Customer Reviews

Bellydance for Body Shaping: Floorwork - Belly dance fitness workout.

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

 

 

Bellydance for Body Shaping uses bellydance floorwork moves as a foundation for a fun yet challeging workout. The atmosphere is lovely, the music fantastic, and the instructor Tanna is great. She is personable and clear throughout her insrtuction. This DVD has complete warm-ups and cool-downs, including an introduction about the muscle groups used. Tanna makes sure you do each excercise properly so you don't put strain your back, hips, or knees. The workouts are broken down into 3 sessions. As each session progresses, the next is a bit more challenging. Tanna gives a short performance incorporating the moves at the end of each session.

With such a great production, I am not sure what happened with some of the camera-work. You can tell the camera is hand held through parts of the DVD, giving you that slight bobbing feeling. And in the beginnging, it seemed like the camera person is too close to Tanna and can't get her quite into the whole shot, so they angle it. At this angle (tilt your head to one side), it is very distracting when you are trying to follow along. Luckily, this is not the case through the whole DVD.

This DVD is perfect for someone who wants to try something different and fun, strengthen the upper body, or learn some slinky dance moves. Sorry to say, I would not recommend this if you are seriously interested in learning traditonal bellydance floorwork. You might like to try "Classic Cabaret Floor Work."

This dvd delivered everything I'd hoped it would deliver in terms of instruction and sensuous moves. With this dvd, anyone can learn how to add grace to floorwork moves by following and practicing the 3 sessions.

The dvd is broken down into 3 "sessions" where instruction and practice is given on moves and 3 "dance" sections where the instructor uses all of the moves in a dance. (No instructions or cueing is given during the dance sessions) Following these sessions is a performance by Tanna.

In my opinion, the info on the anatomy of the moves could have been left out and in its place, instruction on arm movements could have been given and would have been very helpful. Also, beginning belly dance students might find that the movements are done too quickly and without time for much repetition within the session, but the moves are used again in each session.

I feel this dvd is a good buy for beginning dancers who want to learn and practice floorwork. The moves will make you feel and look sexy and exotic!

I wanted to give this DVD 3 stars but took off one for the simple fact that Tanna does not put any effort in telling the viewer that certain moves that are executed on the floor are just plain dangerous.....
The two stars I did give were for the ideas of the DVD and the setup....

I did not think that Tanna was an experienced enough dancer, I get the feeling that her experience is a tad too fresh, young, I feel she has not been doing this long enough to teach so openly, on a dvd, floorwork is a very dangerous dance... She moves from one move to another at an extreme pace, that floorwork is not !! If in fact she has been dancing for longer than I think then I apologise, this is just the feeling I have when observing her.


That said...
I'm a Belly dancer and was feeling ready to move onto floordancing. I was looking for something to help build up muscular support to properly perform a floordance. This DVD pretty much has it all, alot of what is done in the, NON instructional, workout is floor exercising, muscle toning around the legs, lower back, abdominal and arms, I praise the ideas and exercises shown.

If you are new to floor dancing I would not suggest this DVD, unless you have prior Yoga and Pilates experience. Although this DVD is for strengthening the muscle groups needed for dancing on the floor my personal observation of this is that you need to have some muscle control already in order to execute these moves..... As I said at the start there are some potentially dangerous moves on this DVD and if you are unaware of them you're bound to hurt yourself before you get started.

All in all if you are aware of the dangers and you have strong muscles and a little experience behind you I would recommend this DVD.

I normally love the titles that are hosted by the belly dancers from New York. They wonderfully blend fitness and instruction, and target audiences who seek both these wants. However, unlike Tana's Belly dance for Upper Body DVD, this title is geared almost exclusively to an audience who is looking for a new workout. I loved the way she explained the moves, but it seems as though the viewer needs a strong background on floorwork, and it is not for those who are on a basic level with workouts, simple because of the wear and risk to the knees. I often see other dancers shy away from using floorwork in a performance, which I simply cannot identify with, other than the risk to the knees as mentioned. Maybe I expected too much, but I wanted a way to apply the moves to actual performance, just like her previous video offered, but could not do so. The background and costuming are very practical and lovely, and Tana does give a brief tutorial. However, the tutorial would fit well with others who have had more floorwork experience. I also wanted Tana to give more cautionary advice on posture and performing the moves, which I believe Andy Troy, the certified fitness instructor did not summarize. I still love this video, and really recommend her videos for a great workout, and instructional approach.

I have over 25 bellydance dvds I've collected in the past 4 years just for fitness.
This is definitly not for beginners in terms of holding your body up on your arms & feet alone while doing uludations, hips circles & twists, etc. You will need to be at least somewhat active & workout regularly before buying this.
If you have Neon's Bellydance for Body Shaping, you know the instruction & pace style.
There is a 20 min tutorial w/no music on hip circles, etc. but still not enough for a first-time bellydance dvd buyer or even a second dvd. I would still suggest Veena & Neena the bellydance twins first since they go the slowest & use analogies.
It's broke down into 3 warmup, teaching, dance & cooldown all in 15 min each. There is soft soothing music playing the during the first 13 min of the session & the more heavy beat good music for the end dance.
I agree with another reviewer that though Tanna is good, she's still a little stiff & feels "by the book" in her movements like she's still a little unsure. Tanna is very nice & personable & is very enerst when she says to just do the best you can.
The dance routines you learn I felt were a little uninspiring & the bonus workout of Tanna dancing solo with full costume at the end seemed to need the extra camerawork that moves a lot & changes back & forth to cover up her inexperience.

This video is excellent for anyone looking to find a way to tone up the abs without having to do crunches. The video has three 15 minutes sessions and a tutorial in the very beginning that helps you learn the moves before you dive into a lesson. The dancer informs you not to force yourself to do anything uncomfortable for the more challenging floor exercises. This video is great for blood circulation as well and takes place in a calm and serene environment. The best part it, you can pick up some really sexy dance moves along the way :-D

ok, so this is NOT for people who don't have a lot of strength and who are not to easy with floor movements. Some of the camera work leaves a bit to be desired. Despite this I LOVE it.

Every time I do this I feel strong! I feel like I am working my body. And I like how it feels.

On the whole she cues it well, I like the little counter at the side which tells you how much you have to go. I just really, really, really like this DVD!

the performance by tanna isn't so good. the camera work means you can't really see what she is doing.

Tana is great! This DVD is very informative and her performances are lovely. Very professional, easy to follow, and true to form. Highly recommended.

As a certified fitness instructor and also belly dance teacher, I can say that this video gives a fitness instructor some new ideas to offer in the aerobics room, which is great. When viewing this video as such, it isn't too bad, though I will say that it is for the beginner. For those at a higher fitness level and more advanced in their physical abilities, this would not be enough and would have to be greatly modified to suit the needs of an advanced fitness participant. Floor work in general, as far as belly dancing is concerned, is not usually something that I would perform, nor would I have my students perform in public, but as an aside in the dance studio, it is great to learn and makes for a good workout and diversion from the usual dance routines. It is not Egyptian and should be made clear by the instructor, which I do not recall anything in this video explaining that. Overall, it offers something different for the gym, which is always a good thing, but in my humble opinion, I have seen much better videos. Is it a total waste of money? I don't think so. I think it has something to offer those who are familiar with fitness instruction and the nature of the belly dance. If you are a complete novice at either, I would recommend finding a video that keeps safety in mind and explains things more thoroughly and allows more practice with each individual move. It's not bad, but not really the best that I have seen, either.

The technique and moves demonstrated in this video were very good. She explained HOW to do the moves and there was a little animation to show you also. The explanations were very good, especially for beginners. She definitely did a good job of helping me understand how to get my body to do the moves, like which muscles were being used and what not.

The main problems I had with this video were that a) the instructor was ultra-annoying, b)the camerawork was poor and made the video look cheap, and c)the instructor moved way too fast. She was hard to keep up with on my first time doing the video because she didn't do the moves slow enough to allow you to see them. Her voice was very nasal and irritating; I really didn't like listening to her. She wasn't very friendly either. She didn't appear to enjoy what she was doing at all, which made it less fun for me. The camera was shakey a good bit of the time, but the lighting was good and allowed you to see the instructor pretty well. Lastly, she really did move too fast. For example, Level One of Instructional Bellydance by Jillina was a much better pace. This instructor moved so fast that you couldn't see how the body's parts were supposed to flow smoothly.

Despite those complaints, I still would recommend this video, but not by itself. This is a video that's better for getting your technique downpat but it doesn't do anything for making the workout enjoyable. I really like doing the stretches and practicing the technique with this video, but I always use another video after for a more fun dance workout.