Rachel Brice: Bellydance Arms and Posture Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Beautiful, exotic, incomparably skilled. That's Rachel Brice for you. Known for her impossibly sinuous, serpentine movements, Rachel has been the subject of unbridled admiration for years.
In this second of her videos, she's actually giving you her secret of those snaky, seemingly boneless arms. If I were to sum that up in a few words, I'd say it's patient, dedicated, focused practice. With the right muscles for your shoulders and elbows, of course. That's what gives you the degree of control that Rachel has when she dances.
Before I bought this video, I looked around for a meaty description and reviews - and found none. I wanted someone to tell me whether this video was a bit more directly useful and usable than the previous one - and that, no one was able to say. That's one of the reasons I'm writing this out in some detail. I hope others, who are wondering whether to buy it, will find their decision easier. Keep in mind though that the video has just been released and I haven't worked with it except for once. So this is a preview.
This video is a beautifully chaptered introduction to tribal fusion arm work. If you're "into tribal" it's a must-have in my opinion. If not, it will help you build arm strength and energy - you could opt to work with it less often but frequently enough to get better control. I plan to work with it intensively at first, and then space it out for once a week sessions. If you're more an oriental dancer, add bits of these exercises to your regular routine so that you don't get too accustomed to the tribal pose. But whether you're an oriental style dancer or a tribal dancer, you'll have to be fairly serious. This is a working-hard video, not a have-fun one.
There's no warm up on this video. It's strongly recommended that you do some sort of warm up, for say, fifteen minutes before beginning. It's very easy to strain the neck, back and shoulders if you haven't yet figured out the correct muscles and work them when they're cool.
The first chapter takes up overall preparation. This video is not, like the one before it, a whole lot of yoga. But it does pull in relevant yoga poses at different times. You begin with a yoga pose (Tadasana) briefly to get the right posture for your arm work. You then go on to upper arm rotations, arm lifts, and end with a half sun salutation. This spans just a few minutes. The next section is a "dance preparation" and is also quite brief. There are 4 little sub sections involving plies and level changes with arm moves. God help my knees.
Better sit down for this one. You get into a chapter now on seated shoulder exercises. Rotations, arcs, pulls and undulations. Each is brief, but still separately accessible from the menu. You end this section with two yoga stretches. There's one little exercise I found interesting in particular - the rope pull. You grab and imaginary rope, twist it, and pull it strongly towards you.
You might say the next chapter is the main one of the video. It's called Examples of Arm Placement in Dance. This is the nicest section and is what will give you the material to make tribal style arm combinations with. You do arm cycles, the sidewinder move, arm presses, moves led by elbow rotations, full arm undulations, arm moves with rib cage circles. But again... oh so brief. As far as I'm concerned these should not have been "examples" at all but the whole range of basic arm placements for this style. The subject of finger placement and hand undulations is completely ignored. No floreos either, though perhaps they don't appear in Rachel's style of dancing that much. .
Rachel now takes you through one combination which is meant to be an illustration of how all the rotations and muscle work are applied to a dance. Just that one combination? The combination itself is not difficult but of course, everything depends on the arm work without which it won't look at all Rachel-like. It's too bad that she didn't do at least four combinations, or leave you with a sort of toolbox or bag of ideas with which to work further. I don't know about others, but I rely on videos for instruction (being in a place where there's no live classes) and that means I'll have to pick up arm combinations from other instructional and performance videos.
Well, before you know it, the video's over, with a few stretches to cool down with. How it ever added up to 74 minutes is amazing. It feels way too brief. But perhaps I'm just too greedy. Perhaps more arm work than this is inadvisable for one session. Rachel's recommendation is to take these exercises and make your own practice session to combine with your regular practice and drills.
There's a tiny and superdisappointing "interview" with Rachel. (with Miles Copeland, no less). It just covers random stuff like her jewellery. How terribly sad that they didn't talk about the arm work, which is so distinctive of her.
There's the mandatory performance on the video as well. But I have seen more stunning performances by Rachel.
The style of instruction is fast paced and uses a voice-over. So there's no relating to the learner.
All in all, this one is much more interesting than the previous one. The subject may be one of the reasons. You can get hip drills on other videos, but can you get the secret to those serpentine arms anywhere?
It still gets a 4 from though because I think there should have been more combinations.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Rachel Brice: Bellydance Arms and Posture

Welcome to Belly Dance Arms & Posture, a practice for carriage, coiling and serpentine stylization.This practice was designed to be used in conjunction with your regular dance practice to increase strength, flexibility and the illusion of bonelessness in the upper body. The practice has 5 parts: Gentle stretching to relax and prepare the body for movement, Dance movement preparation to strengthen the legs, An intense shoulder series with both strengthening and stretching segments to prepare for serpentine arm movements, A short combination to illustrate the use of arms in dance and with torso movement and layering, Finishing poses to relax the spine and prepare you to re-enter your day.

Get 10% OFF

Click here for more information about Rachel Brice: Bellydance Arms and Posture

Bellydance Rhythms Workout (2008) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I am fairly new to bellydance. I have nearly a dozen dvds. From the first viewing of this dvd, I knew this was a must have for the beginner's collection. Why? Well, if you know the basic moves, you can use this dvd right away. Neon gives the student two levels, beginner and intermediate. For 36 minutes, you do 20 mini routines to 5 drum rhythms. 100% bellydance moves that make you sweat. Don't worry if some of the combinations seem overwhelming. Neon has the most useful and thorough tutorials for each combo that walks you through step by step. The more you do the combos, the easier it gets. And what makes this dvd a standout is the explicit way the drum rhythms are highlighted. Raqy does a great job of leading the dancer through the rhythms before you even attempt to dance. Neon reinforces the rhythms as she leads you through the combos.
This a dvd that you can use now and grow into. If you want a dvd that will last longer than the initial lessons, this is it. If you want a workout that is based on 100% bellydance moves, this is it.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Bellydance Rhythms Workout (2008)

Item Name: Bellydance Rhythms Workout; Studio:StratoStream - World Dance New York

Click here for more information about Bellydance Rhythms Workout (2008)

Shakra's Industrial Strength Dance Workout - Tribal Bellydance, World Fusion Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Shakra is 3 women, Bronwen, Na'la and Hilary, who are like 22nd century space Vikings who amaze us with their strength and power, and the incredible speed and precision of their Afro Transfusion dancing. The really good part is that they are excellent teachers, and impart their knowledge so we can do the same (or try to anyway!). You will need to be in heart healthy shape and have lots of agility and athletic ability to do these workouts and dance combinations, and you'll have a lot of fun doing them.
In the 100 minutes of this DVD you'll get: Great safety tips to avoid injury, and some basic technique that helps prepare you for the unique choreography you will be doing in the workouts. There are 2 long workouts, and 2 dance combinations, and a delicious, long "Cooldown" to end with, that incorporates many yoga movements, and really stretches you out nicely. This "Cooldown" could be used as a lovely workout in itself on your non-Afro Transfusion days.
The music goes well with the dance and though not what I usually listen to I find it interesting and very enjoyable. Featured are :wumpscut:, Decoded Feedback, Terrorfakt, Maduro, The Last Dance, and Collide. This music and choreography is new territory for me, and I thoroughly like the adventure. Shakra, with their big black boots, are treading new ground, and "by extracting movements from various dance forms" have created something fresh and exciting. If you want some fast and furious exercise, zoom into the future with Shakra.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Shakra's Industrial Strength Dance Workout - Tribal Bellydance, World Fusion

Created by Shakra, a DC-based cutting-edge fusion dance trio, the Industrial Strength Dance Workout is a vigorous blend of Afro-industrial fusion, hip-hop, modern dance, bellydance, bhangra, and other high-energy forms of dance. The moves are beautifully merged into Shakra's signature style, Transfusion Dance and offer a superb systematic total body toning and strengthening workout with a powerful cardio component - and a massive fun factor.


Assertive and futuristic in its spirit, the workout is propelled by the driving rhythms of Gothic/Industrial music featuring :wumpscut:, Decoded Feedback, Terrorfakt, Maduro, The Last Dance, and Collide.



Workout 1 opens with a cardio section and proceeds through a series of dynamic stretches and isolations toward Transfusion Dance steps that get progressively bigger and faster.



Workout 2 jumps straight into hard-hitting moves of the pure Shakra transfusion style, building to a faster tempo through sequences of steps.



Following the workouts, the program offers an instructional section where Na'la, Bronwen, and Hilary of Shakra teach 2 Transfusion dance combinations and practice them at accelerating tempos.



Shakra dancers use the system of gears to cue switching between tempos in the workouts and combinations. 1st Gear is normal speed, on the beat of the music, 2nd gear is double time, 3rd gear is twice as fast as 2nd, and Overdrive doubles the 3rd gear. The gear system effectively manages the accelerating tempos of the dance, giving the program a great flow.



In addition the Industrial Strength Dance Workout offers Safety Tips and a special Technique section breaking down Transfusion Dance techniques and isolations in depth.

Get 20% OFF

Click here for more information about Shakra's Industrial Strength Dance Workout - Tribal Bellydance, World Fusion

Bellydance for Core Fitness - A Belly Dance Workout Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I pre-ordered this DVD, so naturally I did not have a review to fall back on. I expected to see an energizing, fast-paced routine, a DVD I could put in my drive and get some sweat - after all that's what a workout is! The description made me believe that the excercises will be targeted at specific areas in the body. Eg, if you want to work on your abs, do crunches, etc.
I was more than surprised when upon receiving the DVD on the back cover I saw that the total run was 170 min (almost TWO HOURS AND A HALF!). This already looked unusual for a workout. Once I ran the DVD I understood why.
The DVD comprises of two main parts, Tutorial and Workout. The Tutorial is more than 1.5 straight hours long!
When you play the Tutorial, you see Ayshe alone at first (she is later joined by two of her students). She's probably past her middle ages but an amazing dancer with an impressive technique. Ayshe speaks directly to the camera and explains everything in great detail, which gives you the feeling you're right there with her in the studio. The studio itself is nothing too fancy but the lights are great and everything can be seen very clearly.
Ayshe starts by reviewing the body posture. This is by far the longest and most comprehensive review of the body posture I have ever seen. Ayshe takes her time explaining which body posture is correct and why; how it should feel and how it shouldn't. It's good to remember that Ayshe has a degree in this field, so she is INDEED an expert. There are also pictures shown of the spinal column and the pertinent muscles used. This is truly amazing! Suddenly all becomes clear AND logical. [A lot of teachers can show you how stuff is done but they can't explain why it works]. To put a disclaimer here though, let me say I am licensed as a massage therapist and a part of the training is taking 100 hours of more hours of anatomy and physiology, thus I was aware of the body structures she addressed. In relation to this I do not think she mentioned a very important part of the body posture - keep your shoulders down! Horizontally it's clear where they go but trying your best to do it right, one can bring her shoulders closer to the ears which would compromise the levator scapula and the infraspinatus and lead to stress in the shoulders. So, your chest up and shoulders down. :-)
Ayshe continues with a few excercises to help strenghten the muscles. The issue of safety is addressed at ALL times. Ayshe, aided by her students, shows slowly and meticulously, giving plenty of repetition but don't expect sweating. The tutorial includes more excercises which teach how to fully isolate particular muscles and work on these only. The Psoas is paid a lot of attention in particular. I have to remark here that by the way Ayshe explains it, it looks like the psoas is an anterior (of the front) muscle just like Rectus Abdominis or the obliques but it isn't. At least I got this impression. The excercise she shows is very effective - if done right.
Her whole program actually is like that - you have to listen carefully to her explanations and take your time soaking in the information and exploring. I found using a mirror a very good way to take advantage of her "don't do that" tips. Also, seeing three different body types works great. At the end Ayshe demonstrates pelvic locks/thrusts which are very funny to look at but I can't think of a better way to strenghten the muscles of your lower abs.
The Workout: Ayshe demonstrates a warmup, dance combinations and a full dance followed by a cooldown. As a basis she uses the steps and excercises demonstrated in the Tutorial. This is great because this gives you an opportunity to focus only on isolations first, then to incorporate them all together in a string - in a whole dance.
Do not expect endless shimmies. You will be disappointed. If you need a "buckets of sweat" DVD, try the other one with Ayshe and Blanca - Ultimate workout. THAT one is really vigorous and truly a "workout". This DVD trains precision and safety of movement, thus is quite dissected and you could say, slow.
YOU MAY NOT LIKE THIS DVD IF:
1. You don't care for anatomy or kinesiology.
You don't need to understand how an engine works inside to be able to drive a car. To say figuratively, there are a lot of explanations about the "engine" of the body to utilize its "performance".
2. You want to go down to business without listening to too much explanation.
Ayshe does a lot of speaking. The tuturial, the bigger part of the DVD, feels more like a lecture at times.
3. If you don't have a lasting interest in bellydance or movement anyways.
This DVD is recommended to eveyone else, especially those who:
1. Have a lasting interest in isolations and dance in general.
2. Rely on videos to learn bellydance
3. Experience back pain, while dancing or otherwise.
4. Would like to learn more about the body mechanisms
This DVD is really difference and truly one of a kind. It taught me more about body posture and the mechanism of body isolations than all of my other over 15 DVDs together.
Practical tips: If you're working for a real "drill", you may want to check the Ultimate workout (directed by Jehan)
Sadie has a wonderful Drum Solo DVD and the first part of it is a section with excercises for muscle strenght. Her pelvic locks are absolutely fabulous - the right workout to go with after Ayshe's explanations.
To sum it up - a must-have in every 'serious' bellydancer's collection!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Bellydance for Core Fitness - A Belly Dance Workout

Bellydance is an amazing art and one of the world's oldestfitness disciplines. Bellydance emphasizes movements of the abdomen andpelvis, and is an ideal way to develop deep abdominal core strength. Passed down from mother to daughter, this ancient celebratory dance becamethe traditional method for imparting body awareness, techniques of postureand movement, both natural and beneficial to the female body, as well aspreparation for and recovery from childbirth.In our age of sedentary lifestyles and stress-induced back pain, thebellydance fitness program developed by New York dancer and dance movementresearcher, Ayshe, will help you regain and maintain abdominal coreawareness and strength, an important step toward healthy and gracefulposture, back pain relief, and safer ways to move your body.Bellydance Core Fitness Workout flows from a warmup and isolations thatengage your core muscles, to dance combinations and a beautiful danceroutine.Every movement in the workout has a name that can be referenced in thetutorial section, where each is carefully explained. The tutorial sectioncontains a 1 hour 40 min. in-depth presentation by Ayshe, explaining theroles of the core muscles in the anatomy of dance movement, and theirimpact on our health and postural habits.In this program we focus on the abdominal core muscles that span the lowerspine, pelvis, and legs. Of main importance are the psoas and iliacus(iliopsoas), the key muscles for structural balance in the human body. The balanced fully-functional psoas is crucial for women's health. If thepsoas is in a state of contraction or atrophy it will affect thereproductive system by restricting blood supply and disrupting thepositioning of the organs within the pelvis. Menstrual cramping is oftencaused by the psoas exerting pressure on the reproductive organs when theyare in a state of tenderness. A healthy, released psoas will bring relieffrom cramping and lower back pain.

Get 17% OFF

Click here for more information about Bellydance for Core Fitness - A Belly Dance Workout

Perfect Hips Belly Dance Workout: Abs, Hips, Butt & Thighs (absolute beginner) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Moves are broken down carefully and there are several 5-minute workout sessions that target different muscle groups. All the while you are learning real belly dance moves! A lot of fun and a great workout. Designed for exercisers who have not been exposed to belly dance. For experienced belly dancers, there are several other DVDs that are more difficult and work on choreography.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Perfect Hips Belly Dance Workout: Abs, Hips, Butt & Thighs (absolute beginner)

Spice up your fitness routine with belly dance, a fun and exotic new workout that promotes strength, balance and confidence.Hosted by professional belly dancer and personal trainer, Michelle Joyce, this DVD is designed to introduce you to the basics of belly dance while strengthening and toning your abs, thighs, butt and hips.
The shimmies, undulations and hip isolations of this ancient art form are great for targeting the lower torso, an area that is prone to weight gain with age and after child birth.
Belly dance is the perfect way to celebrate your femininity while doing something fun and healthy.
Michelle is a multi award winning belly dancer who has performed around the world, which means you need not travel further than your own living room to learn 100% authentic belly dance.So put on a hip scarf and shimmy your way to a healthy body!
(This DVD is geared toward newcomers to belly dance and has a fitness emphasis.It is designed for exercisers who already have a base level of fitness and may be challenging for those who have never before engaged in an exercise routine.)
This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Click here for more information about Perfect Hips Belly Dance Workout: Abs, Hips, Butt & Thighs (absolute beginner)

Hard Candy - The Bellydance Workout Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)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.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Hard Candy - The Bellydance Workout

Hard Candy, The Bellydance Workout is two candies in one wrapper: A fitness experience with an artistic edge, and a dance learning experience with powerful fitness benefits. It's 'hard' only if you are a total beginner in bellydance, but don't worry: We soften it up for you by teaching every move, step-by-step, in a complete Bellydance Basics Tutorial section.

Hard Candy is a three-part program:

The 40-minute Hard Candy Workout;
A 55-minute Bellydance Basics Tutorial, breaking down every move used in the program in complete detail;
A 45-minute Beginners' Practice Flow: A non-stop practice-to-the-music for every step you learned in the Bellydance Basics Tutorial section. The Beginners' Practice Flow moves at a slower pace than the Hard Candy Workout, offering more repetitions of individual moves before developing them into combinations.

Hard Candy, The Bellydance Workout is a toning, sculpting and muscle-conditioning workout (not a cardio program) focusing on the hips, thighs, lower body, and waist. It consists of 100% bellydance steps. Undiluted by any non-dance fitness movement, Hard Candy retains the full aesthetics, rich textures, and musicality of bellydance.

The Hard Candy Workout is made of sequences of bellydance combinations built gradually from basic steps and interwoven to give you a real dance experience. They follow the music just like real dance, reflecting the flow of melody, rhythm, and percussive accents.

The first section of the Beginners' Practice Flow offers a breakdown and practice of all footwork patterns used in the program. The closing section of the Hard Candy Workout is a review of combinations taught in the previous sections.

Both the Hard Candy Workout and the Hard Candy Beginners' Practice Flow are offered with two soundtrack options:
With voice cues
With music only

Get 26% OFF

Click here for more information about Hard Candy - The Bellydance Workout

Love Potion - The Bellydance Workout Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Love Potion from World Dance New York is the unofficial sequel to Luscious, a previous entry into the bellydance fitness market with the same instructors: Neon, Blanca and Sarah Skinner. Using American bellydance technique, they put together a drill session and workout. In addition to drilling the movements, the instructors make note of head angles, posture, and grace - the little details that make the dancer. As always, beautiful and flattering costumes are worn by the three instructors, varying by each section, and each of them trade off leading. The DVD is split into 7 different sections, each with a different inspiring name such as "Creative Flame" or "Goddess". There is a feel-good element to the DVD as well, little mantras uttered at the beginning of each section about loving yourself, talking about how shimmies give us joy. So, if you need a bit of a psychological boost, this DVD may just give you one. If not, these sentiments easily fade into the background.
It is more advanced than Luscious, as few movements are drilled consecutively and everything is mapped quickly into a combination. The viewer is expected to pick up on the combinations quickly and follow them, which is the reason why this is more of an intermediate/advanced DVD. There is, however, a beginner's practice flow, which goes through each of the sequences slower.I actually consider this to be a good thing, as the DVD will keep me entertained even if I repeat it over and over, which as a fitness DVD, I intend to do.
The movements themselves are not advanced - ranging from smooth moves like pelvic circles and infinity loops to hip accents and shimmies. You will get a core workout if you are utilizing proper posture, maintaining your core, and - as my teacher says - squeezing your princess. After the 40 minutes, I'm actually feeling it! For the cardio aspect, it's hard to gauge, since I'm 8 months pregnant and we don't seem to have the air conditioning on. I was sweating, but I don't know if the average person would. You might even see it as a "interval" workout, since the sections varied from undulating and circling movements to the more intense hip drops, accents, and shimmies, and back again.
The DVD is set to new-agey music. Most of it was OK. As a huge fan of Arabic music, the music on this DVD didn't really get going. It did make for nice backdrop music, but I wouldn't run out and buy the CD. The last section, where many of the combinations are joined into a dance, is set to a composition "Goddess". I found myself a little embarrassed - I just don't go in for this sort of thing, sung in English. It's very goddess-power type stuff. I don't object to the message, but it's not really my thing either. Luckily I was alone in the dance studio because otherwise I would feel pretty silly dancing around to "I'm a Goddess, Set me Free" if anyone could see me. That said, it's really nice to see the combinations and movements displayed in a dance, that was obviously connected to the music (as dance should be), and the dancers/instructors on this DVD display grace and, well, a goddess-quality when they demonstrate this section.
I should also mention that either of the two workouts on this DVD, Love Potion and Beginner Flow, can be done without voice cues, with the music only.
Overall, I got exactly what I ordered, a fitness dvd that works my core, drills my bellydance vocabulary, and keeps me entertained as I do it.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Love Potion - The Bellydance Workout

The Love Potion Bellydance Workout combines dance fitness with dance instruction. The program consists of three sections:The Love Potion Workout - 40 min.Practice Flow for beginners - 50 min.Tutorial section for beginners - 50 min.

Love Potion is a muscle-conditioning and sculpting workout made of 100% bellydance steps and designed to give you a true dance experience through sequences of real dance combinations set to rich, evocative music. It is a non-stop movement program: The step-by-step technique instruction is offered in a separate 50-minute Tutorial section. Exploring all major areas of the bellydance vocabulary, the Love Potion dance movement combinations are introduced gradually; each section of the workout adds new material and builds on the steps and combinations featured in previous sections.

Love Potion is choreographed to express the music as real dance. It teaches real dance skills, never sacrificing the artistic and expressive nature of bellydance movement. The technique instruction and practice woven into the workout will benefit dancers of all levels. You will work through all types of coordination and muscle control used in bellydance and practice the techniques that create the look of depth and connectedness in dance movement.

A Tutorial section explains the mechanics of every move: You will learn the core bellydance vocabulary, and develop beautiful form, muscle control and precise technique. Each step is explained in detail, and followed by an option to practice it with music in the corresponding section from the Practice Flow at first a slow and then a faster tempo.

The Practice Flow is a separate beginner-level program that introduces and drills each bellydance step and all the major Love Potion combinations. This section features 50-minutes of non-stop dance practice. It moves at a slower pace than the Love Potion workout and offers more repetitions of individual moves before developing them into combinations.

As a fitness program Love Potion will help define and elongate the muscles of your abs, thighs, and hips, strengthen the muscles of your upper and lower back, increase your flexibility and the fluidity of your dance and regular daily movement. This program pays special attention to the muscle groups responsible for giving you a confident, graceful carriage. It will stretch, release and strengthen your muscles providing a good base for healthy and graceful posture - both in dance and in your everyday life.

The Love Potion workout and the Practice Flow have 2 soundtrack options:
with voice cues
and
with music only.
The last section of the workout extends the Love Potion combinations into a choreographed dance. Enjoy the Love Potion!

Get 20% OFF

Click here for more information about Love Potion - The Bellydance Workout

Luscious - The Bellydance Workout for Beginners Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Did we really need another bellydance-based workout? I wouldn't have thought so, but Neon, as usual, has gone and proven my expectations wrong.
"Luscious" is an exquisitely made program, with more good qualities than I can enumerate. The costumes and setting are gorgeous -- nothing like the typical brightly-lit aerobics studio -- and Neon advises you at the beginning to dress up for it and join the three dancers here in making the movement special. This is the kind of thing that sounds cheesy, but I did it, and it makes sense: how will you forget about bad body image or those extra pounds if you're wearing ugly workout wear? Dressing up makes you feel like you're dancing, not punishing yourself.
The instruction itself is taught in sections themed "Circles," "Infinity Loops," "Undulations," "Hip Accents," "Shimmy," and "Body Line." Each dancer leads two of the sections: she stands at the front and her voiceover describes the movements to be done. What I really like about this is that the sections weren't assigned randomly; instead, each section bears the particular dancer's imprint, and showcases her strengths. It's subtle, but you start to notice that Neon leads complicated, quick-changing combinations, Blanca shows her wonderful, large, and sensuous movements, and Sarah Skinner adds an upbeat Turkish feel to the shimmy section. This made the instructors seem much less like exchangeable dancing bodies, and much more like teachers with particular areas of expertise.
The movements are varied, and quite a few combinations are introduced and repeated from two to six times. This is not a "four of this and four of that" drill. In fact, I would suggest that complete beginners start with a different video. This would be great for advanced beginners like me, who are not expert enough for a complicated choreo with tons of layering, but get bored when everything comes in fours and is repeated ad infinitum.
All along, the dancers offer tips on putting emotion into the steps, on maintaining form, and on making movements deeper and stronger. While the dancing is rarely fast-paced, the slowness of the movements is often more challenging and grueling. The workout made me sweat (though it might not make everyone), but more importantly, it challenged me to maintain grace, form, and muscle control while learning the combinations. I couldn't believe it when the forty-five minutes were over -- it felt like fifteen!
If you have weak knees, you might want to be careful with some of the lunges and plies; on the other hand, there aren't a lot of them, and they're done slowly enough that you can be careful. I'll also repeat the warning that this might be a little hard for complete beginners who aren't already good at picking up choreography. However, the video does have a well-indexed instructional section which describes all the movements used in the workout. As a step up, there's a version of the workout with music alone, and no voice over.
In case my enthusiasm wasn't clear enough, I really think WDNY has a winner with this video. It's simple, but also simple enough to do regularly and to grow into. At the same time, even once you have learned the step combinations, adding graceful arm and handwork (to say nothing of being aware of facial expressions, head positions, and dancer's poise) poses an extra layer of difficulty. And finally, the movements are, quite simply, beautiful. You will be happy to be dancing.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Luscious - The Bellydance Workout for Beginners

Lavish and overflowing with deep, rich, feminine movement, Luscious: The Bellydance Workout is made of 100% of bellydance moves and steps It is gentle, but it will work your body to enhance your muscle tone, flexibility, and fluidity, and promote weight loss. With a special focus on muscle conditioning and elongation, the program works each group of muscles deeply - using carefully built combinations to switch between muscle groups and add intensity to the workout.Lusscious: The Bellydance Workout features gorgeous music and a beautiful flow undiluted by conventional exercises. Systematically addressing each group of muscles to deliver a total body workout, it creates an entertaining and aesthetically fulfilling dance experience inspiring you to do your best in executing each move with the proper depth, range of motion, and articulation.A true dance experience as much as a fitness experience, Luscious is beginner level, but it offers you a perspective of challenge and growth. The workout consists of 7 sections, each building consistently upon the dance vocabulary covered in the previous sections through its own series of combinations. The combinations include classic bellydance transitions between steps to help you create the muscle memory to ingrain dance in your body. Luscious is an instructional workout. It introduces the dance vocabulary in a careful, systematic way and contains an extensive tutorial section breaking down each move used in the workout.If this is one of your first steps in bellydance, this program will be a fun introduction to all the basic groups of bellydance moves and transitions. If you are a dancer, it s a great way to practice the core of the bellydance technique and vocabulary through functional drills performed in the context of dance combinations and transitions creating an extra layer of muscle memory that isolated drills do not provide.Workout duration - 45 min.Tutorial section - 50 min.The Circles section explores circular bellydance moves. It follows a slow-to-moderate tempo, working both the lower and upper body through isolations.Next is the Infinity Loops section. Together with the stretching and toning impact of every move in this section, infinity loops are the ultimate exercise in fluidity.Undulations maintain flexibiilty of your spine and help develop deep awareness of your core. They are also a challenging full-body muscle-conditioning exercise.The bellydance hipwork section exercises your thighs, glutes, and abdominal muscles. In the Hip Accents section we ll perform traditional bellydance hip moves and then weave them together with the fluid movements: circles, infinity loops and undulations. Hipwork is what gives bellydance such vibrancy and party appeal - these steps look great on any dance floor.The Shimmy - that effortless shaking of the hips - is actually hard work! Join us to shake your way through a few styles of shimmy, and enjoy the wide range of shimmy flavors.The Body Line section is built of moves involving your total body. It shifts focus from working individual body parts to dance steps that offer the most stretching and give you a dancerly posture and carriage.The last section is a short dance routine choreographed entirely of the bellydance moves featured in the workout.

Get 23% OFF

Click here for more information about Luscious - The Bellydance Workout for Beginners