This workout begins with an intro that’s nearly 3 minutes long, with clips of Dolphina bellydancing with a voiceover talking about goddess stuff and the health benefits of bellydancing. The warmup (nearly 10 minutes) follows, and it moves very slowly. After the warmup is the actual workout, broken into six sections: “Heads, Hands & Arms” (no, that’s not a typo), “Hips,” “Chest & Shoulders,” “Hip Circles,” “Undulations & Snakes,” and “Shimmy.” There is a pause between sections. What follows is a routine using the steps you’ve already learned, and a cooldown.

The form pointers aren’t great, and the camerawork is pretty bad. The voyeuristic cameraperson often focuses on Dolphina’s face and chest while she’s moving her hips and legs, making the routine somewhat difficult to follow. In several places there are some double-exposure shots that are downright disturbing.

The set changes with each section, as do Dolphina’s outfits and hairdos. There’s always music in the background, but the moves don’t always move to the beat.

In the cool-down section, Dolphina’s outfit is fairly skimpy, she’s wearing body glitter, and there’s “nighttime” lighting. It’s a bit suggestive for an exercise video—at least for my tastes. There are probably a few teenage boys that wouldn’t mind finding this left in the DVD player, though.

“As seen on Sex & the City” or not, I can’t recommend anyone spend actual money on this.

Instructor Comments:
As another reviewer put it, Dolphina’s really playing up the whole sex-kitten thing. The “goddess” chatter throughout includes a lot of talk about chakras and suggestions that we should perform the moves with attitude, saying (and I quote) “aren’t I fabulous? But you can’t have me.” From the reviews and posts I’ve read here, there are better bellydance instructors.

KerryF