Luscious Layers with Ansuya Belly Dance Video DVD

by IAMED

Product Description

Layering movements on each other to create exciting new combinations adds fun and interest to Belly Dancing. A good Belly Dancer's layers are so smooth they seem like just one movement, but it's not easy to look so effortless! On this DVD Ansuya teaches you how to combine movements to create Luscious Layers, with detailed breakdown and demonstration of the techniques necessary to isolate and layer movements. After explaining it all, she will lead you through fun follow-along practice sessions with music for each combination. Soon you will be layering Chest Circles, Hip Circles, Figure 8s, Undulations, and all sorts of hand and arm movements including Forward Snake Arms, Finger Ripples, and Big Figure 8 Arms, and more. Layering Freezes To add even more spice to your dancing, Ansuya shows you how to add a Freeze to each movement with a complete explanation and demonstration of Layering Freezes! Luscious Layers Drills The DVD includes two fun drills. With Ansuya's Luscious Layers Drill you will perfect your own Luscious Layers, and her Freeze Drill will make your Layers hot! And finally, a spectacular performance by Ansuya with lots of Luscious Layers!

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000V6UB8E
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,370 in Sports & Outdoors (See Top 100 in Sports & Outdoors)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great one from Ansuya!, September 20, 2008

By 

Andrea Camilleri "music freak" (Thessaloniki, Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Luscious Layers with Ansuya Belly Dance Video DVD (Misc.)

I bought this DVD with a little hesitation at first,because I own a couple of Ansuya's other DVDs and I thought that it was a little pricey( well worthed the money,by the way!).Well,I'm very happy I finally bought it and here's why:
First of all,Ansuya is a great teacher,explains thorougly but without being annoyingly repeatitive and the final performance is stunning!She uses the moves you were tought and throws in a little something with moves on the floor(try it only if your knees allow you to!Ouch!)
You will learn ten layers in this DVD.Ansuya begins with the first move,e.g a hip circle,practices that,then layers with the next move,does the combo a few times and then practices it again with music!You 'll definitely get a workout! She even shows you a variation of every layer after she performs each one.Finally,she puts evething together and then it's the performance,which shows you,that even though she makes it seam effortless it takes a lot of practice to dance like this.
Another thing is that these movements are relatively slow and sensuous so they are really challeging,but the results are worth the extra muscle effort.Personally I didn't really care for the freezes she also adds in every layer,but that's just a preference.Others may enjoy this shimmy-like add on.
All that said,although I think this is a DVD for all levels because of her exceptionally detailed and cuing skills(heck,she even tells you how NOT to do the moves!),it may be a bit confusing at times,especially because of her turning to show the correct posture from every angle.Sometimes it gets a little confusing but with practice I don't think it's a big deal.
Despite this shortcoming,I enjoyed this one a lot and after lots of practice I may even try the floor moves!I highly recommend it
,especially if you are an Ansuya fan like me.

3.0 out of 5 stars Good and thorough, with some form flaws, July 2, 2010

By 

Shantimar (Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Luscious Layers with Ansuya Belly Dance Video DVD (Misc.)

It is a useful addition to an aspiring dancer's video library. Personally, I'd recommend it for people who have 6-9 months of lessons under their belt, although even more advanced students might find a layer they hadn't thought of, to enrich their toolbox. I'm not recommending it for complete beginners because, if you don't even know how to do the moves on their own, it will take you too long to even start combining them, and you might become disheartened. The layers include, for instance, doing chest circles while shimmying with the hips (she calls it a freeze, it's a very tight shimmy). So if you're a beginner and you don't know yet how to do a chest circle, or how to do a tight shimmy, you can learn those things here, of course, she does explain in detail, but you have to stay on that particular exercise for quite some time, stopping before the layering, and it may get boring.

This said, there is some "cheating" too, as she calls layering just adding arm movements to a move, and some of the 10 layers are just that, a move with arms added. OK, strictly speaking, arms ARE layering, but I don't think it qualifies!

She is beautiful to look at and teaches everything in a very clear and thorough manner, with a pleasant voice, and her American accent is not overdone (like Sadie and Kaya's, who sound like Donald Duck).
One quibble. Her arm movements are really terrible. Her snake arms are very angular (what we call "chicken arms") not at all fluid and graceful, and when coming down, they go to the front instead of staying to the sides. Something we correct all the time on beginning students, but she's a professional, she should know better. Her wrist movements also, with fingers "splayed" (her description), are very stiff and flamenco-like, not at all suitable for oriental dance. It's saddening to see a teacher demonstrating such bad form.

As for the performance, apart from the distracting arms, there was another serious flaw: when she was doing floorwork, at the beginning the music was slow and mesmerizing, and it's ok, but then it got quick and rhythmical, but instead of getting up and speeding up her tempo, doing some energetic moves around the dance floor, she stayed there doing luscious and slow backbends etc... which did not go with the music at all. A dancer should have some ear for the music and try to match it with her moves. As this is an instructional DVD, in this she also gives a bad example to everyone trying to make a choreography of their own (or just copy this one), as they get the impression that you can do any move to any music just as it suits you, when it's not like that at all!