Customer Reviews

Belly Dance Aerobic Workout

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this product from Ross for $4.99 just to see what it would be like, and it's actually pretty good. This is actually the first belly dance aerobic workout video that Rania made (at least that's what they said on her website).

The background setting is nice. The location is outside, and appears to be produced in a garden area. Rania is accompanied by two other dancers, who are all wearing coordinated blue outfits.

Throughout the routine, all the dancers have a serious look on their faces. They are not grinning and smiling at you the entire time. As a person who uses exercise dvd's on a regular basis, I like this feature becasue to me, too much smiling is a sign of being overly phoney.

Level: Beginner or Beginner-Intermediate

The dvd contains the following:

Beginning: Starts with showing you a part of a performance by Rania, and then moves into Rania telling you basically about the dvd.

Warm-up (about 20 minutes)

* Basic hand undulations and snake arms
* Shoulder shimmy practice
* Rib slides and abdominal and stomach exercises
* Chest lifts and undulations (e.g., The Camel)
* Hip Streches, Hip drops, hip drops with a kick, and travel with hip drops
* Step Twist Movements
* Egyptian Walk
* Shimmy (using knees)and choo-choo (shimmy on tippy toes)

Cominations 1, 2, and 3 with cool down (about 19 to 20 minutes)

Note: Rania teaches combinations 1, 2, and 3 seperately, and then at the end, she puts them together in a dance routine.

Combo 1

* Step Twist while traveling (with arms)
* Hip Drop (while walking)
* Shoulder Shimmy
* Grapevine
* Step Twist (with turn)

Combo 2

* Rib Slides
* Snake Arms (while turning)
* Hip movement (while turning)
* Reverse Camel
* Hip drop with a Kick
* Egyptian Walk

Combo 3

* Camels
* Horizontial Figure Eight
* Shimmy (with knees)
* Choo-Choo (shimmy on tippy toes)
* Step Twist (while traveling)
* Basic Turns

Rania reviews each combination several times so that you can learn the moves. There are not many pauses inbetween learning the combos, so once you learn the routine well, it can be a good workout (for a beginner or beginner-intermediate). The moves are not difficult to learn, but for me, I am still working on my pathetic camel (smiles).

The menu selection on this dvd is basic. It's not highly interactive, but you can make some choices.

This dvd also comes with a performance by Rania. I really enjoyed this performance! The music is lively, and although many people feel that Rania dances like a robot, I did not find that to be the case with this performance. I have watched this performance several times, and therefore, I am quite impressed with the way she moves and dances.

Overall, I really enjoy this dvd. I've had it for over a month, and I use it regually in my rotation of other exercise dvd's. It's good to use for a different change of pace from regular/typical aerobics. Since I exercise 6 days a week for an average of 50 to 70 minutes a day, a new change in dance style is nice. I would definately reccommend buying this dvd, but if you are more advanced, I don't think it will be challenging enough for you.

Tip: You can probably find this at Ross for $4.99. I have seen several of these dvd's at Ross in my area (California). I would try Ross first before buying it somewhere else for a more expensive price.

having already done basics of belly dancing, this was a little easy for me, got bored of it very quickly. didn't learn anything new so i didn't like it much, but it'd be great for beginners who are new to the world of belly dancing.

Rania's chill & friendly approach will encourage you to get into bellydancing and stick with it. I have repeatedly gone back to her video materials since 2004.

I've been taken belly dance class for about 3 months now. This is the DVD got introduce to beginners. It's very easy to follow and you can really have a good work out for your belly.

The vidio was ok showing the introductory moves but the dance portion of the vidio wasn't very good. The moves looked silly.

At the end of the vidio it shows the instructor dancing. If I had seen this portion of the vidio first I wouldn't have bought the DVD. She looked like a novice to me.