Instant Belly Dancer: A Crash Course in Bellydance, Vol.2 – Hipwork Plus
July 12th, 2010
Description
The “Hipwork Plus” DVD explores belly dance moves based on angular geometric patterns with emphasis on hipwork – the core of the belly dance vocabulary. Intricate hip movement patterns emerge from combining simple trajectories, such as horizontal and vertical hip slides, lifts, drops and arcs.
The “Instant Belly Dancer” system helps you learn – and learn fast – by presenting bellydance movements as trajectories following geometric shapes. This “instant” method is based on the mnemonic principle: A visual and systematic approach stimulating memorization of the belly dance vocabulary and encouraging freedom, creativity and individuality in combining dance moves.
From the very beginning you will see the possibilities of movement within this genre of dance. By focusing on sequences of geometric shapes, directions and dimensions, you will learn to improvise more quickly than you ever could through random learning of the traditional belly dance combinations. In no time you will know how to alternate body regions to generate similar or contrasting trajectories, develop an awareness of dance flow, and create your own unique dance silhouette.
The “Instant Belly Dancer” system is presented on two DVDs, “Curves,” and “Hipwork Plus.”
Instant Belly Dancer: A Crash Course in Bellydance, Vol.2 – Hipwork Plus
i purchased this dvd along with the volume 1 dvd, and it was a waste of my time and money. not only were most of the moves hard to follow, they were too oriented to the club scene and not bellydance, not to mention neon is a very scary looking lady! the movement diagramming that sounds so helpful in other reviews was actually kind of confusing. if you are first starting out and have never seen belly dancing before, this dvd set might be acceptable, but a better use of your money is to enroll in some lessons in your hometown if you can (they have helped me tremendously!) or to try ANYTHING by Veena and Neena–they are much easier on the eye than neon is AND they teach you basic moves and even basic choreography.
Rating: 2 / 5
not enough repetition but good graphics and instruction wish theyd play something else besides the techno.
Rating: 4 / 5
The DVD covers all the moves needed for belly dancing….but it’s soooo fast paced you really don’t get a chance to practice what you’ve just learned.
Rating: 2 / 5
This DVD was quite disapointing. The structure was choppy. The overall look was cheesey and rough. And quite frankly I just can’t warm up to Neon. I have a another video where she is part of an ensemble and she’s the low point even among lesser known instructors.
Rating: 1 / 5
This is the second video in the top notch Instant Bellydance series. As a compliment to her `Curves” video, the instructor, Neon, has chosen a set of bellydance movements that all have a foundation in angular movement. The order in which she teaches them builds one movement upon the last. It is much easier to learn the movements when they all have the same foundation instead of bouncing around from one type of movement to the next. This helps to cut down the learning curve and make your proficiency more `instant,’ as well as allowing Neon to pack many, many more dance moves into her video. You will find a huge amount of instruction and value for your money! If you don’t already own the Instant belly Dancer Curves” video, I recommend you pick it up first. It’s not required to view “Curves” before `Hipwork Plus”, this video stands on its own, but the novice bellydancer will find it especially helpful to start there. The segments in the “Extras” section will be particularly helpful.
In this video you will learn:
-Horizontal Slides: hip slides, hip pushes side/diagonal, hip pushes back, head slides, chest slides, shoulder pushes, shoulder shimmies, hip twists, hip swivel shimmies, and combinations
-Vertical Slides: up-down hip slides, up-down hip shimmies, up-down hip slides with a twist, downward arc hip slides, upward arc hip slides, and combinations
-Lifts and Drops: side hip lifts/drops, 1 hip twists, front hip lifts/drops, back hip lifts/drops, chest lifts/drops, pelvic locks, stomough pulses, and combinations
-Parallel Arcs: front-back upward arcs, front-side upward arcs, side-back upward arcs, front-side-back upward arcs, front-back downward arcs, front-side downward arcs, side-back downward arcs, front-side-back downward arcs, and combinations
-Perpendicular Arcs: side upward arcs, front upward arcs, back upward arcs, side downward arcs, front downward arcs, back downward arcs, and combinations.
At the end of each teaching section the moves are layered and combined to create beautiful bellydance movement.
The production value is great! Neon is set against a black background which makes it very easy to see her movements. Neon’s instruction is very clear. Although English is not Neon’s first language, she’s of Russian origin, she is extraordinarily articulate and elegant in her speech. She’s one of the few instructors who does not require a voice over. One should have no problem understanding her clear and concise instruction.
One of the hallmarks of the two videos in her series (this one and the “Instant Belly Dancer: Curves” video) are the geometric overlays used to help explain the movements. The computerized geometric overlays are placed directly on Neon’s body during instruction to help the viewer better see the angle and direction of each movement. These same overlays are also used on a figure in the background as a constant reference point. It cannot be stressed how helpful these overlays are in bellydance instruction. These overlays are very useful to explain the difference between movements that may look similar to the beginner but are actually done with different muscles in the body and are foundations for more intricate moves later. What a fantastic idea! Bravo Neon!
Most of the instruction either shows Neon’s whole body, or body from the hips up so you can easily see how everything integrates. Close-ups are used to show specific areas of isolation but then return quickly to full length shots to complete the picture. Sometimes the close-ups are inset the full length shot so you can see more than one view simultaneously. One of the biggest faults of many bellydance videos is that they show close-ups when the viewer would need a full length shot and vice versa leaving the viewer very frustrated. This video seems to have the balance down correctly which is a very pleasant surprise.
Neon is dressed in a bellydance top, `nightclub’ pants, and heels. Her outfit makes it very easy to see the movement of her body while she is teaching. The outfit is a little closer to what you might wear yourself in a nightclub rather than if you were a performer. It is important to note that the style of bellydance she teaches here is what one could easily do while dancing in a nightclub. It’s an easy, sensual, and feminine way to spice up your dancing when going out. Her “Curves” video used both traditional drum solo music as well as techno/dance style music to teach the moves. This video almost entirely uses the techno/dance music.
One note, I almost didn’t get this video when I saw the cover, which would have been a shame because it turned out to be so fantastic! Neon wears a lot of makeup and is in the category my husband would call “too much!” She would rival some of the locally famous drag queens in my home town! Although all performers wear lots of makeup while performing, don’t let the unnecessarily giant quantity this beautiful woman wears be a detraction for you. It is apparently very normal for some Russian women to wear this much makeup, I’m told, and if this is the only thing `wrong’ with this video, as far as I can tell, then you have a fantastic set on your hands!
Rating: 5 / 5