Video Review by Fast Forward

by Yasmina

The video in review this issue is, "Learn to Belly Dance with Alexandra: volume one basic moves and combinations", by Alexandra.

The video starts out with short performance clips of Alexandra in various locations in Seattle Washington. These clips include various costume and music from Light Rain.

From here the video goes into an introduction by Alexandra. She discusses belly dancing and what you will find on this video, volume one, and in her volume two video. There is also a discussion about protecting your feet while dancing and the importance about wearing shoes.

The next section of the tape is stretching the body. Alexandra uses stretching exercises and not belly dance moves, which is a nice change from most belly dance videos. She does a voice over during this section as she does throughout the video. This is a nice little workout that can be done everyday.

Alexandra goes into talking about posture. This is one thing I really enjoyed through out her video. The stress on your posture, this is so important in belly dancing.

Now we go into the moves. This first section of moves is her isolation series. The moves included in the section were: hip circles, hip slides, rib circles, shoulder shimmy, snaky arms and hands. The moves are filmed with her back to the camera looking into a mirror. I really like this in dance instructional videos. You can see both sides of the body.

The next section of the video goes into the base moves and layers. The base move consists of feet and hips and the layer is the arm. This section consisted of: hip lifts, hip drops, Egyptian walk, basic hip, rock step and basic hip threes.

From here Alexandra does a series of combinations from the moves taught through out the video. She did two sets of combo moves. This is a nice way of putting it all together.

Alexandra then takes you through a cool down. Stretching the body once again after the workout of learning the moves. This was nice since most of belly dance videos on the market today skip this section and end the video with a performance by the instructor.

I really enjoyed the lay out of this video. It was well thought out, flowed nicely and was easy to follow. Alexandra used a voice over during the stretching sections and instructional part of the video. The use of the mirror during the teaching segment was a plus. I liked how the video included inset windows of close-ups of Alexandra demonstrating the part of the body she was working on. It was nice to see the full body and close up of the body being worked at the same time. I really liked the stress of body posture throughout the tape. The screen shot of "posture check" was excellent. To see this written out on the screen with a shot of Alexandra in correct posture is priceless.

The selection of music for the video was great. I love Light Rain’s music and the pieces selected worked well with the moves and combinations being taught. It was also very nice to see the music in the credits. So many tapes on the market today don’t list the music that is used, which makes it very difficult to purchase.

One thing I would have liked to see is a full performance by Alexandra. The beginning clips were nice but I could tell the clips were not done to the music that was being played on the video. I would have liked to see the real performance.

Alexandra currently has two videos on the market. You can purchase her videos direct from her.

Till next time,

Yasmina

Comment from Customer

Hi,
I got your video. It is great! Much better than many of the very widely
distributed beginner belly dance videos. Thank you.
bye,

Joi

Video Review by Janice Wing

creator of Belly Laughs

"Learn How To Belly Dance With Alexandra" is a great video for the beginner who wants to learn the basics of belly dancing at home or for the advanced student looking for a refresher. Alexandra's easy to follow instructions and demonstration could teach anyone how to dance.

After an extensive warm-up and posture check, she begins with the basics and keeps building. At the end of the lesson, you already have a simple routine with which to amaze your friends and family. She ends with the important cool-down so your body doesn't hurt afterwards.

Alexandra teaches while facing a mirror, so you don't have to worry about "did she mean my left or her left". Throughout the workout, she reminds you about your posture; a vital piece of information that so many instructional videos skip, or just talk about once and leave it to you to remember. She gives encouragement during the video, especially when you start to layer different isolations.

All the buyable music in the video is listed in the credits, along with pictures of the album covers so you can pick them out when shopping. As a bonus, she tells you which music was playing with which isolation. So helpful!

This video is going into my collection, on the short shelf that houses the videos I watch at least once a month. If my nieces ever show interest in belly dancing, I would give them this video

Learn to Belly Dance with Alexandra: vol. one – in this video, we begin by stretching every muscle. Than we practice isolations – moving specific parts of the body without moving the rest. Next, we move on to basic moves, including hip lifts, him drops, Egyptian walk, basic hip rock step, and "the three’s". Finally, we put them together to form combinations and we’re belly dancing! Approx. run time 50 min. - VHS $19.99

Learn to Belly Dance with Alexandra;

Volume One:  Basic Moves and Combinations

Produced by ITeachBellyDance.com

Video reviewed by Nadiyah

This video, designed for beginners in mind, provides a great, upbeat way to learn basic belly dance movements.  Alexandra, an accomplished dancer, leads the viewer through warm-ups, belly dance movements, combinations of movements and then through a cool-down.  The running time is approximately fifty minutes.

The video begins with Alexandra dancing at three different locations in three different costumes; the scenes rotate as the same melody plays.  This is helpful for the beginner to view what will be taught and how the end result can be presented once one is ready to perform publicly.  Here is the outline:

1.      Introduction

2.      Stretching

3.      Posture Check

4.      Isolations

Posture Check

Hip Circles

Hip Slides

Hip Lifts

Rib Cage Circles

Shoulder Shimmy

Snakey Arms

Hands

5.      Basic Moves -- Hip Lifts

Hip Lifts

Hip Drops

Egyptian Walk

6.      Basic Moves – Basic Hip

Basic Hip

Basic Hip Rock Step

Basic Hip Threes

7.      Combinations

2 Sets of Combinations

8.      Cool-Down

Stretches

Proper posture techniques for the body and arms are discussed in detail and the viewer is reminded periodically to check her/his posture.  The reminders are most helpful, for proper posture and placement of the arms can be easily forgotten.  Although the sound echoes slightly during the introduction and again before the cool-down, the sound is clear through the rest of the video.  Alexandra provides clear explanations of each of the stretching and belly dance movements while standing in front of a mirror.  (The mirror enables the viewer to see both sides of her body while she demonstrates each move.)   Alexandra’s scarves permit the viewer to observe the hip movements better, and a top with the same color and/or coins could have assisted similarly with the rib cage circles.  The “Combinations” section utilizes moves covered earlier in the video while enabling the viewer to practice smooth transitions.  The “Cool-Down” section is essential for any exercise routine, yet many dancing instructors and instructional videos fail to address this important component of exercising.  Overall, this video would benefit those in the beginning stage of belly dance development by providing a fun tool to practice basic moves at a steady, upbeat pace.

Video Review by Shira

(4 out of 5 stars)

On this video, Alexandra Glover offers a basic introduction to belly dancing, appropriate to the level of brand-new beginners who have never belly danced before. In the section where she teaches actual dance moves, Alexandra faces toward a mirror with her back to the camera. Her reflection is shown in the mirror, so it is possible to see each move from both front and back.

After the opening titles, the video shows about 1 1/2 minutes of Alexandra performing, with brief segments of clips taken from several different shows. She is a skilled dancer, and the clips show an interesting variety of costumes.

Alexandra opens the instructional section with some comments on the history of belly dancing and its health benefits. Then she proceeds with a warm-up which consists of various types of stretches and toning: side to side leans, pliés, etc. Before you begin a session with this tape, you may first want to warm up on your own with 5 minutes of walking.

Alexandra takes about a minute to describe correct posture for belly dancing. This is one of the better explanations that I have seen on an instructional video. Then she begins to teach several elementary belly dance moves.

After introducing several beginning moves, Alexandra assembles them into combinations. She teaches one first, then two more, and leads a practice session that uses these combinations repeatedly. Then she teaches several additional combinations, and leads a second practice session based on them. These combinations offer a helpful structure for beginning dancers to learn how to assemble the building blocks into a simple dance.

The video ends with a cool-down based on stretches that are valuable for dancers.

The closing credits identify the help that several of Alexandra's associates have given in producing the video. As each contributor is identified, an inset showing her dancing appears next to her name. The credits clearly identify every song used on the video, and which CD it comes from. All music on the video is performed by the band Light Rain from the San Francisco area. This is not Middle Eastern music, but rather original compositions by Doug Adams. (To determine whether you might like this music, you can listen to clips of some songs in my review of the CD Dark Fire.)

Alexandra wears a mesh-midriff unitard and hip scarf for teaching, which makes it easy to see her legs and body positions. The camera angle stays far enough away to show her full body from head to feet. At times an inset with a close-up appears on-screen next to the full-body shot of Alexandra to demonstrate the detail of particular moves.

The production quality is generally excellent. The lighting is clear, the sound is easy to hear, and the set where Alexandra teaches is beautifully arranged. The camera always shows what I need to see, and the video is free of distracting editing techniques or special effects.

Nearly all of the narration is handled using voiceover. In a few places, the voiceover doesn't quite match up - the voice may be counting one, two, three, four, but isn't synchronized to the corresponding movements. Fortunately, this is rare enough that it doesn't ruin my appreciation for the overall video. I usually prefer live on-screen talking to voiceover because the dancer demonstrating the moves on-screen often looks bored or has a fake smile, but on this video I was comfortable with voiceover because Alexandra demonstrates everything with her back to the camera anyway.

You Will Probably Like This Video If:

You Probably Won't Care for This Video If:

What I Liked, What I Didn't

What I Liked

What I Didn't Like

Movements Included

In Conclusion

If you have never belly danced at all before, this video can offer you a helpful introduction to elementary moves, as well as assistance in learning how to combine them into a dance. At only 50 minutes in length, it doesn't teach as many moves as some of the longer videos that offer beginning dance instruction, but Alexandra makes good use of the time she has and the low price offers a satisfying value for the money.

Disclosures

Before Alexandra offered me this video to review for my web site, I had not previously had contact with her. She provided me with a complimentary copy to review.