natenkayliesmom-Since you are a newer "at home bellydancer" I would first recommend that you get a different video...the best for a beginner would probably be "Magical Motion" by Atea.
The Veena and Neena ones are also very nice, but I would recommend the one by Atea because since you are not taking a class, in her video she goes over the correct form and posture for belly dance-which most do not. It is very important for performing the moves correctly.
I have the Janine Rabbit video-I am sort of a collector of belly dance videos-I have Veena and Neena, Atea, Fat Chance Belly Dance, Alexandra King, Dolphina, Sharqui Bellydance...and more. I have videos ranging from excellent to pretty darn bad. The Janine Rabbit video has a few things that I like about it-her obvious love for the dance, that she shows how to wear a veil and "dance it off" and that she gives a history of the dance in the beginning of the video.
Where I think a better video would serve you is that Janine is not a very good dancer herself-and uses bad posture-which makes it harder to do the moves, as well as more prone to injury. There are a lot of bad habits that you could pick up if you follow her form/posture.
Since you have not read through all of the forum-here is a short breakdown of things we have discussed.
Best beginner videos for learning to dance:
*"Magical Motion" by Atea
*"Tribal Basics" by Fat Chance Belly dance-for tribal style belly dance
*"Basic Dance" by Veena and Neena (from the Discover BellyDance series)
Best beginner video for exercise-these videos are exercise videos that incorporate a few belly dance moves in them, but you are not going to learn choreography, or play veils or zils(finger cymbals) in them.
"Basic Moves" by Veena and Neena (from their Fitness for Beginners series of videos)
Some other basics that we have discussed is that their are two main kinds of belly dance-cabaret and American Tribal Style. Cabaret is what people mostly think of when they think of a bellydancer-most videos teach this style-American Tribal Style uses a more ethnic approach and they dance in groups like a tribe, and wear earthier clothes rather than the sparkly costumes like a cabaret dancer.
To see a cabaret styled dancer-and a great site with tons of information-go to www shira.net and check out her site. To see an example of American Tribal style-go to
www.fcbd.com and take a look at Fat Chance Belly Dance's site.
When you get more comfortable with one of the beginner videos I mentioned, than feel free to come here and ask about veils, finger cymbals, and other belly dance items we dance with. We know lots of great places to get dance stuff, great cd's to dance to...etc.
Emmaleth-Welcome! Great to have you here! I am Aphil and I study both cabaret and American Tribal Style. I am a costumer for belly dance stuff-as well as other costumes and I work for myself doing that.
As far as the workout side of bellydance-I think it can be however gentle or strenious you want it to be. Some days in class or at home we (or I) do a lot of slow veilwork and lots of drills-working on my technique and form-and for me it is really a toning and strengthening workout then...like with a bolero or chiftitelli rhythm, other times we (or I) do a ton of fast moves/dancing with say a beledi or a siaidi rhythm-and then for me it is very much cardio-I can really work up a sweat. I think it is great in that sense-because it is almost like circuit training-where you are combining the benefits of cardio and strength training-and having a ball feeling like a goddess doing it! I strenght train my full body twice a week-and I feel some days I get JUST as much a strength training workout dancing-the veil in the air provides tons of resistance when you doing the moves-and you are so right about it working your buns and thighs-dancing in the correct form with your knees bent is like doing the worl's longest set of squats!
I think it is wonderful, because I can go slow and easy if I want to-as well as fast and POWERFUL if I want to.
Belly dancing is great for your abs-but in a totally different way than traditional exercises. I work my abs doing traditional exercises for my center abs like crunches and Pilates, but I find that bellydancing with all of the ribcage work REALLY tones my oblique muscles (sides of the wiastline. I am still overweight, but I am really getting a nice definition line down each side of my tummy...now I just need to work my center abs a little more to get the six pack in the center to go with it!
How did you get started doing belly grams, etc? Do you like it? How do the customer's react? Any good stories?
Aphil
Ideas, anyone?
Thanks!
