Bellydance! Slow Moves

Have you actually watched this video yourself? If so, offer your own opinion in the poll below! Otherwise, click the "View Results" button to see what worldwide users of shira.net think of it.

The above poll includes responses submitted since December 12, 2002.

Atéa designed this instructional video to be a follow-on to her original one, Magical Motion. Although I liked Magical Motion very much, I didn't find Slow Moves to be as strong. Slow Moves is shorter in length, with a higher proportion of its time allocated to performances, and many of its moves overlap with those taught on Magical Motion. It contains less than half an hour of teaching, so it feels rather short, but since the price is low it's actually still a reasonable value for the money.

The video opens with two performances in full costume, one by Dahlia and one by Fahtiem. Each is based on the types of moves taught on the video, offering a preview of what lies ahead. Of the five performance segments on this video, Fahtiem's was probably my favorite because of her skillful abdominal moves.

The moves taught on this video are suitable for brand-new beginners. If you have never before tried belly dancing, or if you've just started taking classes, you'll find the moves on this video to be at about your level. The moves are grouped into these categories:

• Rolling Hip Combinations
• Rib Cage & Belly Combinations
• Arm & Head Techniques

Throughout the instructional section, Atéa and her two assistants demonstrate each move while voiceover narration explains what to do. If you listen carefully to the narration, it is packed with valuable information about correct technique.

When she finishes teaching these moves, Atéa introduces simple choreography that uses them all. I don't find the choreography exciting enough to recommend that you perform it, but it provides a convenient structure for practicing the moves.

Following the choreography, the video presents three more solo performances in full costume, featuring Anaheed, Atlantis, and Atéa herself. In all three of these, the dancers did floor work as part of their performance, showing new ways to use the moves that were just taught. Of the three, Anaheed's performance was my favorite. Atlantis is clearly skilled at doing difficult moves, but I didn't care for her costume and artistic interpretation. Atéa dances with a sword and shows some interesting variations with it, but her undulations aren't as fluid as I prefer.

As a group, the five performances effectively demonstrate several ways that these basic building block moves can be applied for entirely different looks, and the different costumes offer a feast for the eyes. Although I liked some of the performances better than others, I found them all valuable from the perspective of providing an introductory tour to different forms that belly dancing can take.

The video closes with assorted dancers taking turns dancing for each other while the closing credits roll. These had the flavor of students partying with their classmates rather than professional performances.

You Will Probably Like This Video If

• You'd enjoy an instructional video that emphasizes fluid, undulating movements.
• You're looking for a video that could provide structure for home practice of such movements between classes.
• You're an enthusiastic fan of either Atéa herself or one of her guest dancers (Dahlia, Fahtiem, Anaheed, Atlantis) and you would enjoy a video showing a 2-3 minute performance of undulating moves by one or more of these artists.
• You would enjoy seeing some brief performances that incorporate sword balancing and floor work in addition to standing undulations.

You Probably Won't Care for This Video If

• You're an intermediate or advanced dancer.
• You prefer a video with more than 1/2 hour of teaching time.

What I Liked

• I appreciate the decision to use performances by several different people instead of featuring the same person doing all the performance segments. This illustrates the diversity that is possible in this dance.
• The lighting and sound are excellent.
• It's useful to have two assistants helping Atéa demonstrate the moves, to show how each move looks on different people.
• I found Atéa's approach to introducing the choreography to be useful. First, the screen shows text listing the moves in order, with number of repetitions. It can be paused to allow time for copying it down if desired. Then it shows the actual choreography being performed, with text titles on the screen telling you what to do for each move.
• The performances are about 2-3 minutes each in length, which seems just about right. It's long enough to convey the variety of ways these moves can be used, without dragging on.
• Generally speaking, the narrative provides useful explanations of how to do each move and offers important hints on technique such as, "don't lock the knees".

What I Didn't Like

• The quality of the performances is irregular. Most are reasonably good, but I was disappointed by a couple.
• Atéa's own dancing is not as fluid as I would have preferred for a video focused on undulations.
• Throughout the video, in both performances and instruction, there are too many camera close-ups on people's faces instead of showing me the dance itself.
• I don't particularly like the arm movements that Atéa teaches on this video. The arm waves remind me of the 1960's dance called "The Monkey", which had flailing arms.

• Hip Undulations: 8 moves (hip slide, hip circle, advanced hip circle, hip twist figure 8, up & down figure 8, reverse up & down figure 8, up & down figure 8 with level changes, bicycle hips)
• Traveling Steps: 1 move (step-close-step walk)
• Rib Cage Undulations: 3 moves (rib cage slide, rib cage circle, clock circle)
• Body Undulations: 2 moves (undulation, belly roll, )
• Arms: 4 moves (arm wave forward, arm wave to side, arm ripple, temple pose)
• Head: 2 moves (head slide, head circle)

If you'd like to read my reviews of other videos by Atéa, choose from the list below:

• Bellydance! Magical Motion
• Bellydance! Fast Moves

If you already own Atéa's first video, Bellydance! Magical Motion, then instead of buying Bellydance! Slow Moves as your second video, I'd recommend trying a beginning-level video offered by a different instructor. Atéa explains things well, but the moves taught on Slow Moves overlap substantially with Magical Motion, so you'd probably gain more value from hearing how someone else explains the same moves than you would from hearing Atéa explain it again.

If you don't already own Magical Motion, having worked instead with someone else's beginning-level instruction, then Slow Moves! could offer you a different perspective on these moves. Its performances by five different dancers show you a variety of ways to use these moves. The narration explains the moves well, and although the video is short the price is low enough to offer good value for the amount of money spent.

I have spoken on the telephone and exchanged e-mail with Atéa, but we have never met in person. We became acquainted when I posted on my web site some negative feedback I had heard from another person about her videos, and she contacted me to request an opportunity to let her tell me her side. Impressed with the professional manner in which she made her request, I agreed. She sent me a copy of her three videos for me to watch and evaluate for myself, and upon doing so I discovered that I liked this one very much. The other person's opinion lost all credibility with me, and any future opinions I may hear from that person will be suspect.

My current relationship with Atéa is that I see her as a professional colleague whom I respect very much because of what she has accomplished in making high-quality belly dance instructional videos readily available to the mass market.

To purchase this video from Amazon:

Item	Amazon.com in U.S.	Amazon.ca in Canada	Amazon.co.uk in United Kingdom
DVD Edition	NTSC Region 1	Not offered	Not offered
VHS Tape Edition	NTSC	NTSC	Not offered
Bellydance for Beginners: VHS Tape Editions of Fast Moves and Slow Moves bundled together	NTSC	NTSC	Not offered

Or, contact Atéa as follows:

Magical Motion™ Enterprises
12228 Venice Blvd., Suite 402-W
Los Angeles, CA 90066

Phone (+1) (310) 301-0045
Fax (+1) (310) 301-4064
Email: atea@verizon.net
Web Site: www.bellydancingvideo.com

General: | Home | Shira's Classes | E-Mail Shira | About Shira | Shira's Photo Gallery | Shira's Performances | Troupe |

Belly Dancing Information & How-To's: | About Belly Dancing | How-To's | Middle Eastern Culture | Belly Dancing Fun & Frolic | Belly Dancing Poetry & Art | Reviews: Books, Music, Videos | Find Belly Dancing Teachers/Performers | Tech Talk | Links |

Using This Site: | Table Of Contents (Site Map) | Search This Site | Survey | Behind The Screens |