Customer Reviews

Instant Bellydancer 2: A Crash Course in Belly Dance

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

 

 

Neon is an exciting dancer with an amazingly precise and clear teaching technique. She is one of my absolute all time favorites. Unfortunately she doesn't do tours or workshops, so I am happy that I can see her work on DVD. I find Instant Bellydancer 1 very useful, and I've just purchased Instant Bellydancer 2. Both DVDs are dictionaries of belly dance movement. There is a lot of material that builds on the basics such as combinations, transitions and drills. With Neon everything is system based, you get a very clear explanation of the technique for each and every step plus you get to understand how different movements are related and therefore how they can be combined.

Instant Bellyedancer 2 is devoted mostly to hip isolations and combinations and it is superb! Neon is an expert teacher, actually she does the best job of teaching beginners I've ever seen. She explains things in such a simple yet articulate way that even if you are only half-listening you will get it right. She won't let you get away with mushy travel steps or unfinished figure 8s! You think a "crash course" is a gimmick until you actually experience her teaching style.

Here is what you will find on Insatnt Bellydancer 2:

HORIZONTAL SLIDES each of the sections below consists of basic technique, combinations, and a practice session. For every hips isolation you get a few different travel steps using that isolation, some of them rather challenging.
Hip push, slide,
Chest slide
Shoulder accents and shimmies
Hips twists and swivel shimmy
Review (a practice session that includes all the above moves and combinations, some new and some from the practice sessions above)

VERTICAL SLIDES same here, every section below has basic technique, combinations, and a practice session
Vertical hip slides
Up-down hip shimmy
Vertical hip slides with a twist (including arabic hip walk)
Upward and downward arc hip slides
Review (a practice session that includes all the moves and combinations above, some new and some from the practice sessions)

LIFTS AND DROPS same structure in each section (basic technique, combinations, and a practice session)
Hip lift and drop
1-Hip twist
Chest lift and drop
Pelvic drops and locks
Review (practice session that includes all the moves and combinations above, some new and some from the practice sessions)

ARCS same structure,
Front-back upward arc (hips) and front-side-back upward arc
Front-back downward arc and front-side-back downward arc
Review (a practice session that includes all the moves and combinations above, some new and some from the practice sessions)

There are also two other menu items:
Practice 1 plays all the practice sessions for each move together. It's an amazing 50 minutes of drills and combinations!
Practice 2 is all the Review sections combined into one class. It's more challanging than Practice 1 because there are no isolations drills, it's only combinations so it moves much faster, but it's only aboyt 10 minutes

This workout is the first video bellydance workout I have purchased. I recently began weekly lessons and I find the video has helped me with extra practice. In the video, Neon's moves are easy to see, she has a great body which is motivating as well. Her routines progress in order of difficulty so by the time she gets to explaining ''arcs'' your abs will definately be warmed up. She refers to her first video workout a few times, as she puts a few moves in that are not covered in this one, but I did not find it a problem. There are a few steps I found more difficult, but it was not discouraging as everytime I do the video, it is easier. I intend to buy her first one very soon. For me, this video has helped me mainly breaking down the moves into precise steps, which is different from my formal class. Since I have not done any other bellydance videos, I have nothing to compare it to, but I feel my dancing has become more fluid and relaxed since I began this video. I recommend it.

I have the first Volume and I found them easy to view and practice with. It has helped me greatly with my dance moves and provides a great workout for me. I give it two thumbs up!

However, I believe the price is kind of high and I found it at [...] You can imagine how mad I got after seeing that:( Also, if you want to be successful at bellydancing...a DVD is not enough, no matter how good it is...This DVD is useful, but you need to take a class to improve...Also, the DVD is far more useful if you really make time for it...which means...practice every day or at least 2/week...That has been my problem...it's hard to find time for everything...