41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Video for those with some bellydance experience, February 3, 2003
This review is from: An Introduction to Bellydance Technique (DVD)
First, this video is 1 1/2 hours long so it is worth the price. The video covers basic moves plus some beginning intermediate moves and has an exercise section at the end for practice of some of the moves taught. I am an intermediate dancer that owns over 20 bellydancing videos and I learned some new things from this video. It doesn't thoroughly break down all moves and identify mistakes commonly made when performing the moves so I would not recommend this as a first video unless you have some bellydance experience. I did like the exercises at the end but it was quite annoying watching them played in slow motion and then again in super slow motion. Each exercise is broken down into sections and the video doesn't show the exercises from beginning to end so you so you don't get the finished effect of what it looks like when performing the entire exercise. Other than this last detail mentioned, I enjoyed the video and will buy a sequel if one is made.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Technique Video!, November 22, 2002
This review is from: An Introduction to Bellydance Technique (DVD)
The only video we recomend to our dance students at the Pyramid Center for World Dance. It is very detailed.Starting with the warmup excercises ,then basic techniques steps followed by combination excercises.Appropriate for beginners to advanced. I have dancing & teaching for 30 yrs. and I also got something out of it.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth your money, August 21, 2006
This review is from: An Introduction to Bellydance Technique (DVD)
One star went down immediately because of the visual effects (or lack of such thereof). I find it a sign of very bad taste to dance in dark clothes on a dark background! Nourhan has dark shoes on as well. Most of the time I found myself staring at the screen trying to make out the position of her feet or legs. It's impossible to see if she's on tiptoes or not. Her belly can be seen quite well (thanks god) and the choice of background could be been appropriate if she was dressed in white or yellow or baby blue. Black was not a good idea at all.
I took one more star down because:
1. At first I thought there was no music at all. Only when I played the DVD the third time and had the volume up I realized there *is* something.
2. I was skipping to the end looking for a performance... there was none! So how do I string these moves in a complete dance with music? I feel someone is missing if there isn't an entire performance in a costume.
3. The slow motion. That is NOT a bad if used wisely. It's great for some steps and turns and for more complicated/layered movements, such as the 3/4 shimmy and the undulations but even a first-grader can do shoulder pushes without much explanation, let alone slow motion! The same amount of time was spent on most moves and why since some of them are easy and some of them do need to be shown a few more times.
4. I wish Nourhan could give some intructions to avoid injury. I've been looking for this in DVDs because I have a weak back and by the time I realize I've done something wrong, it's too late.
5. I didn't find the excercises exciting. Others may like them but I thought them really not good enough.
What this DVD is good for:
It has a couple of good moves, especially hands/arms positions and a few traveling steps (even though as I pointed out, I strained my eyes to see them). Her 3/4 shimmy is probably the best I've seen, explanation-wise.
I'm not saying this DVD is good for nothing. As a buy, I always try to measure the contents and the quality vs the price. For half the price I would think it's an OK video for its 90 mins run time (which includes the slow motion I think). However at its current price there are MUCH better options. Jehan's DVD has a total run time of more than THREE hours and costs just as much as this one. Jenna's basic intructions plus her Heartbeat of Bellydance video come up to the same price and they have much more content. If you want to add up to your collection and have the extra money, this DVD is great. If it's your first video be prepared to see little (when you need to see all) and if you're intermediate be aware you already know almost all of this anyways.
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