Customer Reviews

Discover Bellydance

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Neena and Veena are fabulous instructors. There are three videos included: Basic Dance, Beyond Basic Dance, and Mystic Dance. If you are deciding between VHS and DVD, I strongly recommend the DVD. The DVD has some great bellydancing extras on it, including some fitness bellydance examples. You can choose having the instructional voice on or off.

My one complaint about these videos revolves around the instructional voice, which is not always in sync with what Neena and Veena are currently doing. If I'm not paying attention, when I'm learning the steps, I can get frustrated by that, as I tend to listen to the voice more. (habit left from dancing and aerobics)

I LOVE the videos. These are the best bellydance instructional videos I've tried. The camera focus is almost perfect - when small movements are occurring (say with the wrist), it's focussed on the wrist, or if there is a bit of trickier footwork - focus is on the the feet. Otherwise, it's mostly a whole body shot - which is much better than many of the other bellydancing videos.

Instruction starts slow - I like how they teach arm positions for you to be able to experiment. The progression from slow to tempo does occur a little fast, but it's allowed me more enjoyment of the video because it has been a little more challenging. It's not too difficult!

The steps all come together in the end with a choreographed dance, which is great fun. The videos definitely build skills from one to the other. Once you've practiced a few times, and are getting the dance routines down, you will be getting a workout!! My arms already look totally different, and I have more hip flexibility than I use to.

These videos gave me enough experience to feel confident enough after three weeks of (secret) practice to give a dance to my husband. He thought I'd been taking lessons on my lunch break. (and no, he's not suave enough to have just come up with that!) :)

Fun and energizing exercise, with an element of sensuality - for what more could I ask?

Belly dance is much more fun learned in a class, but these DVDs are a good back-up if you are just starting out and want a structured practice at home. All three DVDs have the same format: you learn various steps and movements, then at the end you learn a short routine.

The background is nice: lots of candles and curtains. The two dancers are lovely to watch. So the DVD is not boring, and that should bring you back. It's not a cardio workout, but you will notice your abs working to stabilize your torso.

My main criticism is the voice-over. The two dancers demonstrate perfect form, but say nothing. The instruction is given by someone who was apparently not watching the DVD at the time because her timing is usually wrong. Sometimes you have to ignore her in order to figure out what is going on in a step. Sometimes she completely fails to mention crucial details (ex. in one step the dancers go up on the toes of the back foot) so you have to be watching the dancers very closely. If you've never taken dance lessons before then this might be extremely frustrating. If you've had some dance experience then you'll enjoy these disks.

Worst of all, no information is given on proper posture. You could hurt your back doing all the twisting motions!!! Please make sure you are constantly monitoring your posture: shoulders down away from your ears, shoulderblades pulled down your back, chest lifted straight up, your butt tucked slightly underneath, and knees slightly bent (never locked or hyperextended). Many of the hip motions come from bending your knees (watch the dancers' knees and feet). If you feel ANY discomfort in your lower back then stop and reassess your posture. Watch the dancers closely and you will see that even when they lean back slightly their back is straight, butt tucked, knees bent, etc. I've knocked off one star for this big problem because if your back hurts then you're not going to want to carry on.

The demonstration dances are really inspiring and show you three different styles of belly dance. Wonderful!

As a bellydancer for over 10 years, I was happy to find this set. It seems that this art is becoming popular, and so there are many instructional dvds out there now, you will notice the release dates are all pretty new!

Anyway, these two know how to teach well, and they are great! I learned a few new things, and it is a fun workout as well.

Get this one if you really want to learn bellydance.

I purchased the DVD set (not having ready any reviews) wanting to learn something new, have fun doing some sort of exercise, spice up my sensuality, and really to try to bring my body back to some sort of shape four months after giving childbirth.

I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED!

I really enjoy this DVD set. The lessons are fun to learn with several movements much easier to learn that I thought they would be (like shoulder shakes and body shimmies) I didn't feel like any of the moves were impossible to master. You're working out while you're learning and having fun at the same time.

One bonus for me is that my four month old son enjoys watching lovely Veena and Neena dance while I follow along (looking silly right now). So I can get in my physical activity without waiting for him to nap.

I look forward to the time I can show my new talent to my husband, which I have no doubt he will enjoy. Until then I'm going to keep practicing, practicing, practicing, with Veena and Neena.

The extra dance videos are fun to watch and really get your imagination going. They show the different forms of belly dancing there are out there. The costumes are lovely (and inspiring)and so are the ladies performing them. I've gotten several good ideas as to the type of costume I would like to make for myself.

If you decide that to buy this DVD set, I doubt you'll be disappointed. It's fun, lovely, and tastefully done.

This is what you'll get if you buy all 3 DVDs.

Instruction and drilling:
~ 25-30 isolations, ~ 15-20 arm moves and placements, ~ 8-11 kinds of steps, ~ 5-7 variations of turns, and ~ 6 veil movements (the exact number depends on what you consider a different move as opposed to a different version of essentially the same move).

Choreography:
3 routines that are relatively simple and short, but nicely looking and very suitable for beginners.

Problems:
- A few moves are not verbally explained. If you are good at imitating the moves just by looking at them, it won't matter for you, as there are plenty of repetitions. But some people can't do without instructions.
- The narrator gets sloppy a few times. In such cases you have to ignore her in order to get the move right (fortunately, you can turn the narration off without turning off the music).
- "Artistic" filming gets in the way, and this is the biggest problem. The camera angles and close-ups are not always appropriate, and change too often.

Excellent qualities that make this product stand out:
- The most beautiful set design I've ever seen;
- Great-looking instructors;
- Incredible music;
- Perfect lighting and sound.

So, while these videos are a joy to watch, they turn out to be somewhat frustrating to follow. I would say it's worth getting one of these disks. Maybe two. Probably not all three. For workout and drilling the "Basic Dance" and "Beyond Basic Dance" would be better. If you are familiar with hip drop and hip shimmy, you should be prepared for "Beyond Basic Dance". If you are curious to try a veil and spins, get "Mystic Dance".

I'm a semi-professional dancer, and I bought this set (on VHS) when I was an intermediate-level student.

No video is a substitute for a good dance class, and this is no exception. Veena & Neena repeated the movements several times to give the viewer time to catch on, which was great. However, I didn't think that they were explained in enough detail that someone who had never seen them before could learn to do them properly.

That said, this would make a great supplement for someone taking beginner to advanced beginner classes (depending on which of the three volumes you're watching). It's also a fun and inexpensive way to try out belly dance before you commit to classes, or to dabble if you just want something fun to do once in a great while. Just be sure not to get too set in your ways - Veen and Neena's technique is excellent, but without a teacher to correct you, you might pick up some bad habits that you'll have to work hard to unlearn.

The twins have put together three truly fun choreographies on these three videos, which are of an appropriate level for their audience (beginner to advanced beginner). Anyone beyond an advanced beginner level probably won't be too challenged by them, but might be get some stylistic ideas. Excluding the veil work, their style leans towards classical egyptian, which makes sense since they studied with Raquia Hassan.

So in short, if you want to learn to bellydance, go to a class and consider buying these too. If you just want to try out or dabble in bellydance, these are the best DVDs out there.

This set is particularly valuable for the beginning dancer who is more interested in learning the technique than in a workout video or weightloss. (Of course it is good for these things, too.) The focus is on teaching the basics of dance and putting everything together into choreographies that you don't mind showing off.

This was my first belly dancing DVD and I am a complete beginner. It breaks everything down and explains each move very well. The set is gorgeous but not distracting. They put all the moves together in a very well choreographed dance at the end and the first time I watched the video i was able to perform the dance reasonably well.They show you alot of great moves, everything i wanted to know. There are also some great bonus performances.It was a great video set and a great value. I would recommend this to any one new to belly dancing up to an intermediate dancer.

It's a very useful tool on how to get the craft of bellydancing to work. Granted you do have to practice intensively (meaning you have to watch this more than one time) but it's great to finally get some small moves down to form a great dance. At the end of each dvd you are given choreography to follow. At first I thought I couldn't remember it but surprisingly the moves are easy to follow and you do pick up speed once you have the knack for it. It's also a great workout, YOU WILL SWEAT! A keeper!

Veena and Neena are just great! You could not ask for better teachers on video. I have this set and also all the other videos they have available and have been training with their workouts for the past three years. This set allows you to practice choreographied dances. They take each move slow at first then work up to tempo, finally putting all the moves together into a dance. It takes quite a few times to get used to the moves but once you do you will be surprised at just how well you will move. For anyone looking how to learn to a full, easy dance or just moves in general this set and their Bellydance for Beginners set is the way to start!