Customer Reviews

The Ancient Art of Oriental Belly Dancing 1 [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a beginners tape of instruction,, Alexandra starts with 1 actual belly dance in costume, then shows you the neccessary warm up exercizes,,which you do need to do-and they are good for you, (Alexandra appears tight,,nervous in her verbal presentation, but most of us in 1985 weren't all that up on being video taped, now were we? so thats no default really,,but you do wish she would relax and smile a little)) ---then the asstd steps to move correctly, like 1,2,3..do these --your done.. then the 'how to dance with a veil' and thats the end. the tape is 60 minutes..but seems to be shorter-the quality is what you would expect from the production date. If you have never done any belly dance..then this might be an okay starter/intro--however if your experienced,,you need much more than this tape. ..I think she is a good dancer, a competent teacher,,but my requirements are professional,, but she will give you the steps,,to make your body move correctly-and all that she shows is exactly what I learned in my belly dance classes..."the first day." Alexandra uses the finger symbols, but does not explain the rhythms..how to of the beat..and that can be difficult to a person, new to the art of belly dancing.the finger beats are specific to the music--the counts are not explained. I will have to find a much more advanced tape--with actual performances of a variety of dancers for the rest of the learning.. so, in review, the teacher Alexandra, on this tape is a well seasoned dancer,,but you may consider this tape your first lesson-one hr--that would be what you would get in a real class..

Ancient Art of Oriental Belly Dance Volume I was probably filmed in one afternoon without retakes. The background noise is sometimes distracting, and music stops and starts are harsh. Regrettably, the lessons are conducted immediately in front of a rather tacky belly dance wall tapestry. Since Alexandria King has dark hair, sometimes her head kind of blends into the background.

Despite these flaws, Alexandra King does have some interesting moves to teach. She is very good at explaining just how something is done. Some of the moves are geared towards absolute beginners, and some towards intermediate level dancers. In either case, Alexandria breaks down the moves, demonstrating them slowly before picking up to a faster beat.

She is a lovely dancer, and the video starts out with a full-length performance. Unfortunately, the background mural is very distracting. Although a nice dancer technically, it's a shame she doesn't smile more.

All in all, I would recommend this video for a beginning or intermediate level dancer.

I've been dancing for over half my life, and teaching for the last four years. In that time I've seen many instruction videos. I have never seen anyone teach a beginning moves video the way Ms. King does. She teaches classic 7-part American cabaret, going through moves that can be done to each section of a performance. Her performance is good, and not too poorly shot, but the instruction segments on the video are poorly edited, with bad sound quality, and distracting background noises (the cat meowing was my particular favorite). Overall, she teaches a few interesting moves for beginning and intermediate dancers, although they may need to rewind a few times to figure out what's going on. For us professionals, it has a bit of entertainment value and a different perspective on what order to teach in. Fresh beginners should go with a different instruction video, such as Atea's Magical Motion. If you do want to buy Ms. King's video, buy the second one as well. It's the second half of the lesson. All in all, they're worth the very cheap price just to add to your library. Just don't use them as your only view of the dance.

To address points others have made:

First, production quality. Yes, I had to adjust the tracking of my VCR because of the horrible static. However, once that was done, I didn't find the audio/video quality bad AT ALL. It was well lit, clearly shot, and has very decent, clear sound (even her pet cat meowing in the background). If you own a few belly dance videos aside from the "mainstream" ones, you KNOW what bad production quality can be (and those are MUCH more expensive!)

I really like Ms. King's instruction style. She speaks clearly and the flow is continuous. Because I also use these videos as workouts, I hate it when an instructor stops moving and talks into the camera for 5 minutes between every move. Alexandra wears a tight fitting unitard so you can always see what her entire body is doing, including her feet! No "face" shots and obstructing outfits like in the Dolphina Goddess Workout (which I like very much as well, except for those two items.)

Because I know basic zil (finger cymbal) rhythms, I enjoyed the practice sections. However, she does not explain zil technique at all, she just DOES it so if you're very new to it, you will be totally confused. Nice for me though because I don't have to sit through the instruction. :)

All in all, I own about 30 belly dance instructional tapes, and The Art of Oriental Belly Dance 1 and 2 are two of my favorites. For $9.99, you can't go wrong.

i found this instructor to be clear, concise, intelligent, straightforward, and well-spoken. very much enjoyed the exercises. a great workout, fun, and made me feel sexy. some parts too hard for me, which is as it should be - provides a challenge to work toward. unlike some reviewers, i found the film quality to be just fine - not super slick, but not low, low budget either. color was crisp and clear, editing good. i would highly recommend this to someone who wants to just try it out, without shelling out a bundle.

I owned several of the Veena and Neena videos,and enjoyed tham as well. I almost did not order this because of some of the reviews I read here on Amazon. However I took a chance and ordered both volumes, and I absolutely loved them!! This was the first video I purchased that was not in the Veena/Neena collection. I have never taken formal BD classes before, so I was always curious about the proper form in certain moves when following along with the twins. This video takes you along as if you are in a class setting, and explains the steps while reviewing the motions. It specifies the proper form required to make the steps look graceful, and then it takes you through the routines slowly at first, then at tempo. You experience a verbal introduction to many things in BD that you don't get in the twin videos simply because there is no dialogue in the twin videos, only instruction. this video introduces you briefly to Beledi, veils, travelling steps, arm positions, and many different moves. It reminded me of taking jazz classes or modern dance classes. I found it to be very helpful in filling in the blanks, and will be a valuable resource for me as I continue the learning process. The information contained in the tape was worth more than...it cost, and you just cannot beat the value. I highly recommend this tape. if you have already taken BD classes it may not be as helpful, but for anyone who is on a self-teaching program, and has just started out, I believe it can be of great value. In my opinion the recording quality was barely offensive. I was so engrossed in absorbing the knowledge I hardly noticed the quality at all. If you are interested in a highly polished tape, with professional backdrops, and musical lead-ins, then perhaps you will be disappointed, but if you are grassroots,, and are able to appreciate simplicity in any form, you will find this tape enjoyable. I certainly did...

I've been dancing for a year now, and am still struggling with a lot of the basics. I love the way Alexandra breaks things down, does the steps piece by piece, and only then does she move it up to full speed. While much of what she does is advanced, I feel like it gives me something to strive for. Just remember to modify what she does to your own comfort level.

Yes, the production is poor, but for ten bucks, I'm not complaining. You can see and understand her, and she's obviously a very gifted dancer.

I bought this video months ago and didn't use it until now - I wish I'd started sooner. I finally mastered the darn beledi rhythm on my zills because of it.

Not knowing much about belly dancing, this tape gave me insight into how much work it is just to "shimmy"! I absoultely loved it! Alexandra is fabulous! All the exercise routines just make one realize how limber one must be to do all the dance moves. Alexandra shows how to move gracefully, do dance steps, and veil work while putting all of this into a dance itself, I gave it a rating of 5! I loved it so much I ordered volume 2!

This video is fine for dance instruction, even though it leaves out how to understand the basic count of Arabic rhythms, and hand movements are avoided all together. It explains enough that the novice gets the idea. fine for someone who has never been exposed to bellydance.

I bought the tape even though some of the reviews I read were negative and I am glad I did. Alexandra is a good teacher, and being a total beginner, I have really learned a lot. The tape is about an hour long and includes a nice performance by Alexandra. I definitely recommend this tape to anyone who wants to learn to bellydance.