Customer Reviews

Bellydance: Opulent Motion - The Artistry of Slow Moves

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Think silk, cinnamon and spice. Think rose petals, soft breezes and pearly white sands. Think of the most beautiful things you ever saw. And the saddest. Things that touched your heart, made you reach out, withdraw, feel pain, feel joy...

All of these are embodied in the dance that Sarah dances.

In this video, Sarah shows you that it's not enough to dance with your body. You must dance with your thoughts, your imagination, your feelings and your dreams. If I were to watch this video once, and put it away, the one message I would go away with is that you must fill every movement and moment with whatever affects you most deeply. Remember something you yearned for, think of something that awes you with its beauty, and draw it into your dance. Take the music and make it your own story.
Forget your isolations and muscle conditioning drills and authentic Egyptian moves and your flawless technique and watch as Sarah Skinner tells you what it is in her heart and mind that makes her dance the way she does.

This video must have been so difficult to conceptualize. How do you explain what passing thought or feeling you called upon while dancing to hold your audience? To a seasoned dancer, this must come so naturally so as to be inseparable from the dance itself. And yet, in this remarkable instruction, she has explained and illustrated her beautiful slow lyrical dancing from all aspects.
By now if you're impatient to know what on earth is on that DVD that's so special, let me explain bit by bit.

In her first section, Sarah takes up foundation moves. This is just a brief introduction to each of the basics. Starting with posture, dance walks and turns we run quickly through arm positions, poses and how they are used including how to maintain energy while holding a pose to further enhance an emotion. Sarah's hand moves are fluid and lovely and she explores the basics of this movement here. Head circles, hip and pelvic circles, chest slides and circles, figure eights, hip rolls, one-hip eights are introduced. So are full body snakes, undulations and basic shimmies, contractions, and even stomach rolls. All brief reviews.
The second section teaches organic movement, or how to dance naturally. That may sound like a contradiction in terms, but you could certainly use the technique explained here to bring more naturalness into your movement. All I'll say is that it's about leading with different parts of your body in a way that makes the entire move fuller. Practiced regularly, this will impact the overall look of your dancing.

The next section explains the meaning of taqsim and how it relates to rhythms are how these are interwoven in slow dancing.
Rhythms used in slower forms of belly dancing are now taken up in their own section. Sarah shows how to move to these rhythms. This is a unique and very interesting section where she gets you to try with her some movement sequences. Frankly I'd love a companion video just full of these. Say about a thousand of them. Watch every nuance and accent in this section - and there are many of them. The chiftitelli rhythm segment is particularly intresting if you've seen other videos that cover this (not that there are many). The slow and playful 9/8 is also covered here. This movement to rhythm is practiced in motion sequence chapters, step by step.

Rhythmless taqsim (the real taqsim, as many would say) is also explored. There are movement sequences with lots of tips on execution. From how to breathe to how to place your foot - Sarah takes you through this with lots of analogies for you to draw upon later.
Practice flows invite you to improvise a little on your own with minimal prompting, using the concepts just learnt. Each rhythm is taken up. Sarah will cue you on how to lead or what sort of moves to come up with. This section reminds me of some of the concepts used by Nadira Gamal in her improvisation toolkit. There are practice flows for rhythmless taqsim as well.

In a beautiful section on expression and musicality, Sarah dances to John Bilezikjian's chiftetelli (a piece which totally gets me) as she analyzes and explains how she interprets the music and translates it into emotive movement. There are a lot of lessons here, as there are in the next section which is a music-only demonstration of many of the movements and sequences taken up until now. You can pick up so much from here for all the times you don't know what to do when there's a long slow entrance to a piece of music. Watch the relationship of emotional expression to music to movement. See how to use slowness, how to be inward oriented and outward. Watch also as Sarah uses the shamadaan to completely change the mood of the same movements. Sarah teaches may ways to engage an audience, when to be warm, when to be cold, when to look mysterious... amazing insight into the complexity of this beautiful dance. This long music-only section gives you the opportunity to focus on each move, distraction-free. She dances to several pieces of music. She includes a mysterious lethal-looking snake dance - not with snakes, but in a snake mood. There's a clip with swords as well. For each, watch the complete change of mood and expression.

Finally, there's her lovely performance to Lama Bada. This one is with the veil. It's filled with both joyousness and emotional turmoil.

This DVD is much like Nadira Jamal's wonderful series, in that it takes you beyond the drills, movement instruction, and canned choreographies that so many other bellydance DVDs repeat. Don't get me wrong! Michelle Joyce's Drills, Drills, Drills and Killer Ziller are fantastic for learning and making bellydance movements effortless, once you get beyond the beginner stage. But I have been disappointed too many times in buying what I thought was a "choreography" DVD to learn how to choreograph and express music, only to wind up with someone exceptionally talented teaching me a fixed choreography without going through how it came to be. Great practice, but I want to be more than a mimic of someone else.

What I want at this point in my training (intermediate) is to get into the mind of a dancer who is able to express herself and to interpret the music effectively, which is really what makes the difference between a dancer (technical expert?) and an artist. So far, only my teacher, MariJahne', Nadira JamalTaktaba Episode 1: Repetition and Alternation Taktaba Episode 2: Long-Term Repetition Taktaba Episode 3: Timing Patterns, and now Sarah Skinner, have been able to convey how this dance--done well--is about the relationship between the artist and the audience. I can't improve upon the details that the first 2 reviewers gave. I love this DVD! If you have been looking for someone to teach you the artistry of this dance, this & Nadira Jamal's DVD are for you.

Sarah Skinner presents a beautiful instructional video that is full of delicious, sensuous moves, as well as stunning costumes (as usual) that are a feast for the eyes. Particularly useful to beginners and intermediates is the breakdown of the rhythms. If you are a student that has trouble with slow moves, you truly must get this DVD and work with it. Sarah will make it fun and painless for you! She is truly inspirational in this video! She will even help you improve how you look in the photos that are taken as you dance. The visualizations that Sarah gives will help many to start incorporating that method into their dance. This DVD and Blanca's Sensual Belly Dance are 2 must-haves for beautiful slow work. Enjoy!

Sarah Skinner is an excellent teacher, and this dvd is like attending a 2 1/2 workshop with her. I can do the basic foundation moves and follow a belly dance workout fairly well, so I bought this to help me move beyond simply following someone else's lead and start getting into feeling the character of the dance and adding more style to my moves. There's enough stuff here to keep me busy for a long time. I recommend that you already know the foundation moves. Although she covers them, she goes over them fairly quickly. But if you're a novice dancer, don't skip her instruction of the basics even if you think you know them. She has wonderful little descriptions and ways of explaining the moves that might make a big difference to you. She has instruction about rhythm and what moves you might use, practice sequences, and a whole lot of beautiful performances that you can follow. She is a beautiful dancer, her costumes are gorgeous, and most importantly, she's a skilled instructor.

I bought this a few weeks back, and have worked with it a few times since then. It's a wonderful dvd on bellydance over all, and goes through both the basic moves, and some much more advanced combos. After ordering Sarah Skinner's dvd on veil work, I just had to get this one as I was completely blown away. Her teaching style is fun, patient, and easy to follow. She is clearly a master of her trade, and it shows in her demonstrations, and explanations of the dance.

This dvd starts with a review of all the basic movements of bellydance, which I was very excited to find was actually quite indepth, not just a cursory going over the basics. Sarah is one of my favorite instructors I've come across so far through my dvd studies of the dance, and to have a nice review of the basics by her specifically was wonderful. After a basic review she spends some time explaining exactly what taxim is, then goes on to show you how to apply taxim moves in specific ways to some of the more popular arabic rythms used in the dance. Also, there is a section on pantomime like posing, where she talks about telling a story with the dance, and showing emotion and feeling in it, not just technical expertise. This was very nice to have along with a part about organic movement where you let go and just learn to feel and move, finding you natural way of really emotionally diving into the dance. There is also a longer section with more complicated extended combs to practice.

Overall a wonderful dvd and one that is worth your time and investment.

Was given to me as a gift. Comprehensive, and Ms. Skinner is pleasant. I'm of a fusion style, but it's nice to get dvd's with the foundations and fundamentals. I like how there are many menu selections to keep me busy.
The performance on my copy of the dvd is messed up. Music is fine but the visual is choppy like watching her dance with a strobe light on her. Or she is just freakishly good at strobing. Too bad, but oh well because it's not the most important part of the dvd.

Sarah Skinner is a very graceful dancer and in my opinion is able to explain everything with wonderful clearity. She really does work on how to bellydance with a flowing grace which is needed for smooth transitions and better isolations. In addition to hip & chest basics, she walks through all the steps including foot work, arms, hands, neck, stage personality, and organic full body stances/movements. She also teaches music awareness, many combos, layering, and in the end there is a performance.
What I really like about this DVD is every aspect is taught with a detailed walk through and with music that really fits the moves. So with practice everything is do-able and it's fun to do the entire DVD with her... and numerous times which is always a bonus! :)

Sarah Skinner presents her beautiful program, Belly Dance:Opulent Motion. Here is the artistry of slow, expressive interpretive, belly dance through storytelling and personal imagery.
If you have already embarked into a personal enchanting journey with belly dance, you will find there lies beneath a concept so simple yet so vital in bringing life to dance: "feel, don't think." Upon reviewing this program, it conveys this message clearly in the artistry of expression. Assuming that the dancer has acquired enough dance vocabulary, the body is familiar with technique, so it becomes the instrument being played, every move in response to the beat, it is then that the dancer and the music become one. Here is the time that the dancer finally breaks free into creativity, utilizing what may be her own creative force; bringing drama, life to the performance- her vision becoming her story through dance, ah yes! the beauty and versatility of belly dance!
The program includes the following lesson plan:
Foundation-posture, brief technique section on belly dance basics and a great section on arm placements and flowing hand movements
Organic Movement-creativity through imagery and storytelling, breaking free of foundations and rigid combinations
Taqsim and Slow Rhythms- a generous breakdown of rhythm and movement such as masmoudi taqsim, ciftetelli, and a playful 9/8 rhythms; dance clips corresponding to the exclusive rhythms . The sections are broken down and counted in proper pattern for better understanding.
Movement sequences, poses, transitions, and more embellishments- all the little accessories that dress up the face and torso in dance.
Expression and Musicality/ voice cues or music only- Sarah's personal interpretations of performance dance clips with and without utilizing props
Veil Performance
Sarah's personal dance theory is informative and entertaining . She is delightful and at times humerous during her presentations. The program is designed for open level and focuses on the interpretation of her personal dance style and story telling as she narrates instruction from her dance clips.
World Dance New York also offers "Sensual Belly Dance" and "Beautiful Technique from Step One", which I felt are more detailed in instruction, choreography. I feel that all these together form a trilogy of distinguished performers' personal reference, on the artistry of slow moves in belly dance. Overall, a great program.

There aren't many other DVDs that teach slow movement (a DVD called "Sensual Bellydance" by the same company for example)but I've had a couple. And compared to those others, this is boring--very. There simply weren't many sequences to learn that made you feel like you'd accomplished something.


I bought this DVD almost a year ago and it's taken me a long time to just get through it. By the same token, it IS long. It's over 2 hours. There are sections of it that ARE good. In particular I liked the way she described and demonstrated different rhythms...but I'd still pass on this one in favor of "Sensual Bellydance"

I have now established a small collection of nine different belly dance DVDs. I must admit that Opulent Motion is a lovely experience and a rare treat. Sarah Skinner breaks this Belly dance DVD down into several chapters. 1. Welcome 2 Foundation moves 3. Organic Movement 4. About Taqsim and Slow Rhythms 5. Rhythms and Movements 6. Movement sequences step-by step chapters 7. Movement sequences practice flow 8. Expression and musicality music and commentary 9. Expression and musicality music only 10. Performance. Each movement is broken down in the Step by step movement section, allowing you practice making your hand flourishes move like silk while preparing for the choreography that she teaches you in the main workout section. This is a fabulous Belly dance DVD. Skinner has a lot of fun demonstrating and playing with the different moves. I bought this DVD because I realize how hard it can be to move slowly and in a serpentine manner, and I wanted to improve my slow movements. This DVD will give you just that practice in a fun way. If you liked Hard Candy, Luscious, and Love Potion of which, Skinner participated in as well, you will love Opulent Motion. Though I believe that a beginner could easily jump into this DVD, it might be helpful to start with Luscious or Love Potion to learn the basic belly dance moves and their names.