I have "Visual Melodies" and have mixed feelings about it.
I think this dvd may have been better received if it contained a spoken introduction or some commentary on the approach to musical interpretation.
I was actually thinking of studying the breakdowns for each song and trying to adapt the musical guidelines to myself just as an exercise to hopefully develop better musical interpretation.
From reading others reviews of this dvd, it seems to have inspired a lot of mixed responses. My guess is people are not really sure how to use the dvd as 3 performances is short for a performance dvd and there isn't any obvious teaching in it to make an instructional dvd.
muahhhhhhhhhhh it's all part of our dastardly plan to shimmy our way through each and every Hoosier cornfield - leaving new BD converts as we go!!!!!!! :dance:Thanks for the suggestions!
ON Keti being not Egyptian enough -- I mean, I adore her, but we have people here who don't think many of the people I adore are REAL Egyptian style, so I tend to preface my opinions as such.
FWIW, I'm thinking about doing her fitness training program. I think it might be an interesting thing to approach my gym with. They keep bugging me to teach some kind of bellyrobics, and I think this would be better, or at least easier to do in a group fitness class.
BTW -- I forgot you were a Hoosier too! That makes 3 active Hoosier posters, and a couple of lurkers. Taking over the boards, one cornfield at a time! LOL
just now getting the interest to pursue the Egyptian style DVDs...(you inspired to get Shareen but it is backordered ) So I can't answer yet.
muahhhhhhhhhhh it's all part of our dastardly plan to shimmy our way through each and every Hoosier cornfield - leaving new BD converts as we go!!!!!!! :dance:
Shimmy-on my Hoosier sistas!
(ok so I don't shimmy very well but I'm practicing every day!)
I'm told Keti isn't REALLY Egyptian. I like her advanced A-Z dvd, but alas have never seen her really perform. Would you argue she's a valid Egyptian style dancer?
Third, she didn't fully describe or break down what she was doing, which makes even the basic A-Z inappropriate for beginning or even early intermediate dancers, and probably difficult to use for more advanced dancers. The lack of breakdown didn't bother me for the hip and upper body and arm parts of the movement, but it really bothered me for the footwork. She didn't describe, for example, where your weight should be going into a turn, which foot you should land on after a turn, etc. She would also say "turn to the left", "turn to the right', but my brain thinks in terms of clockwise and counterclockwise.
Fourth, some of the combos were interesting, but what she did not do is demonstrate their full potential by matching them to different music well. She used only a couple of pieces of music in each video. I'm sure this had to do with copyright and the limitations of her budget. I totally understand, and yet the whole concept of using combos of movements with particular kinds of phrases of music was lost.
She also talks about "sacred geometry" in the advanced version. I'm not even sure what sacred geometry is, but I'm pretty sure the Egyptian dancers don't use it to make dances.
Hi sstacy123,
Just wanted to inform you that "Shareen El Safy DVDs" are not in back order, they are all available. Shareen wanted me to let you know. Thanks!
Tammy
Strange...I ordered from dahlal and shortly thereafter got a phone call saying it was backordered, did i still want it...and that was a few weeks ago...so I dunno.
I bought Keti Sharif's original A to Z video years ago when I was a begginer and when it was only available on VHS tape. I found it too advanced for a begginer. I was able to do the first segment of combinations comfortably, I think up until the D or the E. The second segment of combinations was more advanced and I remember being very frustrated by the lack of breakdown. The third segment was particularly difficult for my level and I felt no motivation to even try it. I ended up putting the video on a shelf and forgetting about it. I did watch it once or twice after that, when I was more advanced and when I WAS able to do the more complex combos, but I found that I didn't really like them and had no desire to use any of them. So, for me personally the video was pretty useless.
Regards
Priscilla
When you saw the performances, did they strike you as not being the "Egyptian" style that you were used to seeing from Dina and Randa? I got a VERY different vibe off Serena's dancing than I have Dina and Randa. I'm wondering if that's because these are obvious choreographies, and she's dancing them as an INSTRUCTOR would, or if it was something else...
Anything like that strike you as well? (end quote)
Sorry I didn't see this earlier! I am not sure. I really like Serena's dancing as she seems so delicate and serene and I think she expresses the music very well. I am not sure if I am qualified to judge how Egyptian her dancing is--but she seems very sincere to me. I agree her dancing is very different than Dina or Randa--they seem much more dramatic to me. I am not sure how much of that is down to the dancer's personalities. I love Dina and Randa's dancing as well, but at least Dina seems to be partially about pushing boundaries and both seem like "Divas" to me (meant in a nice way as I do admire both of them in different ways). My other "Egyptian" instructional vids are Raqia Hassan videos--and I do think there are differences between Raqia and Serena in terms of technique--but some similarities as well.
In that sense, regardless of the validity of some of Sausan's assumptions, I can agree that there IS a logical way to approach the dance, and there IS a sort of code there. The trick is figuring it out.