Learning to Belly Dance from Videos
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- Hurley
- vickilynn2002
- LizettaRose
- Tahlia
- ghaziya
- Delilah77
- LadyB
This archived discussion is "read only".
» Hurley - Learning from videos
Heya! I just wanted to throw in a quick opinion on some beginner videos. I would only recommend the Neena and Veena basic moves video to someone who is a fairly raw beginner. I know that Shira's article is based on finding videos for beginners, but sometimes more advanced dancers might think of looking for technique videos (just for practice). I've watched this video and it gets kind of boring. Since it's supposed to be a fitness video using belly dance moves, I was expecting there to be repeated sequences. However, all they had was: 'do this move a bunch of times, now do this one.' I feel torn about even calling it a fitness video.That Janine Rabbit (sp?) video is horrible. I wouldn't recommend it either. It's been a few years since I've seen it, but most of the intermediate dancers I know have better posture and style than that demonstrated in the video.
One of my favourite videos for beginners is one by Kathryn Ferguson. The technique is very clear and she separates learning sections with clips of her dancing. It's very nice. The only problem I can recall is that if you don't have a nice long body with long arms (like she does), you may feel like you look awkward. Gee, how can you tell I'm 5'2"!! It's also a nice long video, so it gives you a lot to learn.
The video by Atea that Shira reviewed is one that I haven't seen. I did borrow her 'Fast Moves' video. I was a little disappointed. I think it would have been better called 'Medium Tempo Moves.' I guess the moves were fast in relation to her 'Slow Moves' video!! (... which I also have not seen.)
Well, this didn't end up being a very quick message now, did it!
Hope this is helpful.
-- posted by Hurley
» vickilynn2002 - Re: Learning from videos
Yes, the Veena and Neena tapes are very very basic. If you are not an absolute beginner with no real background in dance, you will not get much out of them.Some instructional tapes I like are the Belly Dancing With Mara series (vol. 1 is great for beginners who are frustrated with not being able to "put all the moves together" - this tape helped me get past that barrier - and volume 3 has some good combos for beginner to intermediate dancers), and also the Fat Chance Belly Dance Tribal Basics and Advanced Workshop tapes. For more advanced work, try Suzanna del Vecchio 's Precision Motion Workout and Dynamic Combinations tapes.
My favorite choreography tapes are the Hahbi Ru Cymbal Dance, and anything by Shareen El Safy. These are appropriate for intermediate to advanced dancers.
My favorite performance tapes include Ansuya Live at Al Amir (improvisational solo with zils!); Hahbi Ru - Live!; Dances of Egypt; and Artemis Dances.
-- posted by vickilynn2002
» LizettaRose - Re: Re: Learning from videos
In response to message posted by vickilynn2002:I am looking to learn for some videos. There are NO teachers near by that I have found. (LaVista NE, close to Omaha) the tapes that I am most invested in is the 6 volumes set of Fat Chance Belly Dance. I keep hearing good things but i would like to hear more before i invest.
-- posted by LizettaRose
» Tahlia - Re: Learning from videos
I agree, the Janine Rabbit tape is absolutley terrible. I have all of the Atea videos. The production is very very good but like you, I am a bit disappointed in them.Hurley, (since you are from Canada) have ever seen Hadia's videos? I'm not really crazy about the production quality but wow #3 is really good.
Did you buy your Kathryn Ferguson video in Canada? If so, where? I've been searching for a source for a while.
Thanks
In response to message posted by Hurley:
-- posted by Tahlia
» ghaziya - Re: Learning from videos
In response to message posted by Hurley:Lorienna, thanks for launching this discussion!
As you noted, I kept my article focused on videos suited to people who have never set foot in a classroom. All four of the "Basic Moves" videos I recommended are aimed at that level, and I probably wouldn't suggest any of those four for more experienced dancers to use in practice or technique work.
I've never watched Kathryn Ferguson's instructional video, so I can't comment on that one. Re Atea's videos, I like her "Magical Motion" better than "Fast Moves", and for a brand-new beginner I like the fact that it encourages the viewer to try putting moves together on her own.
--Shira
-- posted by ghaziya
» Delilah77 - Learning to Bellydance from Video
I’ve been busy reading the wealth of material written by Shira. Wow! Fascinating, informative, and well-written. I am very impressed. She’s a great resource for the community.I would like to add a few things about learning to bellydance with videos from the perspective I’ve gained over 15 years of producing instructional and performance videos.
Like Shira I always recommend students study with a live instructor whenever possible. But I think I’d go further and say a live instructor is not enough for an aspiring student.
An hour class once a week is not enough for much progress; you need to work out and practice every day, or at least every other day. Working with a video helps dancers have the discipline and direction for practice. It’s the perfect textbook to accompany a class, to assist the dancer in her development. You can slow motion, rewind, and review the class over and over again in a way not possible with a live class. My students who use videos (anybody’s video) are the ones who get good fast! Shira's essay on how to use videos in one’s home or studio is very valuable advice.
While the three videos approach Shira outlines is a good start, a student will soon realize that these videos are windows on the entire world of bellydance, access to teachers from all over the world. She’ll be eager to acquire more videos and begin a personal resource library.
While I am an advocate for the combination of live instructor and video, I have found that dancers CAN learn exclusively from video. I’ve seen wonderful results where only video instruction was avbailable. A woman once bought all three of my Bellydance Workshop Volumes at a workshop I taught in Regina saskatchuon, then moved for a year up to the far north of Canada where there were not only no bellydance teachers, there weren’t even any other women! A year later, she appeared at a workshop I was teaching in Saskatoon, and volunteered to dance at an evening recital. She danced beautifully! You could clearly see that the material was from the video, but she had made it her own. Another time, a man and his wife who were both in the Army bought a set of my videos because they thought it would be fun to pursue bellydance together while stationed in Japan (there were no bellydancers there at the time). They told me they studied exclusively with the videos. After a year or so I saw them perform in a bellydance show, and what a wild experience for me to see! The man did every move verbatim from my video with perfectly smooth transitions, and he was fabulous! It was like watching myself dancing up there on stage... but I was a man! Whoa!
These experiences proved to me that some people can learn exclusively by video. But it also pointed out that you need more than one series if you don’t want to be a carbon copy!
Performance Videos
I’d like to amplify the point that performance videos are instructional too. In fact, for the advanced dancer, the majority of her video eductation might come from performance tapes. Dancers need to see the dance done in it’s totality over and over again to put it together in body and mind. Not just in the classroom in leotards, starting and stoping the routines, but in it’s final beautiful expression with the dancer in costume, fully engaged, beginning to end. It is by watching bellydancing done live (in night clubs, haflas, recitals, festivals) and on performance videos, by seeing different dance artists expressing themselves in many creative ways, that the student’s body begins to entrain to the dance vocabulary. In the same way a developing jazz musician will listen over and over to performances of his heros, going deeper and catching new nuances each time he hears the song played, a dancer can gain by watching a good bellydance performance time and time again.
Video and visualization go together.
When I first started researching how to make an instructional video I rented all sorts of instructional programs, including a video called Cyber Bowl. All it showed was a sequence, played over and over again, of the perfect delivery of a bowling ball down the alley. It was played at different speeds, at different angles, even put to music. After watching that video I swear I could feel it in my body. “I can bowl, I can bowl!” I exclaimed. Well, maybe, but the experience taught me the value of studying movement on video. I’m a big believer in the power of visualization, of the importance of being able to seeing movement in your mind that you want to express through your body. Bellydance videos, performance and instructional, give you the visual input you can take into your mind. You then make it your own by visualizing your body doing it, and then you do it!
Realities of video instruction.
No one video will teach a dancer everything she needs to know. Bellydance is a much deeper art than that. Videos are incredible tools, but they are a finite class experience. They don’t grow or change to meet your development, but your perspective will change over time. There may be things on a particular video that you will not get at first but will grow to understand better eventually.
Delilah
www.visionarydance.com
-- posted by Delilah77
» LadyB - On the subject of videos....
Most of the women I run into and teach really ARE total beginners and I have to say, Neena and Veena Bidasha certainly have their place. And their PERFORMANCES at the end of each video (at least the Basic Moves Series) are gorgeous. I really dislike Atea's videos, although I got a LOT from watching the guest performances on the fast and slow moves (and the performs were both good and BAD) You can LEARN either way!I've been working on my own video and have a thought about a split screen so that while the INSTRUCTION is explaining the basics of each move in ONE screen, there is non-stop choreographed DANCING to the same music in the other. Sure, I could make two separate videos, but I find even when I re-run one of the Bidasha videos that SOMEthing may strike me about a move that I have gotten SLOPPY about.
But I agree. There is NOTHING like LIVE CLASSES. As the women collectively DIVE IN to the music and dance as it speaks to them, there's just NOTHING better. Do wish we could get to them all.
I DO find, once my students have gotten through the basic class, the one thing we're ALL looking for are performance videos, both for choreography, style and costumes.
I really appreciate this feedback. I sure wish more libraries would carry performance videos so we could CHOOSE which ones we actually want to own.
May we all keep dancing, teaching, and WAKING UP THOSE GODDESSES!
Lady Barbara
http://www.ladybarbara.net
-- posted by LadyB
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