Product Details

• Actors: Suhaila Salimpour
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Goldhill Home Media
• VHS Release Date: December 28, 2004
• Run Time: 40 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00069FKUA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #443,748 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gets you ready for her workshop, September 20, 2005

By 

BellyAndWings "Belly dance instructor" (MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bellydance for Beginners with Suhaila: Fitness Fusion Buns (DVD)

I bought these after I took a seminar with Rachel Brice who firmly recommended them, since she is a Suhaila student.

The good parts of this: It IS a challenge--ignore the 'beginner' label on it. And once you get the quick, rapid fire rlr-lrl glute squeeze down, and can do it standing, your shimmies will move from knee shimmies to glute shimmies. The benefit of this is that your legs are therefore free to walk, kick, whatever, b/c it's all in your glutes. It's also great for emphasis on locks and building up the precision. This is geared towards the more serious dancer.

The bads: People who purchase this thinking they'll learn bellydance are often mislead. This, like Brice's practice companion, is really for enhancing the precision of those of us who already know basic moves, or for people who want a glute workout that's not Tammy Faye or Kathy Smith. The other bad is that several of these exercises repeat in her other DVD's, which can lead to a sigh of "this AGAIN?"

This series is strongly recommended for those who are going for certification and for her workshops, and I truly see why!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, this DVD is great for beginners, August 7, 2006

By 

Naimah "creative spirit" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bellydance for Beginners with Suhaila: Fitness Fusion Buns (DVD)

Suhaila has a great knowledge of the muscles involved in the movements, and doing this DVD, you will feel like a bellydance athlete-in-training!

Is this DVD too tough for beginners? No. Don't feel daunted if you have never bellydanced before. Any new movement is going to feel awkward at first. Keep practicing. Eventually your "muscle memory" will kick in and it will start to make sense to your body. I wish I had started bellydance by learning Suhaila's technique first. It's much easier to learn proper technique first, than to unlearn what you've been taught incorrectly. It's like learning to bellydance all over again!

Suhaila teaches you a more effective way to execute bellydance movements. For example, instead of "pumping your knees" to create a hip shimmy, you flex and isolate your glute muscles. Shimmying isn't just wildly throwing your arse around. It's controlled movement. By using your glut muscles to execute a shimmy, your legs are then free to perform other movements - and as you become more advanced, you can layer many different moves, even at different tempos.

I've been doing this video for a few weeks, and I can already see the improvement in the precision and fluidity of my dancing. And it does really tone your buns, no joke! I still can't get through the whole toning section without gripping my buns in agony. LOL!

If your serious about learning bellydance TECHNIQUE, then you will enjoy this series.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Series needs to be used as a set, April 11, 2007

By 

M. Dersch "PrixMadonna" (Petersburg, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bellydance for Beginners with Suhaila: Fitness Fusion Buns (DVD)

What I did not know about this series of fitness DVDs, until I took a weekend workshop in the Suhaila Salimpour technique with Suhaila Salimpour, was that the individual workouts are designed to work certain muscle combinations to strengthen specific muscle groups for defined movements in Suhaila Salimpour's technique for bellydance.

The DVDs seem to be marketed more as a "bellydance version of this or that exercise," and that is not the case.

Suhaila breaks down for the viewer each muscle group that she utilizes to layer her moves and uses a different exercise technique to isolate and strengthen that muscle or group of muscles.

There is a lot of repetition. There is even more in her classes.

Some directions were not detailed enough for me before the workshop, but the DVDs are the perfect amount of direction after taking a workshop with Suhaila.

While these exercises are great for general fitness, they are really geared toward learning muscle isolation for the Suhaila Salimpour technique for bellydance.

The workouts are akin to doing drills in a ballet class or a martial arts class, which is the approach that Suhaila takes to Bellydance.