shortea,
If you are looking for a way to exercise that is fun-that will HELP you in your weight loss goals-bellydance may be for you-but bellydance alone won't do it.
You need to exercise regularly AND change your eating habits...and it should not be a "diet" but a lifelong change. If you diet, when you go off the diet-you will gain the weight back.
Mauvaisroux and I take professional bellydance classes-as well as use tapes. If you cannot find a class near you-and want to use it mainly for exercise, rather than dancing as an art form-I recommend the Basic Moves and Basic Dance tapes by Veena and Neena-if you want to really know how to dance-I would recommend taking a class, and using the videos at home as exercise through the week.
I have commited to a lifelong change in eating habits and to exercising regularly years ago...but two pregnancies in the past 5 years have put the weight on. I have lost 34 pounds of "baby weight" so far over the past year...through diet and exercise. I bellydance about 3 days a week-2 at home, and 1 in class. I also weight train two days a week, and practice either yoga or athletic stretching the other two days of the week.
The key to exercise is finding what you like, and then making a commitment to do it each day, just like taking a shower or eatng dinner, or making a haircut appointment. It should be treated as something that MUST be done-a priority.
If you pm me-I would be glad to outline a basic dietary guideline for you to follow, and a beginning exercise plan geared towards your interests. I look forward to hearing from you.
Aphil

Well, the big dance show is coming right around the corner...it is actually a pretty big deal. Jajouka from NYC is coming to do a workshop there that day, and the show is afterwards in the evening. If anyone is in the midwest area-Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio-and is interested in going-let me know and I'll get you the information.
The costumes for my instructor's dance troupe are 2/3 the way done-I have 1 skirt and 3 tops left to do...so far everything fits the proper wearer, and they are looking pretty good.
As far as my personal progress...I am learning more veilwork, and our class starts zils in 2 weeks. I am feeling much more confidence in class now, and have found that I often stand "in posture" doing dishes or other things without even realizing it.
I am looking into getting some new music...and am looking for some drum solos by Karen Barbee...they are really great to dance to. My instrucor is also sponsoring a tribal drum workshop as well pretty soon which will be pretty cool.
How is everyone?
Aphil

Thanks for the advice, but I am concerned about trying belly dancing. I had a c-section and now I can't feel anything below the belly button. Will that influence how it works for me? I really love dancing though, it is my favorite thing to do.

shortea,
Even with the numbness in your lower abdominal region-you should still be able to learn to bellydance. What you will find after learning some basic moves is that a lot of the dance movements move THROUGH the belly, though most do not come FROM the belly. Most of the movements are actually done with your ribcage and hips-but when your ribcage and hips move, there is also movement that travels through the belly region-since the belly is what connects these two regions. Since the costumes show the tummy area, and harem pants or long skirts cover the legs in most cases, it is actually a sort of illusion. You see a dancer danceing around in a long skirt, with lots of ripples and subtle movements going through the abdomen, and it looks very mystical...like her tummy is sort of moving on its own...what you are not seeing, is the bent knees and working thighs underneath the skirt! Go to www.magicalmotion.com and click on "clips." Watch the second vido clip of the woman dancing a solo...the first time, watch like a normal audience-watching her tummy. The second time, watch her skirt instead...if you look carefully you can see that most of the movement is actually coming from her hips and thighs, and her abdomen is "going along for the ride."
When I first started dancing...I was amazed at how much I was feeling the "burn" in my thighs, shoulders, and upper and mid-back...these are the muscles in which you will mostly need to execute the moves in bellydance. There are a few advanced moves that are ab oriented, but if you have good control over your upper abdominal region, and control over your deep breath (you can push your belly out while inhaling deeply, and suck it back in tight when you inhale) then you should have no problem eventually executing belly rolls when you are a more advanced dancer.
Try it out...you will be great!
Aphil

Hey ladies!
Well-the troupe costumes I had been working on are finished-and the big show is tomorrow night! The troupe made me a muslin tote bag with a design of a belly dancer balancing a sword on her head-and it says "Official Costumer of Troupe Taleeba." It was so sweet!
It is also sort of a lst minute thing, but there is a huge 5 hour seminar with Jajouka from NYC tomorrow during the daytime, and all of the troupe members and some girls from the continuing and intermediate classes are going there to learn. I am in the last 2 weeks of the 4 month basics course still-so noone from my class was really going. My instrucor told me that I girl from one of her higher classes could not make it, and wanted to know if I could buy her registration to the workshop! I aksed her if she thought I knew enough to do it, and she said she thinks I can handle it-so I am going tomorrow to that as well! Yippee!!!! I will get pics up here SOON!!!
Aphil

That's great that you finished the costumes Aphil!
and that was so nice of your troupe to give you that gift!
I am planning on taking the summer off from classes as I tend to get too busy on the weekends and I have to go to Indy in July which means I will miss 2 classes anyway.

I am going to do the Neena and Veena tapes (I have all 3 fitness tapes) and practice with the music and choreographies that I already have and then I will join up again in September. Then again I may take a weeknight class

Hey Aphil - how did your big show go? I bet you all looked amazing in those costumes!

The costumes for my instructor's troupe turned out great, and they looked great in the show! If anyone wants to see some costume pics, email me at [email protected]
Aphil

I have been doing my Bellydance fitness tape for 2 weeks now. After trying on bathing suits last night I have decided to focus on the butt, thigh tape - trying to get in shape for summer!

I think I will be taking an evening dance class during the summer just to stay current with my moves and get some extra exercise.

Tonight is my last class for the basics level...my instructor promised it to be a fun last class-I will let you all know how it went later...I am excited-next week I am no longer considered a beginner-I will start in the continuing belly dance level class! Yippee!!!!!!
If anyone really likes to dance to really great tribal drum solos-a great cd is "Sabla Tolo" by Hossam Ramzy...I bought it at Borders, but you can also get it online-it has some great drumming!
Aphil

Yeah! Hossam Ramzy is great!


Has anyone tried the Dolphina Warrior Goddess bellydance workout tapes? I saw them at the video store the other day but wasn't sure about buying them....One was the Ultimate tape which I think may be a bit too advanced.

Anyone have any input on these tapes????

Thanks!

I have the original Dolphina "the Goddess Workout" which I have done and viewed many times...I also have the Warrior Goddess workout-but I have only viewed it once.
You can go to her site-I think it iw www.goddesslife.com and see a few downloaded clips from her videos.
As far as the original "Goddess Workout" video or dvd-here is my little review.
What I liked:
-she teaches a lot of basic dance moves in the original workout, such as snake arms, shimmies, chest circles, shoulder shimmies, and hip circles-I found that she taught a lot more basic dance moves than in some of the Veena/Neena videos.
-she wears very nice workout wear with a dance twist-which can give you some nice ideas on how to coordinate your spandex practice wear with a hip scarf or skirt and make classwear look a little more exotic.
-GORGEOUS sets...
-she is very friendly and not intimidating or snobbish
-she really loves belly dance, and it shows
-it has a GREAT soundtrack of soothing music, with basic bellydance rhythms that you can use to review what you do in class-shiftatelli, beledi, etc. I use this soundtrack on cd to practice a lot of moves from my class
-it has a nice soothing cool down and warm up
What I didn't like:
-the choreography of the dance segment at the end of the video-she teaches a little dance using the basic moves that she taught-but I don't think it was choreographed well, and it didn't go with the music that was chosen
-I don't mind it so much, but a lot of more mainstream people who are not into alternative religions or middle eastern culture may not want to hear all the talk about your energy centers or chakras, or awakening your kundalini... (warning to more mainstream viewers-it is like having 40 minutes of exercise and spirituality with Darhma's parents on "Darhma and Greg.")
-some of the camera work could be a little better. On a few occasions the camera man is focusing on Dolphina's face while she explains something, when he should have focused on her full body so you could see what she was doing as she explained it. This is not a big deal for more advanced viewers or those taking a class along with the videos-but if you know nothing about belly dance this could be a little frustrating.
-I wished in a couple of moves that she would have used better bellydance posture-ie knees more bent, feet closer together...
I have only seen the Warrior Goddess video once-but if you like I can pop it in again and give a little review so you know what it is about. The only thing I really remember is that it doesn't have the gorgeous exotic sets like the first video does, and it focuses more on hip work.
I have not seen the Ultimate Warrior Goddess video yet-that must be a new one-I will check it out!
I actually was going to ask you if you liked the Veena and Neena hips, buns, thighs video. I have only the basic moves/fat burning dvd, and the 3-pack of the Discover belly dance series-basic dance, beyond basic dance, and mystic dance. I usually do a more mainstream toning or strength workout-but I wanted to try this one for strength training days now and then for a change of pace.
Aphil

I have actually been doing Neena and Veena's hip, thigh and buns tape for the last week and a half I have been rotating it with a pilates tape and a yoga tape.

I found it very good - it doesn't really show you any real dance routines but is more of a fitness tape. The music is pretty good, though nothing special, the moves do focus on the thigh and hip area and if you have taken some classes you will recognize the shimmee, the walking shimmee, the hip lift and the hip drop they also incorporate some of the arm movements or postures too. I do break a sweat during the workout but don't feel sore or like I hurt myself.

Although it focuses on hip, thigh and buns I did feel some toning in my arms and abs.

I also have the arms and abs tape in the same series and I like that one too.

Aphil, if you don't mind I would like to have your opinion on that other Dolphina tape -thanks!

I heard that it was a more fitness oriented tape like the basic moves/fat burning one of theirs that I have. I like that one so far-I dance about 3 days a week-one in class, and two scattered through the week on my non-strength training days-and since the basic moves video by them is VERY basic, I like to use it more as a "drill" tape, to practice my shimmies, ribcage slides, and other basic moves. it is great when you take a class and learn more advanced moves than most videos teach, but I always like at least once a week to "drill" with the basic moves. I think when you do them SO many times, that they end up being sort of "second nature" and it makes it so much easier to play zils or use a veil or cane when you dance, because you don't have to really concentrate on what you are doing with your body-just on whatever "toy" you are playing with.
I will definitely do my Warrior Goddess video this week and let you knoww what I think of it. For a drill/basic moves tape I really like the Goddess Workout though-especially for the music, which I like much better than in the twins tapes. It is much more "authentic" sounding.
Last night's last class was great-we learned a quick choreography to a Hassam Ramzy tribalish sounding Siaidi rhythm, and then we divided up into partners. One of us would do the choreography AROUND our partner, and our partner would play zils for us, and then we switched. We also got into a semi-circle at the end-sort of like an American Tribal Style "chorus", if you are familiar with that-an everyone did tribal 3/4 shimmies in unison, while one at a time each of us came into the center of the circle doing walking shimmies, and took a bow and then shimmied back. It was very tribal, and very "women supporting women" an it was wonderful.
Something sort of exciting about the continuing level I am starting-our dance shool runs all year 'round, with a 14 week semester in the fall to winter, and a 14 week semester running from winter to spring. The summer session is only 7 weeks long, and each session has a week or two between each, plus a week or two for spring break, winter break, etc. just like a school year.
The continuing class is normally 14 weeks long, but since it is the summer, it will be only 7...meaning that it will be very condensed-like cramming for a test. Usually we learn a handful of moves, tehn learn a basic choreography using them, learn a few more, add them to another choreography, and keep building.
This session, since it is condensed will have very little choreography-it will be mostly drill oriented, learning lots of moves and working on form. We will be learning a lot of rhythms on the zils as well. Basically we will need to learn in 7 weeks what other classes learned in 14...but I am excited about the challenge!!!
I am also excited about a workshop my instrucor is hosting in September-it is Americal Tribal Style--YAY!!! The guest teacher we are having has studied under Carolena Nericcio-the director of Fat Chance Belly Dance, which is my all time favorite tribal troupe. If any of you are interested in tribal-I TOTALLY recommend you get their Basic instructional video, and their Costume and Makeup video-both have performances at the end of the video, and the Costume and Makeup video goes in depth on how to construct a tribal costume and how to apply the makeup, build a headress, etc. they are FABULOUS!!!!! I love the glitz and fancy bra and belt costumes of cabaret/traditional belly dance-but the earthiness and "group" choreography of tribal is VERy powerful.
Have a great day-and SHAKE IT LADIES!!!
Aphil

Wow Aphil! Your class sounds amazing! I love dancing in a circle like that very powerful

Thanks for reviewing the Dolphina tapes!