Customer Reviews

Hard Candy - The Bellydance Workout

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

 

 

The series
Hard Candy joined its sister videos, Luscious and Love Potion, in my collection, a couple of weeks ago.

I love so many things about this series as a whole! First, a thorough welcome or preview tells you exactly what the instruction contains and will do for you. No false promises. Having worked with many fitness videos, I'm very grateful when an instructor takes the trouble to tell you what to focus on and what to expect rather than getting into that awful cheerleading mode that is so common.

The second thing I love is that there is a complete beginner's guide or tutorial to belly dance basics on each of the three videos. There are subtle differences and I know that many dancers have found these tutorials great to work with, even for those who've been dancing a while. The tutorials are led by Neon, whose brainchild this series happens to be. Teaching absolute basics is her specialty. You can access each set of basic movements separately. There is nothing rushed about these tutorials. There's detailed logical explanation, suggestions for replacement moves if you're a beginner, and friendly tips delivered in Neon's own gentle manner.

A practice flow segment adds practice basics and the combinations from the workout to music. There's also a music-only option.

The thing I love most about this series however is that there are just hundreds of small combinations, a whole treasure trove you can dip into any time. The moves are short enough for you to drill and get into your muscle memory. And yet, there's such a variety you can be sure you'll use them easily when you improvise.

Luscious, my favoritest of the three because I've worked with it the most so far, is the easiest. It involves doing beautiful moves with the bare basics, but maintaining good form so that there is much beauty in simplicity. Love Potion steps up the footwork and gets more dancy. And finally, Hard Candy has a lot of more intermediate moves such as the Arabic hip walk, pelvic tilts layered on footwork, lots of level changes with undulations and chest circles, etc. People with knee or back problems should probably stick with the previous two, while others who want to go to the net level should not miss out on Hard Candy.

Hard Candy
In the first segment of Hard Candy, led by Elisheva, you'll work with well-defined chest slides, pelvic tilts, hip pushes, hip downs and step touches. Anyone familiar with the previous two videos will see immediately that this involves more muscle work and is a bit tougher. It can even be a bit tiring if you're a beginner or don't dance very regularly. Elisheva has great range of motion and isolations show on her body perfectly. I'm personally not very fond of upper body moves, perhaps because too many chest moves won't fit in my culture too much, but it's quite a workout. In fact it has a more drilly feel than the counterpart first sections on the other two DVDs.

Neon leads the second segment and starts somewhat as she does in Love Potion. But again - tougher. There are arabesques with hip pushes and more footwork. You have deep lunges with chest circles on the wa up. There's a variety of moves in this segment - too many to list, actually. Lots of accents and footwork and building on some of the moves from the first segment. You can see she's not letting you off easy. There are also softer and sweeter moves though. The moves change much faster, so working with the flow and tutorial is highly recommended, no mater what level you're at.

And it's back to Elisheva for some sharp hip diamonds, and then some fast combinations that involve the hip diamond, pelvic tilts with chest ups and downs. Then there are more gooey fluid moves using undulations and pelvic circles. There are arabesques with level changes and undulations to follow. Phew. Neon is right when she says Hard Candy is both hard and sweet. This section moves really fast and speaking for myself, it will take me quite a while to keep up with it.

Sarah starts with some a fast combination of chest lifts and hip lifts with step touches. She goes on to a rich variety of sways, hip lifts and drops, figure eights and half figure eights. This segment is set to one of my favorite pieces of music, Zen Arabica. This is actually the section most reminiscent of Luscious - or it would be if it didn't have so many moves packed into it. Perhaps it can be thought of as Luscious on steroids.

Neon's second section begins with medium paced sharp hip work and slightly less footwork. And again, before you think you're getting Luscious-like, you find yourself doing combinations with Arabic hip walks and alternating hip lifts and rolls.

Sarah introduces shimmies in her segment. Not from the basics up though. In fact, you do some layering of the shimmy on basic moves and combine with chest shimmies. She also does some gooey moves before going back to shimmies. Reduced footwork here as well, so that the focus is wholly on the shimmy.

The seventh segment of the workout is iled by Elisheva again and she takes you through a challenging combination of deep pelvic circles and undulations with expansive chest circles. More work with reverse undulations, pelvic circles, chest circles and eights.

The eighth segment here in which Neon goes back to some of the moves already taught. She uses a refrain which you repeat every so often. More combinations done at quite a pace.

Hard Candy is much more difficult than Luscious and Love Potion because
1. A greater variety of moves is used
2. There some layering and level changes
3. There are big range upper body movements
4. There's faster hip work
5. The whole workout is faster

The setting and costumes are similar to the previous videos although they're most luscious on the Luscious DVD. The format is similar but Hard Candy is missing the themes used in the previous ones. This is all movement. The practice flow is specially good and much needed before you attempt the workout, unless you're advanced.

The music on Hard Candy is absolutely beautiful. Even the songs I already have and am very familiar with sound more beautiful on this video.

If you don't have the previous videos and are just starting out, I recommend you work with Luscious first. These three videos really are in increasing order of difficulty. You could, of course, choose to work with parts of any of the three, specially if you're otherwise taking classes and would like to pick out what you want at any given time.

A lovely series altogether, and quite topped off with Hard Candy.

I have to admit to being biased: Neon is a fantastic teacher. Almost all of World Dance New York's productions are worth at least looking into; this is no exception. Neon's teaching in this is slow enough that I had no trouble with it, and she is, always, very watchable and approachable.

However, Neon's teaching, specifically, because it's so fluid, isn't as hard on an older body. There are dancers who teach a less fluid style, and I've had trouble trying to practice with their videos because I'm forty, and I've got the kind of injuries you might expect from half a lifetime. With other videos, I would finish practicing, and things hurt. Not so with this: I can do it without pain in my creaky knees, osteoarthritic shoulder and plantar-fasciitis-prone feet.

This is so much fun, and it feels good. If movement issues are keeping you from trying bellydance, don't be afraid to try this out.

This DVD is great for your core, and lots of fun to boot! There is a section that breaks down the moves, just in case you do not know them already. World Dance N.Y. is getting a great reputation for having clear, concise breakdowns that are easy to follow. I thoroughly enjoyed this work-out! I plan on taking it with me when I am on the road. This DVD could help you increase your range of motion for your ribcage and motivate you to practice more because it is so fun. The music in this DVD has a New Age flavor that I find relaxing to listen to..... for me, this makes it relaxing AND a WORKOUT at once! I hope you enjoy it! I do!

I purchased this video after seeing the previous videos, Luscious and Love Potion and I am not disappointed! It is fantastic! I love the settings, the costumes, the dancing; all of it! The only things I did not like, is that I wish they had a performance of the 3 of them on the video and this one seems a little bit more rushed than the other ones but that is explainable because most people who have this video, have the other 2 as well plus this video is the 3rd part of the series and supposed to challenge those who have gotten thru the first two and need a stepped up routine. If you don't have the first two, please get them! They ALL are some of the greatest instructional videos I have seen to date!I like how Neon explains how to do the moves correctly and how NOT to do them, with examples. The music, while not totally traditional Arab music, still makes the moves flow well and is a good soundtrack.

One reviewer said Neon's style is more of a generic belly dance, I agree with that and like that about her videos; that she is not caught up in the whirlwind of debate about what is real belly dance and trying to make you do a specific style of dance. You get 100% of the traditional moves and no formal style, which is refreshing and wonderful to see and learn. This video is wonderful for those who already know how to dance and need some ideas of making new combinations, need a new way of drilling, or for a great workout. For a beginner, like me, it is do-able but you might feel kinda lost and rushed, as it moves a little bit faster than the other beginning sessions in Luscious and Love Potion. So if you are a REAL beginner, I would suggest that you stick with or try those two first and use this to progress to a more intermediate beginner dance.

I love this DVD. I also have Love Potion (love that one, too). I don't really think this is a difficult workout by any means- I barely break a sweat but it is tons of fun to just pop this in and dance for 40 minutes.

I love the dancers in the DVD- they are all talented, graceful and give great cues and tips.

I have been belly dancing for about 5 years so I can't comment on how this would be for a beginner since I've never used the tutorials, but for my purposes this is pure fun. I hope they keep making more of these workout DVDs!

Great cd for beginners or a good work out for more seasoned dancer. I really enjoy their routines and the music. This is a good filler for when I can not make it to the class in Wintersville, oh which is 1 hour away.
The moves are broken down well and explained thoroughly

"Hard Candy" becomes a trilogy of a learning system of belly dance instructional/workout videos by WDNY.The out of the ordinary, rich arrangement of combinations in this program integrates fluid and staccato movement for a beautiful dance experience and an absolute fantastic muscle toning workout. The layout of the program is similar to the previous workout programs,"Love Potion", and "Luscious". Three dancers,skillfully guide you into specific sections with isolating movement accompanied by intricate, richness, layering of moves. The trio consists of Neon, Sarah Skinner, and Elisheva.

I thoroughly enjoyed this program from beginning to end. From my perspective, "Hard Candy" is an exceptional belly dance exeprience with so much variety. The teaching methods and concepts are excellent, easy to understand as it is broken down simply. The drills are challenging yet addicting, fun to follow along especially since the music is alluring, the movement larger in range of motion.
For those in quest of learning new transitions in combinations, tone abs, quads, gluts, or simply sharpen performance skills or reaction time this program offers that and more. Most of all it is fun!
In content: 55 minute basic moves for belly dance tutorial
45 minute practice flow
40 minute workout
The tutorial section is offered with an index.Voice cues on or off for those who learn visually or are times distracted by lyrics,or instructional voice-over.

Section one: Lovely and devoted to the chest isolations with lifts and drops and rotations, pelvic tucks and releases layered on simple step touch footwork. Hip slides with level changes, chest slides added coming up are a challenge.

Section 2: Lyrical quality yet resounding full of Latin hints with front and back footwork patterns resembling salsa. Hip accents, hip circles, chest circles and plies, with what appears to be a cumbia salsa step. Pelvic pops and chest lifts are repeated; none the less they look elegant on traveling steps and plies which give the upper and lower body a full workout.

Section 3: Comprises undulations, pelvic diamonds, hip circles, and chest circles. The undulations layered on arabesques and plies with hip slides coming up, pelvic tucks and chest lifts and drops. A good workout for quads, I found, as I work through this section. There is much movement at a quick pace so a good challenge!

Section 4:Hip slides layered on hip twists,lifts,drops, hip infinity loops layered in ½ sections with ¾ shimmies, hip accents. Rond de jambe are used as a backup step. Lovely flowing arms embellish the sequence.

Section 5: My absolute favorite! Strong earthy beats in the music blend pelvic diamonds, hip pushes .chest lifts, Arabic hip walks and the sensual family of infinity loops with level changes.

Section 6: All about shimmies!Shoulder shimmies, hip shimmies, hip circles layered on shimmies.The upper body undulations and chest lifts along with shoulder shimmies strengthen and work the upper abs and look fabulous!

Section 7: Great lower body workout involving pelvic circles combined with undulations, then ¾ shimmies with pelvic circles and reverse undulations. The upper body workout with its chest combinations- chest infinity loops with circles- Wow!

Section 8: A beautiful blend in combinations become a refrain to soft music.

The musical selection for this program is lovely with a great compilation of artists. The rich variety in combinations bring in contemporary, salsa, jazz, classical, and some earthy-movement; much of it on simple step-touch footwork patterns. The layering of hip combinations, on arabesques, step touch footwork patterns, hip rolls and lifts, hip pushes, pelvic diamonds, make the sequences, unusually challenging but lovely. The drills are much like a dance flow enjoyable and not overly lengthy- Personally 5 minutes segments are adequate for me. For the novice or beginner, enter with the tutorial and practice flow. Time and practice develops quad and abdominal strength.

So, yes, "The Hard Candy Workout " is a little hard, but remember those fun, mouthwatering,jawbreakers as a kid? Once you get through the layers the reward was so sweet!

Pros:
Very quality production and presentation.
Pretty clear instructions that go with the flow.
Very pretty and professional costuming that doesn't obstruct the movement and present well and feminine.
Clearly very much sweat and hard work has been poured into the making. Kudos for all.
Dancers are really good in executing the movements.

Cons:
Poor workout efficiency: I don't see how someone would gain cardio+muscle strengthening from this level of work.
The music are very similar in all 8 workouts.
The tempo never really picks up.
The movements never really pick up to pump your heart.
Very similar feet and isolational movements are used which gets boring after a while. It may be some value if you are learning some combinations as a dancer.
Not so much different than their previous DVDs... :(

fast shipping, DVD is in good quality. The music is fun. I started from Luscious. The music with the verbal cue mode really helps make and right moves and direct most of the postures. The belly dance is more for body sculpture than cardiac workout. Overall, good program!

I love all of these, but Lucious is my favorite...building up & learning this one a little harder, but with NY bellydance girls are great. Fun as actually learn dancing with them & demo's if need help with move.