Customer Reviews

Bellydance for Beginners with Suhaila: Fitness Fusion Jazz [VHS]

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

 

 

To begin, Suhaila does not bother to explain each of her movements. I attempted to mimic her actions, but her inability to break a move down, and her unwillingness to call out the next action made this an unattainable goal. At one point, she was calling out moves that she had never discussed. I have had four years of college dance courses, but still couldn't follow along.

Next, while the dance pants the women chose to wear may be very flattering and fashionable, it is impossible to see their feet in order to follow their movements. There was no way to distinguish between each movement, because there was no visual cue. If at least one member on screen had kept her legs visible, the video may have been somewhat more comprehensible.

Also, Suhaila never bothered to break down the "routines" into smaller steps. Going over the dance once, using moves she hasn't explained, and refusing to call out the next movement is hard enough. Throwing the entire routine out at once without breaking it down and then bringing it together made it even worse. The only thing continuing to follow along did for me, was to frustrate me and ensure that practice lead to more mistakes rather than familiarity.

The first music video had me excited about the workout. The l-e-n-g-t-h-y warm-up had me anticipating a challenging 40 minutes. The end video merely added insult by demonstrating what she didn't bother to teach us. I'm glad that Suhaila has a video that's all about her. How about creating a dvd for the rest of us?

It starts with 9 minutes of stretching: torso bends, flat back & wide legged, touching toes at diff angles, squatting with flat back, lunges: runner & side, shoulder rolls, chest stretches, then large uladations that use standing on tip toes, bending knees & hips.
The gluteus contractions for hip bumps really make you aware to strengthen your gluts & more fluidity in hips without relying on bending your knees stiffly so much. You walk & step & do circles & really get into it for 14 min until your butt feels like it's hard as concrete.
After you do two routines which she starts out showing very slowly, little too slow to teach then speeds up doing about 5x each. Then a quick neck stretch & you're done in 34 min. After is performance of her & her students for 5 minutes & her talking about how hard it is to be a partent for one minute.
The bonus 10 min workout of her voiceover of a student was easier & fun to follow.
The special features features a student performance who must have gymastics in her background because she does one-handed flips, jumps with split in air, can twist around while maintaining a split, and fall on the floor & reach her feet almost over her head.
The routines were a little hard to follow for me as well, but with practice I'm sure anyone can do it. She could give more cues for that, which is my only critism except for the pants of the students were too long in my opinion as well to follow the feet of the students as you can see by the picture on the box. I would not suggest you use these DVDs as a first bellydance workout, Neena & Veena still are the best for beginers who don't have previous extensive dance experience. These DVDs are better for building on the basics you already know.

This dvd and the whole series are great for working on isolations. This particular workout was the most difficult for me to follow. I'm an intermediate bellydancer and was able to do most of the workouts until she does some combinations towards the end that just got too confusing and she didn't really explain what she was doing. Other than that, she works on the hip isolations which really refine doing the maia (figure 8). This video is challenging yet do-able. The dvd comes with special features which includes a bonus mini workout, a solo performance, a performance by her entire troupe and circle dance. Her students in the video are very talented and the workout motivates you to get to their level. Oh, and strangely there is a random part where she talks about her pregnancy.
I recommend her pilates or yoga dvd over this one.

Suhaila Salimpour has created a sensual Bellydance routine with a Jazz infusion. Her creativity blossoms in this particular workout as she encourages you to join her on a Jazz/Bellydance journey. The exercises build confidence and tone muscles faster than most other exercises I've tried for my abs.

If you have been working out to Bellydance workouts for about a year or so, you may find you are very light on your feet and the steps will be easy to master. There is an invigorating balance challenge as your hips rock from side to side. You will be arching your back and then falling to the floor in a sensual movement of control and surrender. There are many moves to adore if you love Pilates, Yoga and Ballet. There are flowing elegant stretches and a tribal/yoga appeal.

Candles, plants and sweeping curtains set the stage for a burgundy, sapphire, lavender and deep blue garden setting.

This DVD is especially wonderful due to the bonus workout, workout without narration, solo performance and circle dance elements.

If you have been Bellydancing for a few years, this is very rewarding and will be enjoyed by intermediate to advanced bellydancers. If you are just starting out, look for Neon's instructional DVDs, especially the ones with Andy Troy. I can recommend BellyDance for Body Shaping, Buns and Thighs.

Suhaila Salimpour is an excellent instructor who has a sensual, creative touch in her workouts. The sets are always healing and you feel like you have escaped into a magical world of dance where your soul is nurtured, your body is healed and you feel a renewed sense of appreciation for life. Perfect for toning your stomach and overall strengthening.

~The Rebecca Review

Now I'm not sure what Suhaila's definition of 'beginner' is but it sure isn't mine. I've been belly dancing for 6 months and have been a jazz dancer for 5 years. The jazz moves were easier for me to catch on to then constantly doing my hips.

She doesn't explain anything. She just introduces the movement and starts doing it. Definitely not good if you don't know jazz or ballet. The warm-up is fine and then it's right in to hips which you do through out the whole work out.

My biggest gripe: This is NOT Jazz.

I'm not sure what she thinks Jazz dance is, but it sure isn't this. It's more disco. I was very frustrated because I thought we'd be moving around a lot and getting a good workout. I'm sorry a "3-point turn" is not a good workout. She really needs to re-think the Jazz concept.

The best beginner video I've found is Rachel Brice's Tribal Fusion. If you want a good isolation work out try that. And if you want to learn jazz, go spend your money on a class instead of this DVD.

If you have belly dancing training, but no jazz background, this DVD will most likely be frustrating. If you have exposure to both, are a jazz dancer who wants to add some Middle-Eastern spice to your routine, or you look up the steps on the internet, it's a lot more fun.

The warm-up is pretty standard, and easy to follow. Once she moves into the choreography, it's a different story. While there are only a few actual jazz (really ballet) moves (the chassez and pas de barre), they are not explained, nor does she give directionals (left/right). There isn't much instruction on which foot goes first, either, and these patterns are significantly different from the 'typical' belly-dancing (or even her other fusion DVDs) approach.

I found the classroom to be very busy and somewhat distracting. It also appeared to me that some of the people in the background were having some difficulty adding in the elements. Normally, I'm a fan of this type of dancing learning (everyone has different body types, different styles), but I didn't think it worked for this particular DVD.

Also, as a Westerner, I'm usually trying to make my belly-dancing LESS Westernized. The addition of the jazz form really works against this.

I did like the bonus workout and the troupe circle dance elements, but overall, I'd have to recommend Suhaila's other fusion DVDs.

This was the first Suhaila video that I had viewed, and I have numerous DVD's and videos from many of the bellydancers. I have to say this was a very good instructional video for the more advanced bellydancer. I found the moves to be more challenging, and it was a good combination of bellydance moves and modern dance.
There are a lot of extras on the DVD, such as: a bellydance/modern dance routine with Suhaila and her dancers; a solo bellydance routine, a bellydance circle with Suhaila, her dancers, and even her little daughter where they each do a personalized dance; and a replay of the routines with only music and no voice instructions. I highly recommend this video if you are more than at a beginner level, or even if bellydance is new to you, this is a very good instructional video.

I loved it when I saw it on public television. No sweating, no hurting, no panting, no feeling like I'm gonna die any minute! The movements is sooooo natural, feminine, relaxing. Then the bellydancing parts come and man! it's not as easy as I thought! But it's so fun. I try and practice one move every day to regular music and I get better and better everytime with the combination moves. Then when I'm done, my heart is actually racing, and I'm sweating and it didn't even feel like a workout! I was just having fun dancing!! You gotta get this if you hate to exercise but just love to dance!

To be fair, I must admit I did not finish watching this video. It opens with some standard stretching, and then moves on to the "exotic fusion of jazz and bellydance moves" - calf raises. Finally, it moves to a recognizable dance move, hip shimmies. But it lingers on the many variations: half time, at tempo, on one leg, add a clap. Maybe it gets better, but I'll never know. I moved to another video before this one put me to sleep.

This was not a beginner's video at all. If you are out of shape you will not be able to keep up. Furthermore, the movements go by too fast. By the time you start to get one move down, the next has come up and you are scrambling to keep up. Then there is the fact that many of the moves are combinations, expecting you to move forward and back, up and down, while shaking your hips and adding arm movements. Many of the moves aren't clearly shown in the video, making it even harder to follow along.

I am sure that with a lot of practice I could eventually get the moves of this video down, but as someone just starting to get in shape again, I found that it was too frustrating to try. I will move on to another exercise dance dvd instead.