Search - Bellydance for Beginners with Suhaila: Fitness Fusion Buns on DVD

Michelle L. (keyi) from YUKON, OK
Reviewed on 8/25/2008...

Very nice butt workout. Has THE funniest exercise for your buttcheeks...it took several times of just watching to stop laughing enough to try it. Still can't bounce my buns like basketballs, but I'm trying!
Love Suhalias troop and her workouts.

Gets you ready for her workshop

BellyAndWings | MD | 09/20/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I bought these after I took a seminar with Rachel Brice who firmly recommended them, since she is a Suhaila student.

The good parts of this: It IS a challenge--ignore the 'beginner' label on it. And once you get the quick, rapid fire rlr-lrl glute squeeze down, and can do it standing, your shimmies will move from knee shimmies to glute shimmies. The benefit of this is that your legs are therefore free to walk, kick, whatever, b/c it's all in your glutes. It's also great for emphasis on locks and building up the precision. This is geared towards the more serious dancer.

The bads: People who purchase this thinking they'll learn bellydance are often mislead. This, like Brice's practice companion, is really for enhancing the precision of those of us who already know basic moves, or for people who want a glute workout that's not Tammy Faye or Kathy Smith. The other bad is that several of these exercises repeat in her other DVD's, which can lead to a sigh of "this AGAIN?"

This series is strongly recommended for those who are going for certification and for her workshops, and I truly see why!"

Yes, this DVD is great for beginners

Naimah | 08/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Suhaila has a great knowledge of the muscles involved in the movements, and doing this DVD, you will feel like a bellydance athlete-in-training!

Is this DVD too tough for beginners? No. Don't feel daunted if you have never bellydanced before. Any new movement is going to feel awkward at first. Keep practicing. Eventually your "muscle memory" will kick in and it will start to make sense to your body. I wish I had started bellydance by learning Suhaila's technique first. It's much easier to learn proper technique first, than to unlearn what you've been taught incorrectly. It's like learning to bellydance all over again!

Suhaila teaches you a more effective way to execute bellydance movements. For example, instead of "pumping your knees" to create a hip shimmy, you flex and isolate your glute muscles. Shimmying isn't just wildly throwing your arse around. It's controlled movement. By using your glut muscles to execute a shimmy, your legs are then free to perform other movements - and as you become more advanced, you can layer many different moves, even at different tempos.

I've been doing this video for a few weeks, and I can already see the improvement in the precision and fluidity of my dancing. And it does really tone your buns, no joke! I still can't get through the whole toning section without gripping my buns in agony. LOL!

If your serious about learning bellydance TECHNIQUE, then you will enjoy this series."

A good bun workout if you have prior bellydance experience

Beth Cholette | Upstate NY USA | 07/31/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This video is taught by bellydancer Suhaila Salimpour, who instructs a large class of women. There are four sections to the workout: warm-up, floor work, dance, and cool-down. The 9-minute warm-up starts with some stretches for the neck, shoulders, and hips, moves into some static leg stretches, and then ends with a pelvic tuck segment from a crouched position. The floor work starts in a seated stradle position, and the first half consists of a variety of glute contractions. Suhaila did not really explain how to perform this movement, and I was unable to do it. The second half of the floor work consists of more traditional moves such as side-lying leg lifts and rear leg lifts from an all-fours position; this segment was about 13 minutes long.

The 6.5-minute dance section didn't feel much like dancing, as you are standing in place almost the entire time. Here, you do glute contractions at varying speeds and with varying arms, adding some forward-back and side-to-side movement at the very end. The 2.5-minute cool-down consists of several floor stretches, bringing the entire time for the workout in at about 31 minutes. Following the workout, there is also a short (4 minutes) group sword dance. The DVD includes a bonus 10 minute workout that was more of a dance than the one included in the actual workout. Here Suhaila is alone and teaching via voiceover. She begins by doing glute isolations in a stradle squat position and then does standing glute isolations, but this time, there is a greater variety in how the moves are executed (up-down in addition to forward-back, feet in plie, etc.). Unfortunately, the voiceover doesn't always match up with Suhaila's on screen performance, making the workout difficult to follow. Other DVD extras include a solo performance by Suhaila, the same circle performance that was on the Fitness Fusion Pilates video (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?).

Because I was unable to perform the glute isolations, I got very little out of this workout. It seems that knowing how to do this move is a prerequisite for the workout, and thus I feel that previous bellydancing experience is a necessity. 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."