Hi everyone,

The last thread for belly dancing was getting REALLY long-so I thought I would start a new one!

This thread is for women who are using belly dancing as part of their regular exercise. It is open to those of all levels-from those trying it out at home through a beginner video-to those taking classes from an actual instructor-to those dancing at a professional level! This would be a great place for those interested in inquiring about the art form as well!

A little about me...I became interested in belly dancing about 3 years ago and started with a few beginner videos. Two years ago I found a local instructor and began taking her beginner class. About three years after trying my first beginner video at home-I am currently a member of a performing dance troupe in my area-and the costume maker for our troupe as well. I am also a vendor for belly dance merchandise for area dance events. In January I am assisting my instructor in teaching a belly dance beginning class that is going to incorporate beginning belly dance and making a beginning basic costume.

I dance about 3-4 days per week now-my schedule varies depending on what is going on-I take an advanced class and private lessons, and I still use videos at home-so with those activities and then troupe rehearsals and performances-3-4 days a week dancing is my average.

if you are a seasoned dancer, a beginner in a class, or just someone exercising at home with a video for their own enjoyment-shimmy on in!

Aphil / "Ambriehl"

Aphil: I've recently become interested in learning how to belly dance. Do you have any recommendations for beginner videos? I know a school that teaches it, but it's sometimes hard for me to make classes b/c of my schedule.

Mox

Hi mox-

Of course, the best instruction is that of a real, live instructor-because they can watch you and make sure that your posture and form are correct.
If you can absolutely make it to class and are serious about belly dancing-that is the way to go.

If you would like to learn a little for your own enjoyment at home-here are a few videos that I recommend:

~MAGICAL MOTION~ this has just been released on dvd finally! You can get it at www.magicalmotion.com, or at www.amazon.com -it is a classic belly dance beginning instruction video. I must warn you-it is very 1980's with the hairstyles, costumes, etc. because that is when it was filmed-but the instruction is good. A very good beginner's video.

~RUBY JAZAYRE~ You can get her videos or dvd set at her website www.rubyjazayre.com or at www.dahlal.com . She has a great beginner set that includes a video for each: warm up and posture, upper body, and lower body. Great instruction and a great dancer. She is a "real" woman with a real body...and a fabulous teacher and dancer. I have had the priviledge of dancing at some of the regional shows that she puts on twice a year. Excellent instruction on these-well worth the cost.

These are two excellent ones to start with...

Hey Lady, I just bought my first belly dancing DVD. I plan on starting it this weekend. It looks like fun. Its called:

Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss: Hip Drop Hip Hop (Rania)

I'll let you know LOLOL !! DH wants to watch, I told him NO WAY only if he buys me a diamond big enuf for my HUGE belly button LOLOL

I am a tribal belly dance instructor and performer, and Belly Dance has been one of the most healing things I have ever done in soo many ways I am soo excited I found you all!!

I started belly dance about 3 years ago, I had been on anti depressants, as a sideeffect of one I gained about 50-60 lbs and became agoraphobic, finally got myself off of it but I was a mess, so I forced myself to go to a local yoga class as I knew I was about to have a mental break down. It worked wonders, I loved Yoga but really wanted something more and found this *sacred dance* belly dance class here in town and loved it. I had a amazing teacher it was a bit unlike any other belly dance class I have ever seen since. I got so much healing from this class and started loosing weight like crazy, of course the medication was out of my system and I was loosing weight just from that being gone, but the dance really helped with tightening and toning on top of that.
I remember the first time I started dancing with my big old dance sword on my head, I dont think I have ever felt that empowered as a woman before.
I felt like xena warrior princess you know? IT WAS AMAZING..

I am a rape survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and had always had horrid self esteem and alot of issues, Sword Dance and Belly Dance really has absoutley changed my life. Yoga has helped too in combination with it. I ended up taking over my class and teaching belly dance when my teacher had to move on. I live to watch women for the first time dance with the baskets or swords on their head and feel that power and watch them learn to connect with their female energy and bodies and be proud of themsevles for learning a complex isolation. I started doing alot of fire dancing last year too which I am still fighing some phobias on but I have come along way with it, very empowering stuff, I cant even put words on it.

Starting out in belly dance, Magical Motion is one of my fav videos for basic moves, I love the way she explains them, I will warn you the tape is from the 80's and there is one chick on it I am very sure was not healthy thin by any means, she looks a bit sick to me..lol and The whole set is really retro 80's and a bit cheesy but honestly that is one of the best videos for simple good teaching of dance, it really is, I have made my students borrow it and take it home a few times when they start out, just for extra practice if they want it and I always warn them, its a bit cheesy 80's but it is honestly one of my favorite videos too, I think she is redoing it to release as a dvd soon the last time I talked to her I think she was aiming for this year .


One of my favorite dancers in the world, and a friend of mine, Rachel Brice is releasing a Yoga for Belly Dancers dvd here in Jan, you can get it off Amazon, she is a amazing dancer, and person. That one is going to be a for sure must have

And the style of dance I teach and was taught was very similar to a group known as Fat Chance Belly Dance

there are 2 things I would recommend by them

The basic tribal dance video and another one that is sold on their site, its called ..
Oh let me remember what its called exactly, I believe the Female Power workout, its a combo of yoga, tai-chi, belly dance and she does this neat, stretching postion thing where you mold your body from postions of hindu goddesses, oh its great, I am using that as my inspiration for a class I am about to start , I teach belly dance two nights a week and this thrid class I want to combined what I have learned through oxycise breathing with yoga and the hindu goddess workout I call it and belly dance all in one and kinda make it my *own* and teach it, but its still in development at this point

Alot of my students mention videos by Veena and Neena and Dolphina

Dolphina's videos were apparently mentioned on sex and the city one time, the goddess workout I believe they are called, this is NOT the one Fat Chance Belly Dance has and its no where near as good at the female power workout I believe its called. BUT just for fun and starting out, I know some belly dance instructors are a little anti Veena and Neena and Dolphina because although they are ok dancers, their videos are short, and kinda over hyped and over produced and there are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better videos out there that are not half as famous.

But that is from a instructor/performer view and I try to explain this to my students, we all come into dance for various reasons, some of us come in with a dream of actually getting up on a stage and belly dancing someday..for those ppl , yes stay the **** away from veena and neena and dolphina because its a waste of your money, it really is.
You could spend 10 bucks more and get a really good video that isnt as hyped
from someone that dosnt look as modelish as those 3 do.

But if you just want to have fun, like nice looking ppl and videos, and just want to learn some basic moves to exercise with, I actually like Dolphina alot, I like her veil workout tape, great arm exercise. And Veena and Neena are just dam adorable. They really are.

So it depends, on your day dreams and what your comming to dance for if its only to loose a few pounds, I tell you what, any of the videos will do that for you, they will show you enough moves to change your body, they will.
Just look them over and pick one that you think you would have fun to or enjoy. But if you a bit more serious about belly dance I would first off seriously look for a local area class, live classes are so much better then videos, but if you cant you cant, I know its hard sometimes, but if you want to get serious about belly dance or dont have alot of funds and want to buy one quality one to really work with, I would for sure look into Magical Motion, alot of librarys have that one, or ones off The Fat Chance Belly Dance website (www.fcbd.com) Princess Fathima is another good teacher, you can scan Amazon, what your looking for basically is video length, the ones like veena and neena and dolphina will run you about 20 bucks a pop but they run about 30 mins long,..that aint much man..
now the better ones, cory zamoria, fat chance, fathima will run about 30-40 bucks but they are usually like a hour long too.
and way more info crammed into them.

now I do want to recommend too, and I can not think of her name I may have to go look it up, its on amazon, yup I am gonna have to go look this up and come back, there is a woman she is new as far as belly dance vids go, and I bought her first one to check it out, as a teacher I do that alot so I know what to recommend. At first I thought she was a complete nutcase..lol
but she has a way of teaching belly dance that is totally hers and I have come to love it, she is very modern and new, and is great for ppl who want to learn some moves for clubs and going out to bars and such and it is a great workout, this woman will get you moving.
I have just gotten her new one on fire dancing and flower tray dancing and I can not think of her name but she has 3 dvd's out now on amazon and she teaches dance by shapes, a lil hard to explain but I have started snagging a few of her explanations for my class, stole a new move too..heh

Instant belly dancer, thats the name of the first dvd, you can look that up on amazon and get her name from that..

She is really in a class of her own, I havnt seen anything else like her before, very interesting person she is.
And I dont even know her personaly..lol

Another thing I would recommend for anyone interested in belly dance, is the belly dance superstar tour, it goes to alot of smaller cities , if you ever get a chance try to go see it, its very inspirational!

Ok now I must get on to my other job and get out of belly dance lala land!

But I am so glad this thread was started!

Hi Nirvanagurrly!

I'll give you a little of my background...I have been belly dancing for almost 3 years now. I am a member of a local troupe, and the costume designer for them as well.

You can check us out at www.zweena.com and if you scroll over our logo, it may take a minute but our troupe photo will come up. If you are going from left to right-I am dancer #6. I also made the costumes we are wearing in that photo.

I am trained in cabaret/Egyptian style belly dance, as well as American Tribal Style. I am also starting to delve into Turkish Rom style-and recently attended a workshop with Dalia Carella. I do veils, finger cymbals, and sword as well.

Yes-the Fat Chance Belly Dance videos are excellent for learning the basics of American Tribal Style belly dance. I also own the videos. What I would like to state for newbies to belly dancing-is the main difference between Cabaret style and American Tribal Style. Cabaret dancing is usually done as a soloist or as a troupe-but either improvisational 100% or choreographed-a dance performance rehearsed.

American Tribal Style is always performed as a troupe/tribe, and the main factor is that it is "group improvisation." It is done by the tribe having certain common moves and dances done in their group-and there is a "leader" of the group and the other dancers follow the leader. There are small "cues" the leader can display so the other dancers know what she is going ot do next. It is really quite fascinating. So-if you get any tribal videos or watch any tribal performances...you will see a lot of this.

The workout video you mentioned that Fat Chance Belly Dance has is called "The Woman Power Workout." It is awesome. It combines a great cardio and strength training workout with weights, veils, African type dance, Indian type cool-down, and Tribal Style belly dance. Very, Very fun...you'll work up a good sweat!

Veena and Neena and Rania are the most mainstream of cabaret style belly dance videos. You can find them both at most dvd stores. They are much better than the Dolphina videos for proper technique...they are all great for those just wanting to enjoy it at home for exercise-but serious students may want something else. I think when they made the videos-they made them for home enjoyment-not for pro dancers-so they are good for what they were intended for.

I have seen the new Rachel Brice video! So excited about it-I must have it! I am also excited to see the belly dance-exercise fusion videos getting ready to be released by Suhaila Salimpour! (combining belly dance with yoga, Pilates, etc. for a more interesting workout.)

If anyone is interested in getting a big 'ole skirt and doing some skirt dancing-Dalia Carella's Turkish Rom/Dunyavi Gypsy style videos are absolutely fabulous!

I just got a new job as the acting manager of my apartment complex, I was the assistant manager but I had to take over for a few weeks till we find a new manager and I have been just completely exhausted, stressed and really on the brink of insanity and havnt been online.

But I am back now, and Have new years goals and some big performances too comming up, not like SUPER HUGE but big for northern Nevada..lol

I looked at your troop's website..gorgous..very cool!!!! way to go
costumes are great!!

We dont have a website yet, we have been dancing for awhile but just never sat down and got a website going yet..its a goal for us this year to do that.
at some point


I am on a valentines day challenge from another group, and I have a personal new years resoultion to loose 10 lbs a month from now till late march and finally reach my goal ( pretty close ) and then go shimmy all over the state and show off how good I did

So I will be doing alot of extra extra dancing these next few months.


Infact think I am gonna go blast some music and shimmy while I clean the house right now Get a good start on the first day of the year

Hi,

I'm so glad to see some Karen Andes (Woman Power Workout) fans here! Cool! She also has another video, called "Temple Dance Yoga." I had emailed her a few months ago, and she said she is doing another workout similar to the WomanPower Workout, and will also be filiming a "strength video for dancers." I just bought a few of her books off of the Amazon Marketplace-A Woman's Book of Balance and a Woman's Book of Power.

Has anyone tried anyone of the Suhailia Sampour Bellydance Fusion videos? I picked up Bellydance Fusion Yoga, but haven't tried it yet-There are four different videos-"Yoga," "Buns/Hips" "Jazz" and "Pilates." The dvds are being released on 1/18, but the vhs versions are out now. If you have the store Ross Dress for Less near you, they are selling the vhs for $6.00 each.

The instructor with the instant bellydance dvds is named Neon. I haven't see any of her videos yet.

Rania has a brand new workout called "Too Hip," which is supposed to be a step up from "hip hop hip drop."

Take care,
Sherry-sidelined by a pulled muscle in my back, but I hope to be able to exercise again soon!

Hi-I am waiting for the dvd releases of the Suhaila videos...then I am scooping them up.

I do not have any of Neon's Instant Belly Dnacer series...but I do have some of her props dvds-which are not too bad.

aphil...... You got me curious now... Doing the bellydancing is it a good exercise??? what does it exactly do for you??? helps flatten the stomach??? please give me the specs on it.. the class you are getting ready to do, and making a beggining costume.. thats too cool.. I think that would be fun..
thanks
fribbit

Belly dancing is a wonderful and beautiful art form, and being great exercise as well is a bonus. The health benefits can vary greatly-depending on the individual things that you are doing.

If you are interested in belly dancing "simply as a form of more enjoyable exercising at home" then you can do just fine with the following videos:

*Bellydance Fitness For Beginners-Basic Moves* (very introductory and basic belly dance moves and technique with some muscle toning benefits)

*Bellydance Fitness For Beginners Slim Down* (also basic-but faster for a little more cardio benefit as well as some muscle toning benefit)

*Bellydance Fitness For Beginners Arms & Abs* (basic workout combining regular ab exercise with belly dance moves that concentrate on the arms, shoulders, chest, and abs-a muscle toning workout-not cardio)

*Bellydance Fitness For Beginners Hips, Buns, & Thighs* )basic lower body exercises combined with belly dance moves concentrating on the hips.)

~Qll of the videos in the "Fitness For Beginners" series are approximately 30 minute workouts.~

*The Goddess Workout* This is a very basic video by Dolphina that is also very basic belly dance instruction but is a total body video-and a little longer-about 40 minutes long.

If you are interested however in belly dancing more as an art form-and learning more professionally-you can find a local instructor through the site www.shira.net where she has a great instructor directory listing teachers by state or province.

More "professional" videos that I recommend for those as a supplement who are also taking a class with a live instructor are:

*Magical Motion*
*Ruby Jazayre videos*
*Woman Power Workout (available through Fat Chance)
*Fat Chance BellyDance videos* (if you are taking an ATS class)
*Absolute Basic Bellydance with Delilah*

Gosh...there are so many. I couldn't name them all if I tried-but I am aiming at more beginner level now for those just starting classes.

As far as the health benefits-belly dancing can be helpful in gaining flexibility, muscle tone and strength, cardiovascular endurance-all depending on the individual moves that you are doing.

The basic stance in belly dance is great thighwork alone-as our basic posture is with slightly bent knees-so you are dancing pretty much in a slight "squat" about 80% of the time-great work for the quadriceps.

Veilwork is very strenuous for the arms and shoulders...as is snake arms and most arm movements. Belly dance chest moves such as slides, lifts, and drops are very good for the chest and mid back muscles-as well as the obliques (sides of waistline). Belly rolls and turkish folds/belly dance backbends are very hard abdominal work. Figure 8's of all types are great oblique work as well. Most hipwork is aewsome exercise for the legs, buns, and hips.

Playing finger cymbals actually works the wrist and forearms...as well as teaching you rhythm and coordination. Sword balancing teaches you great balance, coordination, perfect posture during execution of moves, and you gain neck strength-as the swords are usually steel and pretty heavy.

So-if you dance in a class-you may do slow veilwork in one class and get a really great upper body workout...and maybe work on a fast song in another session and get a really good cardio workout...and so on and so forth-the individual benefit depends on what you are currently working on.

Some other areas that you may not think about-are the shaping and slenderizing of areas not commonly focused on-like my ankles have slenderized in the time I have been dancing-I have a pair of dress heels that I keep having to close on a tighter notch every six months or so...I used to have heavy ankles-and this has really helped make them look more feminine and shapely.

I've never been on a diet before and have never really exercised. While picking a friend up from a flamenco class, I watched a group of belly dancers practicing and I have never seen a more graceful use of the human body.

But is it for me? I have a large chest and more than enough belly. Would that make me too uncoordinated? My perception of my body image is too poor to try to learn it in front of other people. Is it possible as a beginner, to really learn the basics from a DVD? And, even if I practice it regularly, will it really help me burn fat and lose weight? Is there a particular style that is better for beginners or plus-sized women?

Knowing that I would one day be fit enough to take a class and learn such a beautiful art form would be motivation enough to get up and exercise. Any tips or suggestions would be great.

Kaya-
NOONE is too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too young, or too old to belly dance!!!!
This is an ancient dance that was done by women FOR women-at parties and gatherings of women to celebrate weddings, births, birthdays, young girls coming of age, and many other events-it was passed down from mother to daughter. (Belly dance did not start out as some sexy dance for some sultan! )
Women of all shapes and sizes and ages belly dance-I have danced with young women, old women, extremely thin women, and full sized women...and they all look equally beautiful doing it.
Belly dancing is a body friendly exercise-it is low impact-there isn't a lot of jar on the knees and feet/ankles. (like running or high impact aerobics or even jumping jacks for that matter)
I would like you to check out the website www.shira.net -first because it is a great source of information-from the history of belly dance, to costuming, to video reviews, and finally-a question and anser "ask Shira" page where a woman addresses this same question.
I would like you to also check out as many websites that you can on belly dance-and see that a lot of troupe members and solo dancers are all different shapes and sizes.
When I started taking a beginner class-I was only partway through the weight that I have currently lost-I weighed in at 185 when I started my first beginner class-and a size 18, with a DD chest. I did just fine.
Don't worry about your body image so much as far as a belly dancing class...everyone there at their beginning first lesson is just as nervous as you are about learning in front of others. I know I was my first day.
As far as style-most beginners either start out with cabaret/Egyptian (traditional) belly dance, or with American Tribal style belly dance (an earthy style of belly dance using a blend of influences from a lot of cultures and always performed in a group or "tribe") and then maybe delve into other styles after learning the basics of one of these or the other.
I learned American Tribal Style basics first, went on to really get involved in traditional cabaret belly dance-and now am learning more tribal (to use as fusion with cabaret) as well as Turkish Rom/Dunyavi Gypsy-and I would like to learn some Tunisian influences as well.
Yes-belly dancing can help you get fit. It can definitely improve your muscle tone and body shape alone-but if you want to drop a few pounds try watching what you eat along with that.
Well, you know where the belly dance classes are held in your area...sign up!!!!