Customer Reviews

Bellydance: East Coast Tribal - Basics, Combinations & Strength Workout DVD

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Coming from a Gypsy Caravan background with ATS mixed in, the dancing in this DVD is different than what I am used to. The basic moves are the same, however, and Sera does a brilliant job at warming up the body and forcing the hips and the thighs to work - frankly, the 30-minute warm up is enough to do me in - ha! Asthetically, it would have been nice for the other three girls to smile as much as Sera did - but then again, I can't say I'm much of a smiler when I am working out as hard as I was. ;-)

It's a good workout DVD for those who don't want to run the same belly dance DVDs over and over again. I would recommend it

This instructional dvd is for tribal FUSION bellydance which incorporates influences from other genres of dance, such as hip hop and modern dance. Although it shares many features with American Tribal Style (ATS) bellydance, do not expect to find it here. What you will find are really unique and skillful movements along with a killer strength training workout.
Tribal Fusion involves a lot of technique and skill and is very muscle-oriented. Sera effectively teaches new and interesting combinations that you can use along with your own bellydance style. The instruction is clear, the moves are awesome, and the work-out is great.
This is the future of bellydance.

I finally worked through this video after owning it for a while, and I was stunned at how excellent it is. There are a few flaws (which I'll get to later), but those aside, it's a superb video.

First things first. This is not a beginner's DVD. Sera neither gives the kind of explanations of basic movements a beginner would want, nor does she present all the basics of bellydance. No way. It is, however, a great DVD for intermediate dancers. Sera goes over some basic movements (especially in the warmup), but in such a way as to help you increase your flexibility and power.

The 20-minute warmup and the 10-minute drill section get you doing some basic stretches, focusing on your isolations, and quite importantly, working on powering moves from particular muscles. The dancers mirror your movements (so when she calls "left," they actually move to their right) which I prefer. Sera is extremely thorough about calling out which muscle to use for a move, and always managed to remind me as soon as I forgot. I *was* worried about the neck stretch, since she moves the head all the way back, and some moves also seemed quite hard on the knees, so I modified them. In the choreography Sera is careful to point out which sections are knee-unfriendly, and sometimes offers a modification, but this is not the case in the workout. She does, however, tell you when certain moves are difficult for beginners, so you don't get discouraged.

I would say that, considering how cheap the DVD is, the warmup is worth the price alone. I know I'm going to use this (with some extra stretching) as an introduction to other bellydance videos.

Next comes a demonstration of the combinations to be learned, and then very detailed instructions for each of six movement combinations. I had watched the video before, but only by doing it could I see what a brilliant teacher Sera is. She has that uncanny ability to know *just* when you're relaxing a certain muscle, or doing a movement lazily, or forgetting about your posture, and to give a perfectly-timed reminder.

On the other hand, the combos themselves are challenging and, to my eye, beautiful. It's not hard to get the basics of each, but to do them right, with the correct arm movements, good timing, and perfect form, is hard. This is a major strength of the DVD: you can grow into it a little. Both the warmup and the dance instruction are basically doable for an advanced beginner/intermediate, but they have enough layering and little details that you have a reason to go back and do the video again.

As you can probably tell by the length of this review, I am impressed! I do want to say though that it's not the right DVD for you if you just want to pop something in the player and shake your hips around. Some of the muscular movements can be quite strenuous. You need to pay attention to the instructions, you need to listen to your body to avoid injury, and you may even need to pause it and practice a movement slowly and carefully on your own. And you need to stretch thoroughly at the end. But this is what makes it so good.

I am not a huge fan of the super urban, breakdancesque style of East Coast Tribal bellydance, but I love this DVD! First of all, it has a fantastic, thorough warm-up, stretch, and isolation segment. This 20min segment is very well put together. The movements really flow, and you really get a great stretch while tuning into the muscles you will need for dancing. I have been doing this segment daily whether I continue with this DVD, do another, or attend dance class. Next you get 10 mins of hip work drills. This portion really gives you a leg work out. Then you get to see the choreography that you will be learning demonstrated in costume by the Solstice Dance Ensemble. Again, if you are a traditionalist, you will probably not like this very funky, urban style. But if you are always looking for new expressions of the Bellydance artform, you will. The longest segment of this DVD follows. This is a detailed breakdown of the six combinations used in the choreography. Sera does an outstanding job teaching these moves. Her technique is the reverse of many other instructors. Rather than start with small, very muscular, segmented moves and moving to flowing undulations, she begins with large over exagerated moves and then reigns them in to very controlled movements. Her technique really works. This segment is 45 mins. so if you do the entire video, incuding the choreoghraphy demo, you get 1 hr 25 mins of wokout time, a great value if you dance to stay fit. Finally, the DVD is organized quite well. It has logical, easy to use menus, good graphics, sound, a visual effects, and is attractively packaged.

I workout to this dvd consistently. Sera is bewitching. She and her gorup of ladies starts out with a good stretch. Then shifts onto drills that are challenging but she breaks them down very well. The ladies are showing them at different angles. She and her group of ladies, demonstrate an example of East Coast tribal choregraphy twice. Then Sarah proceeds to carefully breakdown that choregraphy. This gave me great ideas for tribal bellydancing. She ends with an in costume performance. This isn't a dvd for absolute beginners. It is challenging.
Would definitely like to see more Sera and her group.

In search of a more interesting tribal fusion video, I recently picked this one up and have told all my funky friends to buy it! I wasn't sure how much value it would have at first, because I hadn't really heard much about Sera or EastCost tribal style, but I was pleasantly surprised. A lot of my belly dance videos seem painfully cheesy, to long to fit into my regular schedule, or just plain boring. This video has a harder edge and a good flow. It brakes down into a 20min strength workout, a 10min hip drill and 45min of detailed combinations. The Freek Factory music is super funky. The choreography is fun. The workout is intense yet short enough to work into a busy schedule. The video is packed full of good information The combos are broken down in detail and the moves are well explained. It's kind of like paying $14 for a whole class series, can't beat that.

I am a total beginner and I'm attempting to teach myself. I have never taken a belly dance class from a live instructor. I was actually going through the video right now and am pausing to write this review. All of the women in this video are wearing pants that cover their feet. I keep having to stop and rewind in order to squint at the knee and feet positions. I'm watching this on a laptop at full screen so maybe I just need a larger image. Sera does explain what she's doing as she's doing it however I'm a visual learner and would rather just have a better view of what she's doing. Other then that the video is really fun. Maybe it's just not meant for total beginners. I'm certainly sweating much more than I expected, which is a good thing.

I felt the above was a necessary title because I think many people still need to differentiate between American Tribal Style (ATS) and tribal fusion. While there are some definite similarities, the two styles are NOT the same!

Unlike Rachel Brice's video, Sera covers choreography and combinations in the tribal fusion style and does it well. She is a friendly, engaging instructor, and her explanations of the moves are concise and easy to follow. Her brief segment on shimmy drills seems to go a little too quickly, but she does admit that it may be "challenging at first" and to "listen to your body." Raw beginners will probably find this DVD a little too challenging for them, but anyone with a few beginners' classes under their hip scarves will be able to get through this just fine. Also note that if you're wanting instruction with more "traditional" music, you may have a hard time getting into this, as the soundtrack is by Freek Factory.

The one quibble that I have with this DVD is the ugly grey background behind Sera during her performance segment. However, I didn't buy this DVD just to watch her perform, so I don't feel it's enough to detract from my rating.

Excellent production.

To begin with, the DVD features a 20-minute warm-up and a 10-minute drill session. This is followed by a dance combination with the Solstice ensemble.

Six combination tutorials explain in depth how to practice the moves.

Finally, a dance performance by Sera.

Sera is a good teacher, and if you're looking to break a little away from standard Oriental or Belly Dance moves, you will appreciate the ones presented by Sera.

Simply put, I found this to be a nice little DVD. The girls here aren't your typical bellydancers (they're not in the cabaret costumes, or the 'I Dream of Jeannie' wardrobe with added flair). They're a bit goth, have that East Coast Tribal thing, all with dark hair, strong makeup, decked out in black with a bit of belly bling.
Their faces aren't split wide open with ear-to-ear grins. Some people aren't going to like that they're not smiling, but it's not bad, though it'd be nice if they looked like they're enjoying it a bit more. One girl kinda reminds me of the punk barbies I made (the one with the sides of her head shaved, and strong, but doll-like makeup). That's just an observation, however. Overall, I like this DVD a lot. The leader, Sera, starts you in a 20-minute warmup, warming the ankles, the arms, the obliques, the legs, and spends a good amount of time on the floor doing isolations, which is a nice way to focus on moving your torso and isolating your glutes. Plus it feels good to do. Then she has some drills for you to practice and you get a demo of the combos she'll be teaching you (or you can skip ahead and view that later). Sera gets really detailed into the combos, for example, spending a lot of time showing you how to do undulations or arm work or hip work, or some dance steps. She is very clear and her tone is informative, patient, thorough and understanding. I really enjoyed the added time to focus on these steps. Some people are naturals for hip circles or shimmies or undulations, so it's not always necessary to go so detailed but it's great to have that available to refresh or focus on something in particular (like don't clench your butt during an undulation but instead pull your belly in and let the movement flow from that, is one example). She has a nice performance at the end which is fun to watch, and while this may not be the most intense cardio (at least not early on, with more steps later on it gets more challenging on that level) but it's a good package and I definitely felt it in my belly and sides afterwards.
Some have complained about the music (by Freek Factory) so I was at first a bit worried about it before I'd bought it, but it didn't bother me. It's sort of techno-funky-tribal sounding stuff. It's definitely not classic Middle Eastern but I really didn't find it to be bad, and in fact I kind of enjoyed it.