Search - Bellydance With... Jillina: Shape Up n' Hip Out! on DVD

Anne Z. from WILLCOX, AZ
Reviewed on 10/18/2014...

This is an excellent Bellydance rehearsal DVD. Jillina has warm up and cool down segments that are also a kind of dance routine. Then she teaches Three dance routines, each one progressively more difficult for a beginner. I owuld say and Intermediate student would also find it challenging, but overall it is fun and I am actually learning the moves.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Fun workout package from a REAL bellydancer

Shannon B Davis | Arlington, MA United States | 03/15/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In my utter Jillina fandom, I bought her latest 4 DVD set, and with a little bit of time before my rehearsal with Lilya, I popped in Shape Up or Hip Out. Now, this is a bellydance workout video, better than I have seen on the market before, aside from Aziza's Drilling DVD. This one was really intended simply as a workout, not a drill or technique video. and it is far better than Dolphina's "Goddess Workout" or the Bellytwins or - and perhaps especially better than Rania's.

There is a warmup on the DVD. I could only criticize it in that it doesn't seem exactly safe for all people. There are some deep knee bends that seem ill-advised, and I'm not sure if it's the best way to warm up. Also, she uses yoga-inspired moves, but without the yoga-inspired cueing, people may miss the point of the stretch. Overall, I would do my own warmup and move on. Good thing it's a separate menu item.

Next is the Slow Moves. I admit I skipped this one when it started with a very slow broken-down snake arm. I don't ever want to do a slow broken-down snake arm again because every damn belly-fitness class or video has them and, well, I know how to do snake arms and there is nothing to be gained for me in breaking them down into their components.

The second workout was a bit more upbeat and the third workout, while no marathon, was the fastest. I became mildly warm, although I did not sweat through the whole forty minutes. The format was this: breakdown two movements slowly, then do it them fulltime. Then repeat the entire sequence from the beginning, stringing all the pairs of movements together. Jillina puts an emphasis on the muscles, talking about obliques, abs, and glutes. She even modified her normal technique. For example, camels include the chest - whereas on her other videos, she teaches them excluding the chest. Later on in the video, she uses hip shimmies, with bent knees, rather than Egyptian knee-driven shimmies - and she adds an ATS-style arm pull to her hip lift walk. Many more of her movements are flat-footed rather than releve. All this is a sign that Jillina understood this was to be a workout video, not a technique video, and she took the most athletic ways of doing things from a variety of styles and combined it.

A beginner could easily follow this video, although some movements would be difficult for them, such as the haggalah. The 'choreography' such that it is was simple, 8 counts of each move like any aerobics class. This would teach the beginner a lot of movements, in a basic choreography that is more exciting than a drill. Plus, remembering the steps in sequence is preparation for choreography. For the intermediate dancer, the challenge would be adding the arm movements that accompany. Finally, the advanced dancer could focus on her posture and smooth transitions. All dancers could use this "workout time" to strengthen their muscles."

Jillina shape up n hip out

2Stix | 06/12/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I own three of Jillian instructional Dvds, she is how is started my love for bellydancing. I had been waiting for her to make a bellydance workout tape. This is it!!!! Jillina has done it again!!! I look forward to doing this tape 3 times a week. I have many bellydance tapes including temple of Jehan(also a favorite) and sensuous workout with Shamira, an many more the list is too long to mention. I look for a certain type of dvd, one with step by step instructions and this one gives just that. Jillina starts off with the warm up (certain moves are not recommended, especially for knee or back problems), but you can skip that part, there are different sections incorporating different bellydance moves (not the same ones over and over again like some dvds) after each workout you have the option of doing it again without instrutions just the music(thats nice). You do sweat, but you enjoy it. Jillian has taken ALL Types of Bellydance moves put them together to make you burn calories with a smile on your face and dance girls dance.

Shadow dancer"

Great for work out!

2Stix | Midwest, USA | 08/11/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was a great video for working out using the basics of belly dance. If you're looking to learn how to belly dance at the same time as you get your exercise though, this video probably will disappoint you. To fully understand how to perform a specific exercise from this video, you do have to know at least the basics of belly dance before you start so that you can concentrate more on the exercise than what exactly it is you're trying to do. Great video, and lots of fun!"