Search - Paulette Rees Denis presents Tribal Technique Volume 1 on DVD

Low-budget beginner belly dance technique & drills

Lena, LMT | Nassau, NY | 12/15/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Production - low budget, video looks like a bit of an old VHS, sound is clear (though wish the name of the moves were written on screen), lighting is good, camera is static but far which is good, background beat seems live

Performance of Group - 4 min
Mostly figure 8s & undulations, very basic & repetitive. Tribal style dress, but no locks or fusion.
Intro - 2 min
Warm-up - 11 min
Posture basics, basic stretching, some rib & hip circles, small hip circles, some yoga: single seated leg stretch, seated spinal twist, downward dog, upward dog, side stretch, etc.
Technique - 33 min
She alone shows you the moves slow while you practice with her & sometimes speeds it up, but mostly slow. She does it long enough for you to get used to the moves. Downward figure 8s (Takseem?), upward figure 8s (Maya), snake arms, torso horizontal circles, structure roll (undulation), Arabic walk, hip lifts? ("half moon ... think of slamming your car door shut") & w/walking & drops, hip bumps & w/fast side walking & turning in a circle, Egyptian basic (step touch to the sides w/twist & walking, turns & circles), shimmy 3/4 (simple back/forth "right left right pause" tempo for each foot when walking), 3/4 shoulder shimmy, single hip twist walk & step out single hip twist turn/circle.

Practice - 51 min
You practice w/3 dancers in full long taffeta? skirts costumes. No instruction, no talking about the beat, no calling out the moves, mostly all silent except for occasional Middle Eastern tongue undulation hooting (I apologize, I do not know the name of that sound).
Chiftitelli - 5 min
All vertical figure 8s up/down, torso horizontal circle & undulations
Maffoof - 5 min
Hip lifts, traveling hip lifts, hip lift/drop walk, walking hip twists, step out hip twist, step fwd undulation w/hip twist, undulations, 3/4 shimmy, double hip lift walk, shoulder shimmy.
Rest of the chapters for Practice: (I couldn't watch anymore)
Masmoodi
Saidi
Moroccan
Maksoom

As nice as Paulette Ress Denis is, she is friendly, she barely shows any personality, the basic only slow beat or basic beat with one other Middle Eastern instrument in slow pace really made this dull. I have many basic bellydance dvds & even with that, if I find a new one I like, I still do them to see if different instruction as well as getting basic drills/workout. I couldn't with this, not in the technique or in the practice segments. The beat just did nothing for me, though started picking up around the 30 min mark.

Video clip on youtube under: "Gypsy Caravan: Tribal Technique Vol 1"
Shows the very beginning of the technique portion & the horizontal torso circles from the practice."