Aziyade

Our local hero:

..:ance Like an Egyptian::...

Aziyade

When you saw the performances, did they strike you as not being the "Egyptian" style that you were used to seeing from Dina and Randa? I got a VERY different vibe off Serena's dancing than I have Dina and Randa. I'm wondering if that's because these are obvious choreographies, and she's dancing them as an INSTRUCTOR would, or if it was something else...

Anything like that strike you as well?


Yes, I wholeheartedly agree. I actually asked Hossam about this, and he said he was listening to dancers and that our suggestions were encouraged. As a result, the Bedouin Tribal dvd does contain actual instruction as well as voice-over notes on the movements and why the moves fit the music. I guess if they do a Visual Melodies 2, we can expect more of a commentary.

This is what I'm doing now, to a song that's pretty close in sound to the first song they use.

yeah -- I can't help but think HOW helpful this would have been to have had a "director's commentary" running along her dancing, explaining WHY certain things were chosen for that part of the music. It takes a concerted effort by the viewer to really make this an "instructional" dvd.

Ligeia

I recently bought "Visual melodies" and I agree with what you have said, Samsied and Aziyade. This dvd was entertaining and I enjoyed Serena Ramzys performances, but I bought the dvd because I wanted to learn more about "Visual melodies" -theory so I was disappointed. Since there was no commentary , I think it would have been appropriate at least add a printed version of Hossam Ramzy's article about his Visual melodies theory. And I think it would take an advanced dancer to learn the choreos since the movements are not broken down...

gypsy8522

Wow, that's a loooooooong biography!

Q-Tip

muahhhhhhhhhhh it's all part of our dastardly plan to shimmy our way through each and every Hoosier cornfield - leaving new BD converts as we go!!!!!!!

Shimmy-on my Hoosier sistas!



(ok so I don't shimmy very well but I'm practicing every day!)

Tammy

Hi sstacy123,
Just wanted to inform you that "Shareen El Safy DVDs" are not in back order, they are all available. Shareen wanted me to let you know. Thanks!
Tammy

Tammy

Thanks !

Tammy

Hi Hoosiers,
Nice to meet you all! Maybe I'll meet a few of you while I'm here the next couple years, then it's off to the hubby's next duty station (hopefully somewhere warmer~hehehe). Right now I'm enjoying meeting all the nice Terre Haute belly dancers (theres a few of them).
Tammy

sedoniaraqs

I had Keti's A-Z and advanced A-Z and I didn't really like them, but that being said, other people might very well get alot out of them. First, I had alot of trouble getting them to play in either of my two DVD players. They would play a while and then start skipping and freeze up. I actually went out and bought another DVD player just to try to get these DVDs to play (they were quite expensive). The second player worked better but still had problems.

Second, I thought her names for the combos (each started with a different letter of the alphabet) was confusing and rather useless.

Third, she didn't fully describe or break down what she was doing, which makes even the basic A-Z inappropriate for beginning or even early intermediate dancers, and probably difficult to use for more advanced dancers. The lack of breakdown didn't bother me for the hip and upper body and arm parts of the movement, but it really bothered me for the footwork. She didn't describe, for example, where your weight should be going into a turn, which foot you should land on after a turn, etc. She would also say "turn to the left", "turn to the right', but my brain thinks in terms of clockwise and counterclockwise. To her benefit, she does demonstrate them facing the camera and then with her back to the camera, but it was still difficult for me to break down what she was doing, especially with the constantly malfunctioning disc.

Fourth, some of the combos were interesting, but what she did not do is demonstrate their full potential by matching them to different music well. She used only a couple of pieces of music in each video. I'm sure this had to do with copyright and the limitations of her budget. I totally understand, and yet the whole concept of using combos of movements with particulary kinds of phrases of music was lost. IMO the advanced video is even worse because she uses drum solo music to demonstrate combos with even more complicated footwork. Sometimes the combos just didn't go well with the music.

She also talks about "sacred geometry" in the advanced version. I'm not even sure what sacred geometry is, but I'm pretty sure the Egyptian dancers don't use it to make dances.

Sedonia

Tammy

Hi Sedonia,
Even though I really like her A-Z DVD and got a lot out of it, I wasn't crazy about the advanced A-Z dvd. I also had problems with playing some of the DVDs, but Keti was always great about sending you another DVD. I stated earlier that the A-Z might not reflect her Egyptian style, but her 5 volume set does.
Tammy
(PS: I really didn't know that thinking Keti as an Egyptian style dancer, would be conterversy .)