Search - Bellydance Underworld on DVD

Very interesting!

K Gualco | Southern California | 05/22/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I just began taking belly dancing lessons 6 months ago and I've been getting my hands on all sort of belly dance videos. Caberet, Egyptian, Tribal Fusion. This DVD intrigued me because I had never heard of "Gothic Bellydance" before. The DVD was very good. I especially liked the performance by Ultra Gypsy Dance Troupe and the performance by Kami Liddle. I'm happy to add this DVD to my belly dance video collection."

Boring, with few redeeming qualities.

Diana Maria DellaStrega | 01/18/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I should know better... every time I see a Tribal Fusion, Gothic, or Experimental bellydance DVD with the words "revolutionary" or "evolutionary" somewhere in the blurb, I should run far away. Because these terms don't mean what they're supposed to mean anymore. Now they are code words for "more of the same boring Rachel Brice clone crap done do more of the same depressing robotic industrial clone crap music". Or words to that effect.

It would seem that there is not an original thought in Tribal Fusion, Gothic, or so-called Experimental bellydance anymore. At least, not if you go by what's passing for "original" in this DVD. I honestly could not tell the difference between the performances by Monica Fernandez, Sashi, Katie Kay, Karakas, Frederique, or Tempest after awhile, because they look like they were all done by the same choreographer on the same day. One or two were more hip-hop in flavor, one or two were slightly more Gothically depressing (or was that just painfully slow?) than the others, but otherwise it was more of the same old, same old. Stand in place, look really serious, do your Tribal snake arms, pop and lock in slowmo like a breakdancer doing Tai Chi, roll your belly, and bend over backwards for the big dramatic finish. Lather, rinse, repeat. HELP!!!!

A few performances stood out as not totally, crushingly boring. Ariellah was genuinely creepy, and seemed to get the mood right, and her clear, precise movements gave her performance a bit of oomph. UltraGypsy did sort of a "fun" Tribal group piece, a little ray of sunshine in the dark gloomy fog. Kami Liddle rocked pretty hard, as she always does -- and so did Elisheva of Bellyqueen. Those two had some dynamic performances. But the rest... oy. I ended up watching a number of them in Fast Forward, which improved the entertainment factor quite a bit. Hey look! She's actually moving now!

Nekyia gets the "WTF" prize. That they called naked chicks rolling on a carpet "bellydance" is disturbing. That the chicks were naked and on fire and rolling on a carpet, makes for an interesting circus peepshow act or adult video, but it was not bellydance. PLEASE can we stop continually dragging the artform back to its old seedy reputation? Light yourself on fire and slither all over each other and call it whatever else you want, but please don't call it bellydance. We have enough image problems as it is.

Two stars for good production values and a nifty carpeted backdrop. Otherwise, get the Bellyqueen DVD and see actual bellydance performances done in an actually original variety of ways.

"

Yawn.......

R. Thompson | New Zealand | 06/15/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Like another reviewer I should have known better. Gothic, experimental...??? I was disappointed and bored and felt at $19 wasted my money on this DVD.

Sashi, boring, OMG a long song and she only did about 3 moves thoughout.
Katie Kay looked like she wanted to be somewhere else and I'm sure I saw her supress a yawn. Frederique started interestingly (first minute) but fell very flat after that. Tempest, loved the song but again BORING. And The Nekyia??? What were they thinking!!! They were a circus act with oddly fitting tops if you could call them that. (The hubby liked it)

Arellah, Kimi Liddle and the others were enjoyable and for most part looked like they wanted to be there. Their costumes were great along with the sets they were dancing on. The group who were the liveliest and looked like they were enjoying themselves the most were Unmata. But a personal "thing" for me was they had hairy armpits and well I got a bit distracted by that. But that's probable just me...

So all in all not worth it. I will not be getting another Gothicy type DVD again as this is the second let down in this genra I've brought recently."

Met my expectations...

C. Odle | Missouri USA | 09/06/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Bellydance Underworld includes 12 studio performances by some well known tribal fusion and gothic bellydancers. I originally bought the DVD to see Kami Liddle's 'Cybele' performance as well as UnMata, but I enjoyed all of the performances and found a few new favorite dancers. Ultra Gypsy and Monica Fernandez were amazing and fun to watch. Some of the dancers were not so energized and almost looked bored. One dancer smoked at the beginning of her performance. The lighting and sound were good, and it isn't pixelated or blurry. I think my favorite thing about the vid is that there are no crazy wobbly zoomy camera shots in it!

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