22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From a Middle Eastern Womans Point of View, March 18, 2005
This review is from: Belly Dancing for Fitness: The Ultimate Dance Workout That Unleashes Your Creative Spirit (Paperback)
I loved "Belly Dancing For Fitness".
I have seen Tamalyn Dallal dancing in person in Egypt, where she will be teaching at the worlds largest bellydance festival this year...and plan to take her Teachers Training courses both in New York and Cyprus this summer.
She has the most simple and consise way to teach the art of bellydance, and has turned out several of the top belly dancers in the US and abroad. I was so happy to see her explanations made so clear in this book.
What some readers may miss is that in bellydance, it is not how many fancy things you can accomplish, but how you do each move and the feeling behind it. If you see Tamalyns performance on the Bellydance Superstars DVD, you will understand where she is coming from and why she is one of the most popular bellydance teachers travelling internatinally today.
Ms. Dallal shares her extensive historical knowledge in a way that is clear and easy to understand. She teaches the basic movements in the order that they are easiest to learn, so the reader can do them well, and not get frustrated. Of course,she knows much more, but this book is for beginners, and also for teachers, because it is a great teaching guide on how to break down movements, plus which movements to start with. She has a very specific and clear teaching method and that is why she has a record number of professional dancers who learned with her.
This book is not superficial or meant to impress. This is for people who want to learn and to know what is important.
Tamalyn Dallal is a true artist as a dancer and she writes well too. I loved the photographs. They were not slick and produced looking, but very natural and artistic. This is not a pretentious book. It is real and I hope they translate it into Arabic soon.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect Basics, March 21, 2005
This review is from: Belly Dancing for Fitness: The Ultimate Dance Workout That Unleashes Your Creative Spirit (Paperback)
I've just started lessons and am very happy to be taking the course with Tamalyn Dallal. Her book tells the beginner everything they need or might want to know from the differences in style from country to country to the basic moves so clearly depicted and described. It is in a friendly conversational style that she shares her twenty-five years of experience. It is packed with helpful hints from dress to music which is great for someone just starting out. Tamalyn really earned her spot as one of the country's most respected dancers and it didn't come easy to her. They told her she couldn't do it but she remained determined and now is not only a great dancer but an inspiration to others, having turned out quite a few top bellydancers. You can feel her passion with such quotes as "If I feel like I can't shimmy any longer, I look up at the stars, take a deep breath, and my shimmy gets stronger." There are interesting insights for example when she speaks of softness as being one of the most beautiful qualities of belly dancing But the best thing about this book is its simplicity and clarity. The movements are broken down into easy-to-follow steps with totally unconfusing photo's and descriptions under each stage of the move. She also mentions variaitons and has concise descriptions on bringing it all together. A beginner can easily follow and understand what they are doing. It would also be an excellent guide for teachers. I have Dolphina's book and although the pictures are in color (in this book they're black and white) and they have arrows pointing in different directions the photo's don't meld as well with the text and it's more difficult to do. This is a perfect book for newcomers to the dance. There's a helpful guide on how to build up your skills. Mostly it's a very approachable book to read and refer back to. Tamalyn is not only talented as a dancer she is a talented writer too. She's also a very nice person and a great teacher, which comes through in in her writing.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Meditation in Motion, The Perfect Belly Dance Book!, November 10, 2004
This review is from: Belly Dancing for Fitness: The Ultimate Dance Workout That Unleashes Your Creative Spirit (Paperback)
If you are looking for that one belly dance book, this is it! "Belly dancing for Fitness" is a well thought out book that covers everything Belly dance. With over 250 step-by-step beautiful photographs that shows you exactly what you need to know to start belly dancing!
"Belly dancing relaxes the mind as well as the body since it calls for relaxation and focus, like meditation in motion." -Tamalyn Dallal, world-renowned belly dancer and author of Belly dancing for Fitness.
I also like the fact that the author of this book has more than 20 years under her hip scarf and has danced and taught in over 25 countries. Imagine the experiences she has discovered and can share through this book.
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