in an overview, before the video moves on to the material for each section. Each move is first shown in a clip from a FCBD performance and is then demonstrated by Carolena, who has a very pleasant, non-patronising teaching style. The more complex moves are broken down extremely well and for these Carolena shares some very helpful visualisations to help you master the moves, as well as very clearly demonstrating various arm positions for each move along with the count for each step. The drills give plenty of time to practise the various moves, so you will not have to keep hitting the rewind button. There is lots of helpful material on this video. Embellishment moves include: hand floreos, flutter, head slides. Variations on moves includes levels; reverse taxseem; deep body wave; stationary, walking and Turkish shimmies; alternating and triplets shoulder shimmies; Egyptian half-turn; Arabic 1-2-3 and Arabic hip twist; pivot bump "forward forward drop drop drop", pivot x 2 + shimmy, reach and sit; choo choo singles, doubles, arc. Layering section includes flutter with head slide/bellyroll/taxseem; levels and layering; arms and taxseem; shimmy + Arabic; shimmy + reverse taxseem. Complex steps include camel walk (totally different to Middle Eastern style camel walk!!), circle step, torso twist, propeller and corkscrew. The last section of the video is a fantastic live performance by FCBD in full ATS costume demonstrating all the moves used in this video, which I found very useful to see how they all fit together in performance. All the music used is listed in the video credits. If you're new to Tribal style and are a beginner or intermediate dancer, you'll probably need volume 1 before trying this video; advanced dancers looking to try Tribal style should be able to separate out the basic Tribal moves using this video. You will be ordering direct from FCBD, (not the Raqs Sharqi website).

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Total playing time : Approx 75 mins. © FCBD 1998 NTSC/PAL FORMAT

Fat Chance Belly Dance Vol. 5 - Cues and Transitions ATS first started to evolve in the late 1960's USA with Jamila Salimpour's troupe "Bal Anat". The form loosely combines elements of Arabic, Indian, Turkish, Gypsy dance and costuming. FCBD was founded by CAROLENA NERICCIO, who designed the costume we see in ATS today - turban, Indian choli, gypsy skirts, coins, Afghan belts and tribal jewellery. This video deals with cues and transitions in reference to AMERICAN TRIBAL STYLE dance; the movements demonstrated in this video are taught on FCBD Tribal Basics Vol. 1, and FCBD Tribal Basics Vol. 4. It has superb sound, lighting and production quality. The teaching sections are shot in a large mirrored studio using a good camera angle - you can clearly see what Carolena is demonstrating from the front and the back. She wears a simple black choli, leggings teamed with a tassled hip belt so you can clearly see everything she is doing; none of the moves are "masked" in any way at all. Her teaching method and style is very clear and I found it easy to understand. Firstly, there is an overview explaining clearly what cues and transitions are. The music structure used in this video is given along with exactly where each transition fits into the music count. The distinctive Tribal style posture is very clearly demonstrated; and Carolena teaches a number of stretches and exercises specially designed to condition your dance posture for Tribal style. I liked the way she not only described which muscles were being used but also made one aware of where the muscles are located in the body. Although this could possibly be used as a warm up, it's not classed as such so you'll need to be aware of how to do this for yourself to prevent injury. For those of you with an esoteric nature, there is a wonderful moving meditation based modified for dance from an Indian blessing ; it is very clearly demonstrated but only takes up a few minutes of the tape. The cues section of the tape really talks about the type of cues that could be used in ATS, Carolena does teach some good examples but of course this video cannot cover *every* single cue used by FCBD, and the cues that suit some troupes will not suit others, so the ones here are really given as a tool, and as a form of guidance for troupes to create their own individual cues that will suit all the dancers in their particular group. This section is really an overview of how cues work in general in an ATS performance situation. Carolena gives lots of good ideas and encouragement in this section so you can develop your own cues and transitions. The transitions section is beautifully demonstrated by Carolena. Lots of transitions from various ATS movements are covered in this section; slow movement to slow movement, fast step to fast step and slow move to fast step and vice versa. She also describes what type of moves are classed as "slow" and "fast moves" in ATS which was very well explained. All the foot positions for transitioning from the various movements are explained first before Carolena moves on to demonstrating these in the drills. There is plenty of practise time giving to the transitions concepts on the tape without overdoing it, and is enough time given to each part to save you keep rewinding the tape over and over. Near the end of the tape, there's a great summary and reminder of the concepts covered on this video which I found very useful. This was very clearly explained. This was the first Tribal instructional video I ever watched. I was really pleased with it as I found it gave me an excellent insight into American Tribal Style and its concepts, movements, and the way a ATS group works together in performance. By the end of the video, I had a clear idea of what Tribal style is all about. This video is aimed at intermediate and advanced dancers. The tape concludes with a wonderful performance of the group in full Tribal style costume demonstrating all the techniques taught on this video, which I found very helpful to watch to see how all the various elements taught on this tape combine together. All the music used on this video is listed in the end credits. You will be ordering direct from FCBD, (not the Raqs Sharqi website).

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Total playing time : Approx 50 mins. NTSC FORMAT © Princess Productions 2003

Farhana - Bellydance Basics Farhana is a performer and teacher based in Hollywood, California, USA. This video was filmed at the Moun of Tunis restaurant on Sunset Boulevard where Farhana has danced for over a decade. She has danced at parties for many dignitaries and celebrities, has performed at live concerts with the like of Hakim and Amr Diab and has been featured in numerous TV programmes. She teaches in the Silverlake district on Los Angeles. Her personal website can be found at www.princessfarhana.com. This video begins with a some good advice on how to use this tape and Farhana recommends that her video is best used in conjunction with attendance of a regular class, and that she teaches Egyptian style dance on this video. I loved the colourful packaging and the titles that introduce each segment of the video. It has good picture quality, but the sound is a bit dodgy and occasionally it's hard to hear what Farhana is saying, but for the most part it's OK. The video begins with a short opening of a collage of images of Farhana dancing in various costumes at different locations. This is followed by a brief, unbiased outline of a couple of theories where Middle Eastern dance as we know it today evolved from. For the teaching section of the video, Farhana wears a black crop top, leggings and a hip belt, against a background of a light blue satin curtain. This good contrast meant that I did not have any problems at all seeing exactly what she was doing. All her movements can be seen very clearly. There were only a couple of camera angle changes, and I had a good view of Farhana at all times and was didn't have any problems following her. She has a very nice, open kind of personality. The video is divided into lots of sub-sections: warm-up, positioning the arms; basic hip movements, basic shimmy, travelling steps, hand positions, hand and arm technique, undulations, and a fully costumed performance. I loved the way between sections of the video Farhana dances/wipes her way across the screen. Included on this video are moves such as basic hip articulations and some variations, hip circles and variations, arm movements, layering shimmies with other moves, basic hip figure 8's and variations, and undulations with some variations. This video is not really suitable for complete beginners, but I'd recommend it for an advanced beginner for who this video would be great for practicing moves outside the class and for those who want to review and polish up their basic moves. I enjoyed her teaching style very much and she came across on screen as a very pleasant, open, and helpful teacher. This video does contain a little bit of American nightclub belly dance style moves in the instructional section, but these are kept to a minimum; and in the lively eleven minute long performance section Farhana firstly dances to a baladi improvisation style piece of music, then she performs to a drum solo, combining the Egyptian style with American night club belly dance style moves, wearing a beaded and sequinned bedlah set. All the albums used in this video are listed in the end credits. You will be ordering direct from Farhana, (not the Raqs Sharqi website).

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NTSC FORMAT

Layla Hazine instructional videos Layla Hazine is an American dancer/instructor based in Fort Worth, Texas. She is co-director of a troupe created in 1988 called "Scheherezade's Fantasies." To purchase any of the videos listed below, please contact Layla directly via e-mail - LaylaHazine@aol.com or visit her personal website at http://ssbellydance.tripod.com. She also has many other videos for sale, including fan routines, double sword etc. You will be ordering direct from Layla Hazine, (not the Raqs Sharqi website). All prices in American dollars - check with Layla for shipping costs. Layla has a very relaxed, easy and fun style. The majority of videos here are not professionally recorded, but the camerawork is very steady and clear. They have a wonderful human feel. Layla's video classes have a great live quality to them - you'll feel that your local instructor has dropped in by your home to give you a private lesson. She also has a wonderful way of naming some of the moves to help you get the movement and her down-to-earth personality really does come through in the videos. "MOVES #1" - Reasonable sound and picture quality - Layla teaches a warm-up and lots of moves on this video, including head slides, upper torso movements, lower torso movements and travelling steps. Good value for money as the video is over 2 hours long and has a good variety of steps. Very useful for widening your dance vocabulary. $15 plus shipping With the following videos, you'll need to warm up beforehand and have some prior knowledge/experience of moves (if you're a beginner you'll also need #Moves 1 video). Layla does tell you at the start of these videos what the music is called, and which CD's you can find the tracks on. These videos ares designed to teach you set choreographies, but you can still use these if you've never used props before and would like some ideas of possible movements. "RAQSAT VASHTI - DOUBLE CANDLE #1" - Excellent picture and sound quality. Recorded in a mirrored studio, so you can see what Layla is doing from all angles. Plenty of ideas on how to use candles, and safety tips. $15 plus shipping "ISHTAR - SWORD #1" - Excellent sound and picture quality. Here Layla teaches a single sword choreography, and talks about the different swords available.$15 plus shipping "FLOORWORK#1" Good sound and picture quality. Here Layla teaches a floorwork choreography. You'll need some knowledge and prior experience of floorwork for this video. $15 plus shipping

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