Customer Reviews

The Goddess Workout with Dolphina - Bellydance with Finger Cymbals [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

This is the first and last Dolphina DVD I plan on getting. My biggest gripe with it is that it is way too short. There is a total of about 25-30 minutes of actual instruction. Thats it. A DVD can hold so much more information than that. It seems overpriced to me. Other negative aspects of it are the annoying super happy/perky high school cheerleader attitude of the instructor. It seemed forced. Also, most bellydance videos/DVDs include a professional performance at the end where you can see things come together. This does not include that.

The one positive aspect of this DVD is the way that she chooses to teach the rythms. She introduces catchy phrases as ways to memorize the zill rythms as opposed ot the "dum-tek-a-dum" nonsense seeming syllables that most instructors use. Dolphina's method is easier to remember at first and therefore easier to learn if you don't have a regular instructor that you take classes under.

I am happy I bought this DVD, though I nearly didn't because of some of the other negative reviews. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, so I am here to add mine to the mix. I have many bellydance DVDs and craved more: more variety, more bellydance moves, more fun, more bellydance and The Goddess Workout filled my needs. Dolphina has a great personality, and makes bellydance more fun, interesting and sexy than any other dancer/fitness instructor. All her comments, tips, and instruction fascinate and motivate me. She is very charming and makes me laugh. I really do love her style and found it refreshing to see Bellydance be sexy, afterall, why would you want to do bellydancing if it wasn't sexy?(there are plenty of other workouts). I have not been able to find another video or DVD on Finger Cymbals and the review that said this DVD is overpriced is out of line: most other bellydance video/DVDs, including Veena and Neena's are only 30 minutes for the same or higher price and I would have paid more for instruction on this difficult to find topic. This DVD is EXCELLENT and I think that you should give it a try and make up your mind for yourself.

"I'm a bellydancer" should be changed to "I am a poser". Instead of teaching the viewer how to really play finger cymbals, Dolphina gives them cheat phrases. Perfectly fine for making noise around the house, but not for learning proper zil playing. You'll be lost when it's time to dance or play to middle eastern music, or really any music for that matter. Dolphina doesn't bother to teach you how to play anything besides her silly phrases, so you wont know how to play to different rhythms. Pointless if you plan on playing seriously.

There ARE other videos which teach this topic, and teach it well. You wont find them on Amazon, so don't bother looking. UPDATE: I wrote this review in 2004 when there were far less bellydance videos on Amazon. You can now find "Killer Ziller" with Michelle Joyce who is a great zill teacher! I listed them below for easy reference. Both are fantastic videos!

-Killer Ziller: Belly Dance Finger Cymbals
-Saroyan presents How To Play Finger Cymbals with Mesmera

I actually was slightly embarrassed when watching this, thinking that someone might believe that this attempt to teach zils is an accurate representation of the artform. Maybe Dolphina's style is not my cup of tea but she seems all fluff and no substance.

If you really want to learn how to play finger cymbals than don't buy this. Get Saroyan-How to play finger cymbals.
Dolphina shows you how to play using catchy phrases, but never breaks it down, or explains the rhythms or beats, unlike the Saroyan video. Mesmera teaches the Saroyan video and it is the most comphrensive lesson on finger cymbals I have ever seen. She has real drums, and teaches beats, and counting, and how to get the different sounds from zills and blend them together, all while teaching you how to move while playing.

This is the first video I have seen on finger cymbals, or ziller, although admittedly I have not put a lot of effort into hunting a video on this topic. But in the many bellydance videos I have seen advertised and in "mainstream" stores, this is the first I have seen on finger cymbals. For this reason primarily, I think this is a valuable video.

There are 5 sections to the video:
1) Finger warm-up (with "Mudras")
2) Teaching the rhythms
3) Putting the rhythms with some dance moves
4) Mixing it all together in a routine
5) A cool-down

However, the video is much more skimpy on information and instruction that I had expected. Dolphina teaches four rhythms, and you have to listen closely and rewind several times to catch the real names of the rhythms. In addition, she goes into no depth about the actual beat value of the strokes. She teaches the rhythms by putting a catchy phrase with each: "I-am-a-god-dess", "I'm-a-bel-ly-dan-cer", "Wor-ship-me", and "I-am-read-y-for-my-mas-sage". While these phrases may help you remember the rhythms, I would recommend one of three other options: 1)Make up your own phrases if you don't want to chant "Wor-ship-me", etc., or 2) Count as a musician would "tri-pa-let" or "one-two-and-three-four", or even 3) "right-right-left-right-left". I make the third suggestion becuase Dolphina does not really emphasize the pattern of which hand to use in which order for the rhythms. She does tell you for the first three, but for the fourth and most complicated ("I am ready for my massage"), she never does describe in which order to use each hand. You are left trying to watch her hands move to try to figure it out.

I feel she should have done more reviewing of the rhythms and switching between them before tring to pair them with dance moves (which most people will find somewhat difficult if you have not already reviewed a basic bellydance video - she recommends hers).

In the fourth segment of the video she demonstrates (not teaches) a dance routine which mixes a variety of dance moves with a mixture of cymbal rhythms. This would be nice except you can barely hear the music and she does it only once. Hey, if you paid for the video I think you deserve to see her finish it off with an all-out, fully musical performance of the dance routine she taught! She should perform it once as a professional would, at the very least to inspire us!! (By the way, during both her presentation of the dance moves, and the routine, it appears that she made a few mistakes with the rhythms. Couldn't she have re-taped it?)

Finally she presents a very brief cool down. If your fingers are new to these movements, your hands will *badly* want a good stretching at the end of the video, and the few little mudra hand positions she offered I felt were inadequate.

I have a lot to criticize about this video, but I still give it 4 stars. Why? It is pleasant to watch for the most part, with shimmering water and a pretty flowing costume (at the end). It could have been much cheesier. And, because this is such a unique topic, I am glad to have the tape, a small morsel of video information on a fascinating topic.

I was so HAPPY to find this DVD, because it's the only DVD to teach you how to play finger cymbals. I have taken a few bellydance classes and I struggled when the teacher used finger cymbals one day, but I was playing by the end of this video. It has a very interesting opening that teaches you Yoga for the hands, which I had never even heard of before, then moves on to break down 5 different rhythms. Dolphina teaches you how to play these rhythms with catchy phrases and even if you feel silly saying them at first, they really help you to learn them and remember them! I found myself saying the phrases and practicing on my steering wheel in my car. Then she teaches you how to move slowly while playing finger cymbals and then finally faster with a choreographed dance. The video is beautifully shot, with a pool in the background and Dolphina is pleasant and cute. I recommend this video highly for there is nothing out there at all that teaches you step-by-step to really learn to play finger cymbals, except this little find!

The 'silly statements' in this video, made all the difference. They sound funny, but this is what helps you learn the beats, and it's especially helpful for beginners. I thought it was very clever AND it made us giggle while we learned the zills. If this is your first time using zills, you will learn the four rhythyms in this video within one watching. I love all of Dolphina's videos, because although some people may think it's corny, she makes you FEEL like a belly dancer, which I think is the first step to letting loose and discovering what you can do. Other video's feature women with plastered on smiles that make you feel like they are laughing at you, so it's nice to feel like you can be a belly dancing goddess, at least in the privacy of your own home.

Update: I originally reviewed this in 2003, after reading the review by "A. Elabbasy," I agree with a lot of the things she says (especially the "right, left" business during the last of the four rythyms), but like I said before... if you are looking to learn a little belly dancing while working out and having fun, I think Dolphina's video's are the most fun... I've tried many others and find them so boring I can't even get through them.

I was so HAPPY to find this video, because it's the only video to teach you how to play finger cymbals. I have taken a few bellydance classes and I struggled when the teacher used finger cymbals one day, but I was playing by the end of this video. It has a very interesting opening that teaches you Yoga for the hands, which I had never even heard of before, then moves on to break down 5 different rhythms. Dolphina teaches you how to play these rhythms with catchy phrases and even if you feel silly saying them at first, they really help you to learn them and remember them! I found myself saying the phrases and practicing on my steering wheel in my car. Then she teaches you how to move slowly while playing finger cymbals and then finally faster with a choreographed dance. The video is beautifully shot, with a pool in the background and Dolphina is pleasant and cute. I recommend this video highly for there is nothing out there at all that teaches you step-by-step to really learn to play finger cymbals, except this little find!

This video was a joke and I will never buy another Dolphina product again! This video is made for someone who is just playing around with bellydancing; it is not for someone who wants to learn the different rhythms that are needed to learn in order to play the zils correctly.