Customer Reviews

Egyptian Bellydancing for Beginners

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

 

 

Hilary Thacker is from the UK & has of course, a UK accent. This dvd was produced in a tent at a restaurant w/tapestries against the wall & floor & simple urns on either side. Hilary is dressed in a jet black beaded top & skirt & which is a bad choice, you cannot see her knees. She calls shimmies wobbles mostly. The production is low, I agree I have to put the volume up to hear her over the music & still have to strain to make her out. The music is always playing & it is wonderful Middle Eastern choices. This helps make the dvd more fun, at one oint, you can hardly hear it & I got bored REAL fast. Each section show a nice b&w photo of a belly dancer. There are no chapter choices. Extras are trailers of her performances (some are very fluid, some stiff), text origions of belly dancing, vintage belly dancing photos,
Hilary's style of teaching is to the point, she does it slow a few times & builds it up & then you practice with her a good amount of time, about the same as any other dance fitness workout dvd. I commend her on doing that, although her delivery & choice of words are lacking & extreme newbies might get lost with her. Those, like me, who think going 1/2 speed is the most important, will be able to follow pretty easily. The lack of warnings about poor muscle use, etc. like the Neena & Veena - bellytwins, Suhaila, Neon, Jillina, Jenna, etc. do is wrong.
Moves she goes over: hip circle, horizontal figure 8s, hip drops, Egyptian walk, hip bumps, hip & shoulder shimmies, hip twist, fluid hands/arms, snake arms, hands & camel walk. The last 10 min is a lot of veil work. Dancing around it, behind the head, in front, butterfly arms, everything most other teach & then some.
I'd say having the music playing throughout was a huge help, her patience & doing everything many times is great, but the sound was off, her teaching could be better.

Her website is hilarysbazaar com says: Her intermediate has a number of exciting variations of the beautiful Baladi folk style and how to dance with a stick & includes class scenes. The advanced has Hilary explores four rhythms, first with as a drum solo & then set to music & there is also some beginners finger cymbal instruction.

This DVD is not worth the money. First, the release date on amazon is 2006 but on the actual DVD it says 2003, you can see that it is not up to date. The sound quality is not good at all, I turned up my TV almost full blast and still has a hard time understanding what she was saying. Also, the instructor is not very clear and she only does the moves once, so it is very hard to catch on. It actually gets alittle boring after about 4 moves are done. I was expecting something alitle more upbeat and fun but this is not. I paid 12 dollars for mine and i don't think it was even worth that amount of money.

I usually list all the positives first, but I can't think of anything positive to say about this video except that you can view it as a watch it now on Netflix. If you don't believe me, go see it yourself. The video quality is very poor. Looks like it was filmed in someone's dark basement with a cheap camera and a boom box. I could forgive that a little if the content was good. It's not. The dancer has poor technique, poor posture, a weird face, bad arms and hands, and cheep costumes. Her performance pieces looked like a student dancing. This person should not be teaching.

I watched this DVD on Netflix as I often do before deciding to purchase a DVD. The recording is a very poor quality. The costumes and dance are very unsophisticated. Thacker clearly has been dancing for a while; her movements are smooth, but she is not a good teacher. She demonstrates moves quickly, once or twice, before going into more complicated motions or using the steps in a dance sequence. It does not give the viewer time to catch on. Her costumes, especially the black one, are very Western and revealing, but ironically prevent a learner from getting a full idea of how she is manipulating her body. Her veil work is very limited, almost laughable. The veil work shows less creativity and movement variation than I got in my first bellydance class.

I watched many DVDs on Netflix and from the library before deciding to take bellydance from a local instructor. I am getting much more complete instruction at my speed accompanied by appropraite insights to help me understand bellydance culturally. Take from an instructor if you can, even for a short time. I have not come across a DVD that I like as an alternative. When I do I will add it to this review.

If you are interested in bellydance I recommend it, but rent DVDs before you buy. Make sure they match your learning style and be aware that the culture represented in the DVD may not be accurate.