The main workout on this DVD is divided into 5 chapters: warm-up, core toning, dance workout, cool-down, and group dance. During the 7-minute warm-up, instuctor Suhaila leads a large class of women through mostly static stretches without warming up the muscles first; she includes a few yoga moves such as plank and child's pose. The core segment begins with a series of standing pulses in a plie position; this part challenged my legs as well as my shoulders, as the arms were held in the air the entire time. Suhaila then moves to a seated straddle position for glute isolations, which I absolutely could not do--anyone who has not learned this move through prior bellydance experience will struggle here. Suhaila finally starts doing some actual core work with traditional abs crunches done to a pulse count. She also does a series of seated abs isolations; again, my lack of bellydance experience made these moves virtually impossible to execute. Returning to a standing position, Suhaila continues the isolation moves, this time with somewhat easier rib and chest isolations, eventually blending them into a circle. This ends the core segment at about 22 minutes total.

The 7-minute dance section doesn't feel much like dancing, as you are standing in place the entire time doing a range of abs and glutes isolations. Suhaila does a few quick stretches to finish, bringing the entire time for the workout in at about 38 minutes. Following the workout, there is also a short (2 1/2 minutes) group dance. The DVD includes a bonus 9 minute workout; this was very similar to the dance section of the main workout except that the isolation exercises are performed while moving from front to back and side to side, which did little to make the workout more interesting. Other DVD extras include trio and circle performances (the latter has one performer dancing in the center of a circle with the others sitting around and clapping; I found this to be a little odd, although the little girl who danced at the end was cute), a workout without narration option, trailers of the other three videos in the "Fitness Fusion" series, and a photo gallery (I can't understand why Natural Journeys always includes these--why would I want to see still photos of Suhaila?).

You may have noticed that I did not mention Pilates--that's because there is absolutely NONE in this video! Yes, there is some minimal core work, but I wouldn't even go so far to call it Pilates-inspired. It's things like this that make you understand why there were those who wanted the Pilates name to remain trademarked; use of the name here is really an outrage. Overall, I felt that my inability to perform many of the movements--based on my lack of previous bellydancing experience--made me unable to enjoy this workout. If you already know how to do basic bellydance isolations and are looking for an opportunity to strengthen your skills, you might like this video, but those who are new to bellydance should definitely look elsewhere.

Instructor Comments:
Suhaila appears to be a very good dancer. Overall, she cued well, but she did not fully explain how to do the movements, seemingly assuming that the viewer had prior experience with bellydance.

Beth C (aka toaster)