Customer Reviews

Belly Dancing for Fitness: The Ultimate Dance Workout That Unleashes Your Creative Spirit

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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.

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.

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.

I saw this book, Rania's book, and the one by Laura Cooper at the local library and checked them all out. Rania's is the prettiest, Cooper's is very informative but the color in the pictures seems a bit off, but this one I love. The pictures are easier to follow than in the other two books, and Tamalyn writes in an easy, engaging style that reads more like a friendly conversation than an informative book. I especially liked the chapters about what to wear, and what CDs are particularly good for starting a bellydance collection. I highly recommend this to anyone starting out as a bellydancer.

This book is very interesting because it tells about the culture, the music, each instrument, the rhythms, their counts, and how to break them down. It gives a resource guide, list of favorite CD's, how to mix your own practice CD, plus lots of history and explaination about each style of bellydance.
Bellydancing is more than just a series of movements. It has thousands of years of culture behind it and if you dance without paying attention to that, you lose the meaning.
Tamalyn Dallal travels aound the world to teach bellydancing, but she also learns the local dances from the countries she visits. There is tremendous depth in her knowledge, and this book expresses that.

This book is absolutely the best! Any bellydancer, beginner, intermediate, or advanced, will enjoy this book. Tamalyn Dallal is a great person, beautiful and talented dancer, and also a amazing teacher. I have taken many classes with Tamalyn since January 2004, and she is just the best. Not only does she teach you all these beautiful moves, she also tells you about the history of the dance, and her workshops are so much fun. This book will help you set up a bellydance workout routine, make CDs for your workout, and tips for costumes, among many more things. No bellydancer should be without this book!! Bellydance is a great way to express yourself and your femininity, lose weight, and have fun.

This book is really really wonderful.

I found the movements broken down clearly, the photos were also very helpful even though they are in black and white. I don't think photos need to be in colour.

As a bellydance instructor, I recommended my students to get this book as it is has all the basic movements and also gives you background and culture of the dance.

As an instructor making lesson plans, this book helped me as it has all the foundation movements as well as the step-by-step break down of each movement.

Very well done.

I reccommend this book to anyone who loves belly dancing. This is packed with pictures and instructions to exercise in the comfort of your own home. Has tons of info. on belly dancing for begginers to advanced belly dancers. I love this book!

I just started belly dance and this book is a great read and description of the moves for beginners!

Great Reading Great instruction! If you are starting classes in belly Dance. This book is a must have! It has all the basic moves, terminology and pictures that are most helpful when you are at home practicing one on one with yourself. Very informative on all aspects of this dance. From basic fitness and flexibility to zills and rhythms its got it all here. I highly enjoyed reading and will continue to reference this book whenever possible.