Rachel BriceSerpentine: Bellydance with Rachel Brice (TWO-DVD SET): Complete belly dancing instructional program, Belly dancing classes with yoga, How-to in Rachel's tribal style belly dance, including full choreographies

I would like to say first that the yoga on this 2 DVD set alone is worth it. Brice includes 3 different yoga sessions. First there is a regular yoga practice for belly dance, then she has one specifically to help you with back-bends and then she includes a cool down yoga practice so after you are done exercising you can stretch and cool off. The finishing yoga practice is included on both DVDs so whichever DVD you have been using to practice you don't have to switch disks to go to the cool-down section. Following the yoga included has really improved my sleep a lot. I'm one of those people that normally takes a while to fall to sleep every night and I sometimes suffer from insomnia. But, after a few days of yoga I started noticing that I would fall asleep at night instantly and even if I woke back up in the middle of the night I would still go back to sleep quickly. I think the deep controlled breathing that is taught has been mostly to blame because I find it easier to clear my head at night before going to sleep and just relax and let go of stress and everything that's on my mind. So I haven't had any more sleep problems since I've been doing this yoga nearly every day.Although Brice teaches the tribal fusion style of belly dance anyone wishing to learn any type of belly dancing can benefit from this DVD. This is the first real formal training I've had in belly dance (besides training in floor work). I sat down just to watch Rachel Brice do the drills and isolations a few times and now that I understand what she is doing better I can follow along with her. I like to warm up with her isolation drills and then I move on to dance by myself remembering what I have learned. Knowing the correct posture and the different ways to isolate muscles groups allows me to create my own dance and movements and do my own thing. I don't really follow her choreography but it gives me an idea of how to start doing my own footwork and has helped me feel comfortable in dancing. Of course, I don't dance for anyone else but I love to do it as a work out at home and knowing proper technique helps me get the best results from belly dancing.In the first section of the first DVD she quickly goes through your 10-step dance posture and in every section where she does the drills she makes sure to remind you to stand in 10-point dance posture and she makes sure to exaggerate the way you are supposed to stand that way you will get it (like taking her hands and showing you to lift the ribcage and make sure your lower belly is lifted, etc...)I'm not a huge fan of the tribal style. I feel that most of the dancers are a little too overdressed and the set a little too gothic for my taste. But, I love the smooth movements that this style creates. Especially for those dancers who love dancing to music such as Solace knowing how to create smooth movements can help you dance to any style of music. And, of course, what Brice teaches here in this DVD can help you even if you want to dance to traditional style belly dance music or some Egyptian style drums such as Hossam Ramzy as well.Rachel also has a small section where explains the technique to do a beautiful and safe backbend. I found that listening to her explain the technique also helped me do backbends such as the snake movements in floorwork. My backbends look MUCH better now.Now, this DVD can work well for beginners as well as more experienced dancers but it is not your one stop place to learn all there is to know about belly dance. For more serious dancers who wish to be well rounded in all areas you will need more instruction than what this DVD alone can offer you. For instance, Brice does not explain floor work technique (although you do see her go to the floor and do a back bend in the choreography section) and she doesn't go over techniques such as belly flutters. You know, there are just some popular belly dance techniques that she doesn't go over. But, you can take the basics of what she is telling you and add onto it. For instance, she normally has you stand with you feet together hip distance apart- as is standard- for belly dance but you can still take those basic isolations and extend them to say, taking one foot forward and isolating that side of your body doing the lifts and drops. When belly dancing you shouldn't spread your feet out further than hip width apart or you won't be able to work the intended muscles properly and also it doesn't look good if your feet are too far apart (she doesn't say this, but just thought I would throw that in there but she does emphasize that feet should only be hip distance apart in part of her 10-point dance posture).Brice teaches both upper and lower body isolations in her isolation drills section. Also, watching her shimmy drill section I have been able to learn how to follow along with both the primary and secondary beats of the drum. So, say on faster songs I can shimmy and then lift my chest or do rib-cage slides with the slower/in between beat of the music. I find myself belly dancing all over the living room and I get a good work out. Then when I'm done and have brought my heart rate back to normal I use Brice's finishing yoga practice and stretch all of the muscles used.

I really love this video. It has more content than I expected. It gives a lot of background work for building the muscles, the strength and the fluidity towards belly dancing. It includes targeted yoga exercises. She breaks down the movements and builds your stamina. This is a unique take on belly dance training from a very beautiful and talented dance instructor. This is a serious dance course on dvd. It is like formal dance training NOT a follow along for 15 minutes and voila do a belly dance for your hubby type training. This is an entire practice that includes toning and strengthening curriculum. High quality product for a dance enthusiast!

Disclaimer - I am not really into workout videos, however I know that structured practice is useful in any endeavor, and videos are can be a very useful tool when it comes to workouts, etc. Out of the half dozen or so belly dance videos I've seen, the only one I really have liked is Aziza's Ultimate video because it's pretty intense and Aziza's personality makes the video fun.I previewed Rachel's new video set yesterday and before the "How to use this video" section (which I watched first) was over, I knew this was an excellent purchase. The video is broken down in to sections and subsections (as others have mentioned) of technique discussions, yoga warm up and cool down, shimmy drills, hip work, upper body work, leg strengthening (which would be challenging to almost any athlete) and routines. The video is structured in such a way that you could do just one or two sections and get a complete "work out." Or you could take an entire afternoon and go through the entire video set. The DVD is set up specifically in this way and in the "How to use this video" section, Rachel reviews suggested practice schedules for those with other things to do in life, and those with more time to focus on dance.Each section is detailed and thorough. The thing I ADORE about these sections is nothing is rushed. Other dance videos I have worked with seem to rush through things - you can tell that the artist is cramming as much as she can into one hour. In this video set, there is no rush... Rachel takes her time, in REAL TIME, to go through everything at a pace that is realistic. For example in the yoga section, when she says "take a few breaths here," she is actually taking several slow yoga breaths!! I haven't even gotten that kind of realistic pace in an actual yoga class!! There are sections that are great for anyone, and sections (shimmy drills especially) that will be a real challenge to even advanced dancers (which I am not.)Speaking of realistic, I also love how Rachel's presence in the video is very "real," especially in the mini-courses section. I was able to take her choreography workshop a couple months ago, and was tickled pink that she used the very same moves, techniques, etc. from the workshop (albeit much more abbreviated in the workshop since she had so much material to cover) in this video, and her speaking style in the workshop is the same as in the video. Her personality comes out well in the mini-courses section, and during the shimmy drills section and a few other points in the video you can see her personality peek out with smiles and thumbs up... all while maintaining a very professional and relaxed demeanor. I also like how she has reminders to check posture regularly - she actually adjusts her own, and it's nice to see that even Rachel Brice has to double-check herself.In short, I would declare this the best $25 I have spent on belly dance.

とても基本的な核となる事が紹介されています。一方向でその動作が出来たとして、では、前、右、左、後ろに進んだら同じ動作が完璧にこなせるでしょうか。メインはそのようなレッスンですが、準備運動のヨガもとても気持ちいいストレッチになるのでおすすめです。最初は結構キツいと思うかもしれませんが、慣れです。解説者はDVDを1週間で何チャプターずつかに分けて取り組むように説明されています。DVDセットするのが面倒なので、DVD準拠の本を出版希望します。

Non solo Rachel è una delle migliori danzatrici al mondo, ma è anche un'insegnante fantastica!Tutto è molto ben curato e i contenuti sono chiari e ben organizzati.Le posture yoga sono scelte in maniera specifica in base al tipo di esercizio di danza ed è massima l'attenzione alla stabilità della spina dorsale.Le coreografie sono spiegate in sezioni e il linguaggio scelto è chiaro e preciso.I video dimostrativi finali delle coreografie lasciano come sempre senza fiatoQuesto dvd è un'esauribile fonte di ispirazione e incoraggiamento alla pratica

Je suis fan de Rachel depuis une dizaine d'année. Ces dvd sont juste topissime!! On peut choisir ce que l'on veut travailler ou laisser filer le dvd en entier. Juste vraiment dommage qu'il n'y ai pas de doublage français pas toujours simple à comprendre même si elle explique bien avec le corps. Vraiment je le conseille si vous voulez apprendre tout en sécurité et avoir Rachel Brice dans son salon quand on veut c'est festival^^

This has two DVDs, one choreography and one of drills and conditioning. There is a lot of yoga in the conditioning section and a very long shimmy drill that is not easy. I would recommend this for advanced dancers, it is too difficult for a beginner and doesn't really teach movements, it is to supplement training for experienced dancers. That said, if you have several years of training and are looking to improve or keep up your technique, I would recommend this DVD set. The choreography is not traditional belly dance, it is a very modern American style but it is good for experienced dancers to branch out just for a new experience.

La verdad que es un pack muy completo. Consta de dos DVD's, entre los dos seran más o menos dos horas y media de video, o sea que esta muy bien. El primer dvd es de técnica, y es muy útil; empieza con ejercicios de yoga que a la larga te hacen ganar flexibilidad, hasta tiene un apartado específico con ejercicios para conseguir el backbend de Rachel Brice de una forma segura para tu espalda. Yo he notado mejoría des de que los hago y no noto dolor ninguno; porque para tumbarte para atrás como ella lo hace en la foto de la portada se necesita mucho entrenamiento y haber calentado muy bien la espalda, eso es algo que ella recalca mucho.El segundo Dvd es una pasada, con dos coreografías donde te enseña paso a paso com se ejecutan, contando los pasos y por secuencias, o sea que esta muy bien explicado.Lo recomendaría a apasionadas del bellydance!!!! Lo único que esta en inglés, y hace falta tener un buen nivel de esa lengua para poder entender algunas explicaciones, aparte de eso me encanta!!!