Best Belly Dance instructional video for teen

Crissy

New member
My 14 year old daughter, who has been doing jazz, tap, ballet and hip hop for the past 10 years wants to learn belly dancing. We live in a small town with nowhere near to take lessons. Could someone recomend a good video for her to learn the moves and one that actually has choreographed dances?

thank you,
crissy
 

Madeline

New member
Hello Crissy!

I started bellydancing when I was around your daughter’s age! Here are my suggestions for videos:

-“Delilah’s BellyDance Workshop” series
(Belly Dancing Videos and DVDs: Dance Instruction by Delilah and Visionary Belly Dancing)
These cover nearly everything and are really enjoyable to use.

-“Instructional Bellydance with Jillina” series
(Jillina, Bellydance Superstar)
These teach really fun choreographies to popular Egyptian music.

-FatChanceBellyDance Tribal Basics series (FatChanceBellyDance: Videos)
These videos are excellent for learning proper basic technique.

-Leyla Jouvana’s “1001 Shimmies and 21 Variations”
(Belly Dancing, Belly Dance Videos, DVDs, Bellydance)
I think this is a must have for shimmy technique!

Madeline :dance:
 

Crissy

New member
Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions. Of course she wants all of them. And hopes to be good enough to enter into a couple different talent shows and free style dance competitions coming up late this summer and fall that she usually participates in. Is it realistic of her to think of learning it that fast? I don't want her getting frustrated or discouraged by setting unrealistic goals. If you don't mind me asking that is.

Thank you again,
Crissy
 

Ariella

New member
Are there any instructors within driving range? I'd recommend that she first learn everything she can from the videos, and then drive her a couple of times to meet with an intructor privately to help her out. A lot of beginners make mistakes they themselves will never notice, just a couple sessions with someone well trained would help her out a lot.
 
Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions. Of course she wants all of them. And hopes to be good enough to enter into a couple different talent shows and free style dance competitions coming up late this summer and fall that she usually participates in. Is it realistic of her to think of learning it that fast? I don't want her getting frustrated or discouraged by setting unrealistic goals. If you don't mind me asking that is.

Thank you again,
Crissy
Hi Crissy, You've raised a very good question and it's one we've discussed on various topics on the forum. So to answer your first question, it's totally unrealistic to expect your daughter to be "good enough" to perform by the summer or fall, esp. if she's learning by videos alone. As a performing art, Oriental Dance(the correct name) is based on the cultural and musical traditions of the Middle East/North Africa. To learn this dance requires dedication not only to the art but to its cultural roots as well.Too many students feel that since they can master the steps they are good enough to perform and the result is poor representation of the art form. There is so much more to the dance than what can be learned from videos.
It's good that she has some previous dance experience, but the foundation of the dance and music is very different. In order for her to perform pleasing show for the audience: What music will she choose? Will she copy someone else's choreography or create her own? And will she dance with a connection to the music or just dance by the counts?
Many of us hold this dance form very close to our hearts and it's so important that each 'newbie' understand the key elements associated with the dance. You may want to ask yourself was she able to perform jazz, tap, ballet and hip-hop after a few months?
Yasmine
 
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Crissy

New member
I have been looking for an instructor and so far have not been able to locate one within an hour's drive. I'm hoping this summer I can find one when our schedules are a bit more lax and we have more drive time. Right now I taxi 3 kids to dance, gymnastics, karate and guitar lessons. Or find someone who offers saturday instruction.

I want to clear up, I don't expect her to be able to do it. I'm not one of those type mom's who force thier kids into things. I let them enter the competitions they want. But I am the type mom who is thier cheerleader. I help in whatever way they need me, be that by helping them practice or setting realistic goals, which is what I want to do here. I know nothing of the art, so I asked the experts.
As far as choreography I know she's interested in choreographed dances so she can get a feel for how the moves are put together and how they all fit with the music. She could get by with copying someone else's for the school talent show in august, but not for the other in Nov., I'm sure there are rules against that.
Thank all of you so much for the advice.

Crissy
 

Madeline

New member
You’re welcome! I hope that your daughter still wants to try bellydance just for the fun of it, and not to win a competition. The other dance forms she’s done will definitely help in learning bellydance. I think it would be fine to plan on a fun performance in the future, when she feels ready for it.
 

Crissy

New member
To her it is all fun. The competitions are for fun. Just like recital it's the excitement of getting all dressed up and showing off. I think she wants to do belly dance for some of the competitions or talent shows rather than the other styles of dance because it's something none of her friends or fellow dancers can do. Even if that's next year and not this year.

As a mom I'll brag a little (well a lot). Her dance teacher always spotlights her every recital. Well sometimes it's a solo, often it's been a duet with her younger sister who is now 10. They even got a standing ovation 4 years ago. They were too young to understand the true signifigance of it, to them it was just fun to dance.
They just started doing talent shows and competitions this past year and her sister has won more than she has, but she's done karate tournaments for almost 9 years and 90% or the time she's brought home first or second in forms and fighting. Quite a feat for an 80 pound girl against boys twice that size. It's nice to know your daughter can defend herself. Enough Enough Enough I could go on all night.
 

Yshka

New member
Hi everyone. IMO it's not about becoming PART of the culture, but about understanding at least where the dance comes from and in which cultures the music and dance are grounded. As Yasmine stated, there's much more to Oriental dancing than just knowing the steps and going by the counts. It's connecting to the music, letting it flow through you and being able to represent the music (and the dance) in a way it deserves as well. It takes a time to master muscle control and understanding of music and culture, and IMO anyone performing already after even one year of Oriental dance studies (esp. when it comes from learning by video's alone, which will make the student miss out on a lot of benefits they could get from a live teacher) is way too soon. I see people do it all the time though, and most of the time people understand too less about the dance alltogether to give a good representation (there are exceptions ofcourse, but I've seen only few). This might be allright for student hafla's and student recitals though where it is clear the person in question is a STUDENT, (and it's cool for her to want to learn the dance for fun, it is fun, and it should be) but to go into a talent show or competition after just one year seems a bit too unrealistic for my taste.

I hope that didn't sound too BOB'ish, just my two cents;)
 
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Suheir

New member
Hi everyone. IMO it's not about becoming PART of the culture, but about understanding at least where the dance comes from and in which cultures the music and dance are grounded. As Yasmine stated, there's much more to Oriental dancing than just knowing the steps and going by the counts. It's connecting to the music, letting it flow through you and being able to represent the music (and the dance) in a way it deserves as well. It takes a time to master muscle control and understanding of music and culture, and IMO anyone performing already after even one year of Oriental dance studies (esp. when it comes from learning by video's alone, which will make the student miss out on a lot of benefits they could get from a live teacher) is way too soon. I see people do it all the time though, and most of the time people understand too less about the dance alltogether to give a good representation (there are exceptions ofcourse, but I've seen only few). This might be allright for student hafla's and student recitals though where it is clear the person in question is a STUDENT, (and it's cool for her to want to learn the dance for fun, it is fun, and it should be) but to go into a talent show or competition after just one year seems a bit too unrealistic for my taste.

I hope that didn't sound too BOB'ish, just my two cents;)
Arabic dance exists *because* of Arabic music, not as independent movements. If you know nothing of the music, rhythms, culture, you really know nothing of the dance.
 
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