Paulina and Jindra
This is one of the beginners dvds from
the International Academy of Middle
Eastern Dance. There are 3, each is set
up with a lesson, a do along
choreography and a workout (then
performances). This, like the others, is
set in a pleasant studio, with
outstanding production- good lighting,
music volumes (could be louder at times
in the workout, but these are really
more focused on instruction so the
lower volumes make sense), clear
camera angles. If you've got some
bellydance workouts that aren't from
Dolphina or Natural Journeys, you're
used to really odd or downright
problematic production, but these are
very well done. The dvd begins with the
instructional segment. Paulina is alone
and goes over form, posture and
movement clearly, starting slowly,
without music. She build the tempo
gradually, adding music and movement.
After you've worked on the move a bit,
form pointers are printed on screen.
The do along choreography is uncued. I
would have preferred some cueing or
having the name of the moves printed
on screen, but it is fairly short and the
moves are just the ones you learned so
it isn't hard to follow along. The dvd is
well chaptered by exercise so you can
always just cue up a specific exercise to
work on that, if say, you're having
trouble with the undulation (covered in
this volume). This is an excellent
introduction to bellydance for
beginners, or a do along practice for
beginners and intermediates. The
workout is lead by Jindra, who has a
very young, fresh vibe. I'd like to see
her lead an instructional or perform (for
some reason, she doesn't appear in the
performance segments). The workout is
supposed to be a strength workout, but
it seems to be more a light cardio
session. I'm not sure where the
strength comes in. The steps are mostly
the slower moves of bellydance, no
really fast paced shimmies or anything
and you do slow down to learn new
steps or segments so it is not sustained
vigorous cardio, but a nice light day
session, or a warm up or cool down to
something more intense. Her backup
duo seems more animated here than in
enchanted nile. These are pretty pricey,
compared to the basic bellydance dvds
from Dolphina or NJ, but if you really
want to learn bellydance or structure a
quality practice session, these are
outstanding dvds to add to your library,
and you do get quite a bit for your
money. If you just want something
different for workout variety, you would
probably find these too expensive, even
though they are high quality
productions with high quality
instruction. The performances here are
very good as well. Paulina does a sword
dance (I'm a big fan of sword) and
Anaheed, a wonderful dancer, does a
slow taxim number that is just stunning.
Unfortunately, it is marred by her outfit,
which I can only describe as atrocious. I
can't even describe it, its just that bad.
Despite a poor costuming choice, I really
like this dvd, and find it to have been a
great investment.
Instructor comments:
Paulina is a very good instructor- lots of
form pointers and reminders, and she
explains things clearly. She moves well
and really seems to be teaching with
you, not performing or talking at you.
Jindra leads the workout segment and
seems friendly. She too offers lots of
form pointers and cues fairly well.
linda