Bellydance: Experiences

DVD Review: Isis Wings with Phoenix

Title: Isis Wings with Phoenix- Isis Wings Technique for Belly Dancers and Performers
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Available from: directly from Phoenix herself
Retail price: $26.99

I bought a pair of Isis wings a few months ago, and performed with them recently. Although I was able to do enough with them to not look goofy, I'll be the first to say that I didn't really know how to *dance* with them - I mostly just swished them around a lot. I played with them in my basement until I had a few ideas to put together, but that's no replacement for some decent instruction.

Phoenix's DVD just came out within the past few months. It was great timing, a new DVD to review, and on a topic I desperately needed to learn about!

The DVD was filmed in a dance studio with a single camera. It is what I would think of as an high-quality home recording. The lighting is very good - It feels like natural lighting from a large window, maybe? You can see where different segments were filmed at different times because the light changes, but the quality of the images is always good. Phoenix speaks clearly and is easy to understand. The music used in the background is kind-of tribal-y, but not obtrusive.

Her instruction is really no-nonsense. She explains every movement multiple times in different ways, and repeats the motion many times. Her teaching style is well-suited to people who like to watch the teacher execute a movement, then need a handful of repetitions to practice along with. If you prefer a faster pace, be aware that her teaching may move slower than you would like.

She starts with a little introduction, then an explanation of posture. I really liked her posture discussion, she explains it well in a way even a beginning dancer would readily understand. That's great, since posture is so important with wings. She goes into a small warm up and stretch, but suggests that you pause the video and add to it. I agree, since the warm up is short and I know I have a weak upper body that needs a longer warm up to be ready for the demands of the wings.

She has divided the main instructional part of the DVD into 5 sections. Each section introduces a number of related techniques, then assembles them into a combination. These combinations are illustrative as to how to combine that set of movements together, but I don't think they are combinations you could drop into a larger choreography as they are without filling them in with some bellydance movements as well.

After each of the 5 sections, you get bounced back to the main menu, and have to select the next section to work on. It's a little jarring when I am working through a DVD from beginning to end, but since the DVD seems to be intended to be used a piece at a time, mastering one section before moving on to the next, I can see why she did it that way. Be aware that the menu music is loud. It caught me by surprise the first time I was returned to the menu.

These are the 5 technique sections:

Set 1 - Getting Started - Dancers who are more familiar with the wings may not necessarily need to review this section more than once, but I think at least one pass through it would be valuable since she has some good insights for how to make attractive lines. She demonstrates mostly facing the front, but also  shows movements in profile or from the back when appropriate. She puts a lot of emphasis  on practicing in front of a mirror to get a feel for how  different movements feel.  As a novice with the wings, I was very happy this DVD starts with the bare basics, because I needed it!

Set 2 - Continuing Technique - This section concentrates on "swooping" - I had figured out a lot on my own, but I still got some new ideas for how to use the swoops from this segment. She demonstrates arm movements without the wings as well as with them.

Set 3 -  Varying your arm movement - In this section, Phoenix breaks down how to incorporate the wings into movements like snake arms and other related arm and shoulder movements. She provides a lot of instruction on how to use wrist motions to tie the arm motions and the movement of the wings together.

Set 4 - Building your Dance - This section incorporates more body motion with the wings. These are general movements, not necessarily belly dance movements - things like lunging or turning to look over your shoulder.

Set 5 - Turning and Traveling - This section breaks down walks, turns and spins. She shows a number of different arm positions while spinning, which is a great reference for where your arms need to be to achieve certain effects while spinning. She does, however, only demonstrate spins turning to her right - I have been practicing spinning in both directions, since I feel it's important to be equally smooth in both directions. Her breakdown of the arm positions in barrel turns is clear, but short. This section ends with two combinations, one using the movements in Set 5, and a second longer one that incorporates techniques from all 5 sets. (She does spin both directions in the combinations)

She has put the "tips" section at the end of the DVD instead of the beginning - which spares you from having to skip over it every time you want to use the DVD. I've got plenty of others that have the "how to select your prop", etc section at the beginning, even though you may only ever care to watch it once or twice. Not a big thing, but it's a nice touch.The tips section is pretty comprehensive, touching on choosing your wings, sizing them, and how to wear double wings.

The DVD ends with a performance. It is filmed in the same studio space where the instruction was filmed, in good bright light, so you can see what she is doing. The performance is composed primarily of the moves that were taught earlier, so it is a true illustration of what kind of dance you can construct using the building blocks she taught.

This instructional as a whole seems best suited to dancers who are just getting to know their wings. That said, since it is so reasonably priced, I would recommend it even to experienced wing dancers, since she includes so many accents and details, there's bound to be something in there to add to your repertoire. It is a good choice for anyone who likes a methodical style of instruction. It contains a broad range of techniques, and will teach you enough different movements to construct a full and interesting choreography.

DVD Review: Bellydance Arms and Posture with Rachel Brice

Title: Bellydance Arms and Posture - a Practice for Carriage, Coiling, and Serpentine Stylization with Rachel Brice
Running Time: 74 Min (That's the official figure including the trailers for other DVDs, the instructional portion was about 50 min)
Available from: Bellydance Superstars, Amazon
Retail price: $19.99

You all know that I am a cabaret dancer, but I bought this video hoping to learn the secret to strengthening my arms and shoulders. I figure tribal stylization is different, but that there should hopefully be some valuable things in this DVD that I could adapt to my own needs.

That said, there was little on this DVD that I am not already getting in my weekly class. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with the DVD, it's just that I have a great live teacher. And this DVD seems to be intended for students who don't have access to comprehensive instruction on arms and shoulders in their regular class. It's not an advanced-level instructional.

The DVD does not include a warm up, so warm up on your own. It begins with stretching, then a section of whole body movement to prepare you for level changes. (This struck me as a little odd since none of the later exercises involve level changes, but I figured this must be part of her regular warm-up)

The DVD then goes into the real meat of the lesson - the "shoulder sequence".  It is an approximately 10 minute progression of shoulder and arm strengthening exercises. This is the most valuable part of the DVD. Like I said above, my teacher does most of these exercises or ones that work the same muscles in class, but she works arms and shoulders a lot. I know there are a lot of teachers out there who do not focus on arms as much.

This is followed by  explanations of 5 "arm undulations and pathways" - these were definitely very tribal in style, but an intermediate or above cabaret dancer would have little trouble adapting aspects of these movements to her own style. One thing that struck me, though, is that the back cover of the DVD states that this DVD would help you create the "illusion of bonelessness" in your arm movements. And while Rachel gives a great mechanical breakdown of how to do these movements, she never talks about how to create that bonelessness, or gives any other insight beyond the mechanics of the movement. Nor does she seem to cover "carriage" or "coiling" like the title promises. (Who wrote the materials on the front and back covers?)

She assembles the movements presented above into a combination, which is intended to illustrate including arm work into your dancing. This combination, however, included no hip work at all, so I felt it really does not show you how to incorporate the arm movements into a well-rounded dance.

Finally, she ends the instructional portion with about 10 minutes of stretching and relaxation.

The DVD ends with a performance, in which she *does* do some hip work, so I think the performance is a bit more illustrative of incorporating arm movement into dance than the combination was. Unfortunately, the performance segment was filmed and edited in such a way that the camera is constantly moving, and is seemingly constantly switching from camera angle to camera angle. There was this weird little lame effect where she goes into a back bend, then the camera slides to the side, so it looks like she's laying down and being pulled off-screen. So unnecessary. She is a beautiful dancer - her dancing is more than interesting enough to keep people's attention without all the MTV-esque video editing.

Overall, this DVD is really constructed at a pretty basic level. It is mostly appropriate for beginning level tribal dancers or intermediate dancers of all styles who do not get much in the way of arm instruction from their regular teacher. It's not an in-depth treatment of the subject, but it's priced attractively for beginners.

DVD Review: Secrets of the Stage: Volume 1

Title: Secrets of the Stage: Volume 1
Running time: approximately 80 minutes
Available from: Cheeky Girls Productions, Amazon
Retail price: $24.95

Since I've been working on polishing my performance skills lately, I was excited to see a new DVD specifically about performance skills. My teacher is good about including a lot of this information in class, but it's usually in the form of one-off comments while we're drilling or working on something else, so it's nice to get it all in one place. And I also found that after watching this DVD, and really thinking about what goes on when I get up to perform - a lot of my teacher's comments and instructions made more sense.

I was originally expecting a more nuts-and-bolts kind of DVD - how to enter, how to exit, posing, etc. Instead, this is much more about the mental parts of performing. And I'll admit, a lot of this stuff I just never thought about, or kind-of ignored when my teacher or workshop teachers brought it up, because I didn't think they really applied to a student dancer like me. I was wrong, every dancer should think about this stuff.

Instead of just Michelle Joyce talking the whole time (which would be fine, she's a very knowledgeable teacher, and clearly prepared her teaching notes for the DVD extremely well) every topic is accompanied by clips of other fantastic dancers, voiceovered by the dancer discussing how that topic applied to this specific performance clip. It was so interesting to hear such talented and accomplished performers discussing what they're thinking while they're on stage. All the clips are from the By Dancers for Dancers DVD's - it was cool to me to see performance clips I was familiar with and see "behind" them, and to learn how those dancers had made those great performances.

The format is great, since I don't think it would be possible to have this class in this way in person. No workshop sponsor could afford to bring in half a dozen dancers to discuss their performances for 5 minutes each, but this video benefits from having so many contributing dancers to give so many perspectives.

The topics covered are: Calmness and Simplicity, You and Your Music, and Focus and Energy Projection

After a brief introduction, Michelle jumps in with a bang: projecting a positive vibe when things go wrong. This section is accompanied by clips of  Adrianna and Michelle. Both dancers were very insightful, and went into detail discussing what they had been working on at home to prepare themselves for the unexpected. It was a good reminder to me that the best dancers really do work very hard at home to make it look so easy on stage. Michelle then describes a couple of relaxation techniques to use backstage, that can be done quickly and in costume.

The next topic is how to simplify our performances. Over and over, I've heard or read the advice that dancers shouldn't throw every flashy thing they can think of into their dance, which is great advice, of course. But as a student dancer, I've always felt like, ok, I know what not to do, but now, well, what do I do instead? Nanna Candelaria and Sandra walk through their thoughts about slowing down and how to make a performance interesting.

Next, Michelle talks about getting to know your music. Zaheea, Adriana, and Sandra discuss their relationships with their music, both in the context of improvisation and choreography. It's really interesting to listen to the things that all three of them say, and to the things that differ from dancer to dancer. After all, musical interpretation is a very personal thing, and it's rare to get that insight into how other dancers interact with their music.

Finally, Soshanna and Zari discuss using your focus while dancing, and how to engage the audience and keep the audience's interest. Of course, I had always heard that the audience will look where I look, but I never had much imagination about where to look. They described their approaches pretty differently, so there's a lot to think about.

The instructional portion of the DVD is followed by a guided relaxation. The screen is left dark through this exercise, so I wasn't tempted to open my eyes and peak (what can I say, I'm easily distracted. I always peek) It's a good full-body relaxation, and the last bit is dance-specific. Her voice is pleasant and soothing. I would love to see Michelle record another couple of relaxation progressions like this, and release this segment along with the new ones on an audio-only CD. I would definitely buy a CD like that to use as a supplement to my at-home practice. I would love to be able to finish each practice with a dance-related relaxation exercise.

This is followed by a set of practice exercises that are designed not for you to mirror what Michelle's doing on the screen, but exercises to be incorporated into your own practice. The improvisation exercises include dancing to music used by the dancers who appear earlier on the video. I like feeling like I'm taking away from the DVD things I can use on my own, so I don't have to put in the DVD every time I want to do them.

I am so glad I bought this DVD, and I strongly recommend it to all of you. I am glad that it is the first in a series, because I can already see that this volume has just begun to scratch the surface. It's appropriate for both cabaret and tribal dancers (hell, even non-bellydancers would get some use out of it, I think) Especially since it is relatively inexpensive by bellydance DVD standards, I think this is a great investment.

Review: By Dancers For Dancers Volume Two

I promised a longer, more in-depth review of the new By Dancers For Dancers DVD, and I finally got myself together to do it.

The DVD is beautifully filmed, the video editing is good showing mostly full body shots and using zoom in sparingly. Showing great attention to detail, the on-screen graphics show the song, album, and artist of every song. The lighting is pretty consistent, though it does change a little with camera angle.

Unlike the first By Dancers For Dancers DVD, this one was filmed in front of a live audience, and the difference is tremendous. It's visible in the dancers' postures and energy that they were dancing in front of a live audience. I hope the further DVDs in the series are filmed this way, it's very effective.

I just have one major complaint: Why no cane? Between the two DVD's, there haven't been any cane performances yet. (I know one was recorded for the first DVD but didn't end up in the final cut) On this one, there were 13 performers, including *two* people dancing with wings, but no cane. In fact, no folklore of any kind. I know they have a great lineup developing for the next DVD, I hope they can con someone into breaking out the assaya.

Although the performances are limited to Egyptian and American style cabaret performances, I do think there is such a wide range of great dancing on this DVD that not only is there a lot here to watch and enjoy, but it's also a valuable resource to watch and focus in on the dancer's strengths to learn from.

Here's what I noticed and took away from each of the performers:

• Michelle Joyce - Before I get to her performance, I have to say I am so smitten with her costume. I love the detailing on the skirt. But her dancing is beautiful, and her drum solo especially was fantastic. It was just a really relaxed drum solo, and she's not afraid to catch an accent then hold it for a little while.
• Nanna Candelaria - Nanna's style is more old-school American cabaret than most of the other dancers. It's a shame her zilling is almost inaudible on the soundtrack, because from watching her hands, I can tell I would have loved to hear it! Her drum solo was very distinctive, lots of turning, travelling and round moves - less pop-and-lock-y than the way most dancers do drum solos but it really worked for her.
• Zaheea - Her intro music threw me off a little bit, it was very fast. It was interesting to see how she worked with it. She has very cute facial expressions, and is very good at taking advantage of the fact that the audience will look where the dancer looks, and so will accent her hipwork by looking at her own hips. It's very effective.
• Zari - She emotes so beautifully in her dancing. I've always found it hard to express an emotion while dancing without looking like a caricature. She manages to express natural and genuine emotion while dancing skillfully as well.
• Raqs Habibi - I wonder if they just used the zills to hit accent beats in the music. The audio mix is such that you couldn't hear their zills if you wanted to, and it didn't look like they were playing along with the music. Their intro is cute, especially the final pose which is a great example of adding humor to a routine without being trite. The drum solo is dynamite!
• Soshanna - Another fast veil into. Her music had a Spanish flavor, it was very beautiful. Unfortunately, the piece felt too fast for her style of dancing. She has beautiful large movements and extension, and if telt like the music didn't give her enough time to follow through with her movements.
• Nadira - She entered wearing Wings of Isis, which I thought were better suited to fast intro music than the silk veils used by previous dancers. Yay, more zills! And mizmar! She had beautiful, controlled shimmies that don't morph into vibrations, and incorporated saiidi movements in her dancing.
• Luna - In the first BDFD DVD, she danced with candles, then on glasses with a sword on her head! I was *very* glad to see her just dance with no props in this show. She picked a great piece of music with very prominent percussion that she used to great effect.
• Sandra - She used her veil in a very Egyptian way, coming in with it, swishing it, then dropping it very quickly. Her arms are beautiful, very controlled and relaxed - always in the right place at the right time with no distracting extraneous wrist movement.
• Sa'diyya - This is the only performance to Western music. She dances with Wings to very heavy, dramatic and muted electronic music. The structure of the music was such that she could fit in Wing moves that would not work with Arabic music. Although this is not a style I would do myself, I liked seeing where she went with it, it's good to stretch the mind I suppose.
• Shanna - Her dancing has a strong Egyptian flavor to it, and she dances to a great version of Inta Omri. Her movement was very fluid, and she used the space on the stage well, moving in circles and shapes on the floor, not just back and forth.
• Ahava - Her music was an interesting and minimalist drum solo. It was so musically striking, and she really fit her movement perfectly to its' unusual form. It made her performance really stand out.
• Adriana - I love watching a dancer up on glasses! I think as props go, wineglasses are experiencing a bit of a renaissance right now, which is cool. I hope they don't go out of style and become so-last-year too soon.  She did her drum solo up on the glasses as well. It was a nice finale to the show.

By Dancers for Dancers - Vol 2

My copy of By Dancers for Dancers vol 2 arrived while I was gone. I will write a more in-depth review over the weekend, but I had to jump on and gush for a moment.

It is a seriously excellent DVD. All cabaret-style, and all of the performers were excellent, solid dancers. Unlike Vol 1, this one was filmed in front of a live audience, and that made it all even that much better. It definitely brings out the best in dancers to dance in front of real people. Also, I am still a little ga-ga over seeing my first teacher, Monica, on a real-life DVD. She's an excellent dancer, and I am still just a teeny bit starstruck, you know, because she was my first instructor and all.

Review: Princess Farhana's Veil Obediance School

I was looking through my box of DVDs (I moved two months ago, and less-often used things like DVD's are still in boxes) and I came across this video. This one doesn't get mentioned or recommended as often as other veil DVDs, and I think it's a shame, because it's a great introduction to basic veil work.

Details:
Full title: Moun of Tunis Presents Princess Farhana's Veil Obedience School
Available from: Princess Farhana
Running time: 62 min

I would describe the production quality of this video as high quality amateur. The camera is on a tripod, so the video is very stable. You can hear occasional traffic noise or sirens from outside the studio, and sometimes you can hear someone moving behind the camera, but her voice is clear. The audio is sometimes completely muted when she is not talking. This is a little distracting, but less distracting than the sirens and car horns.

The video uses the DVD format well: The video is divided into logical chapters. Whenever she discusses specific hand placement, a little picture-in-picture oval shows up on the screen showing a close up of her hand.

This video is for beginners, experienced veil dancers will find little that is new in this video. That said this is a *comprehensive* beginners video. Mastering the contents of it would leave a student with a solid repertoire of veil moves. She teaches from a very practical, nuts and bolts perspective, without any "romanticizing" of the veil work. She quite plainly addresses many of the common challenges dancers face with a veil. The video includes techniques only, not combinations. For most things, she shows the move, then breaks it down. Where appropriate, she shows a technique both facing front, and again with her back to the camera. She does not, however, provide a lot of repetitions to follow along with.

The video begins with a short cute anecdote, which sets a pleasant conversational tone to the video. It is followed by a performance which I believe is filmed in a restaurant. It was a nice inclusion, since videos of veil work are usually from stage performances, and it's nice to see the dancer working the veil in a more constricted space.

She then goes into an in-depth explanation of various types of veils, when they are used, and their particular issues. She takes each one for a little spin so you can see how they move through the air. She covers not only the regular sheer chiffon and silk, but also covers embellishments, weight and opacity, split veils and those Egyptian cape-things.

She then explicitly instructs you to go off and do your normal warm up, before proceeding with an arms-and-shoulders specific warm up. In general, hers is fine, though if your regular warm up includes good upper body and back stretches, I don't think it's really necessary. And if your warm up doesn't already include those things - it should.

She starts out with three very basic veil wraps. These are the same basic wraps I was taught when I first started learning veil, and I think they are a good choice for beginners. She includes one covered up wrap, and two not-covered up wraps, so they are useful for a variety of situations.

She then goes into hand positions. Like I said above, a little bubble comes up on the screen showing a close up of her hand, so you can see exactly what she's doing and pause the video if necessary. She shows two different ways to hold the veil.

I think she does a good service for beginners by then talking explicitly about using the veil as a frame for your actual dancing. She shows different positions for holding the veil to call attention to specific parts of the body.  She continues on to  cover a few basic flourishes.

Although she covered wraps earlier, she also includes entrances where you are holding your veil. She does not go into detail about specifically Egyptian style entrances, but she does acknowledge that there are stylistic differences. This is followed by a simple explanation of a simple way to discard your veil gracefully. Neither of these are covered in depth, but they are enough to get a beginner through a performance with style.

The most in-depth part of the video covers spinning and turning with the veil (Though she recommends Margueritte's Spins and Turns video for a more thorough treatment of the subject) She covers many different turns, detailing hand placement, and showing the move from the back so you can follow along. She also details how to get the veil into "butterfly" position while minimizing the chances of it getting stuck to your face.

Finally, she includes a short intro to how to hold a veil while wearing zills. I don't see this as particularly necessary, since this video seems to be aimed at beginner dancers who are unlikely to zill and veil at the same time. This section does, however, include more closeups of her hand, so you can see how the hold works.

The video finishes with a second performance inside the dance studio, then a cute out-take from the veil fabric explanation.

The DVD includes  a few "extras" - an extra turn explanation that seems to have been filmed after the final performance, and an extra performance to a pretty taqsim.

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In conclusion, this video is an excellent choice for dancers who have little to no veil experience and need a solid foundation in the basics. It covers a broad selection of simple but useful techniques,  enough to take a dancer through a simple choreography, or the entrance portion of a longer set.