onela

Is this dvd really just suitable for tribal fusion dancers, or would any belly dancer get something out of it?

maria_harlequin

Oh it's definitely for any belly dancer! Just skip over the choreographies but I say with tweaking, you can incorporate it into your oriental routine

Samira bint Aya

I got my copy of Serpentine yesterday and immediately tried it out!

I ordered the DVD after having attended one of Rachel’s workshops two weeks ago, and I was so enthused, I wanted to keep up the practice.

I was a bit disappointed though, especially with the isolation drills section… She only goes through each drill once, which is hardly drilling… this is more of a drill demonstration in my opinion.

In the workshop we went through all the drills extensively, to slow and to fast paced music, which was immensely helpful. The yoga was more extensive too. But, well, the thing that I miss the most was Rachel’s personality.. she was very encouraging and funny, and that can not come through in the video…

Still, I thought the yoga was quite good, especially if you are interested in developing upper body flexibility and working to combine the breath with movement.

The shimmy drill is my favourite, even though I can hardly do half of it…

This was going to be my DVD challenge for the summer, but well, I don’t know. I guess I was expecting too much from a DVD and I was a bit disappointed….

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Each dancing step brings a fresh breeze سميرة

Maria_Aya

I miss Rachel also ..... (greeks complaining as we had her in Athens)

Anala

(takes off dance belt and puts on videographer hat)

This is where intelligent DVD design could be soooo useful! A student wants to be able to repeat specific sections, as if to practice. If the DVD menu designer had factored that in, then they could have set it up like this

1. Chapter on Shimmy drills
a. Introduction and commentary by instructor
b. slow drill
c. intermed drill version
d. full speed version, etc.

where each break in the outline above is a chapter mark that (easy way) the student can just use the "skip back" button for or (harder way) they could set up a loop feature in the DVD.

Menu design, along with camera work, can make or break a video for me.

rant over, I promise!

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The Practical Dancer

Daimona

YES!! I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking like this! Thank you, Anala!

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-- Daim.

Anala

I actually use this method when designing menus for instructional DVD's for troupes or teachers, because as a student, it is what I want! (vested self interest!)

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The Practical Dancer

LunaXJJ

Dooooooo waaaaaaaaant!!!!!!
Of course its probably not going to be in my area though.

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"Rhythm is a dancer, it's a soul's companion, you can feel it everywhere."

Amulya

Sounds good! I want one where can you order them?

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The Belly Dance Video Clip BlogBlog: What Were They Thinking? Amulya on BellyDancingDiva

Samira bint Aya

I got mine from amazon. Enjoy practicing to Rachel!

After having practiced for about a week, I can say I see a definite improvement, especially in my posture.
However…. If you are not into yoga, or if you don’t have ample time, you may have difficulties to integrate this dvd into your practice.

The yoga section is very extensive (one hour for warm up, for example), and by the end of this “warm up” I am usually already becoming tired, so I can not give so much attention to the choreography or the drills (because I also have to save energy for the “cool down” yoga as well…)

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Each dancing step brings a fresh breeze سميرة