Thread: What are the best dvd's and music choices for learning?

In addition to drilling dvds, I have Jillina's instructional bellydance 1 and 2. I practice w/ Aziza, or drills drills drills then learn one of J's choreos. Now I want to learn a drum solo choreo. What's a good dvd for that? (beginner) Or any other good dvd's for learning choreography.

Also, Music: I have Oum Kalsoum, Hosam ramzay, and about 100 traditional songs. What are some of your favorite artists/songs to practice to?

My favorites are:

Pop, Lock & Shimmy - Michelle Joyce

Drum Solo Choreography - Jillina

The Heartbeat of Bellydance: Rhythms & Belly Dance Combinations for Drum Solos - Jenna & Raquy

Leyla Jouvana's 21 Shimmies is one of my favorites.

Originally Posted by mish_mish

Leyla Jouvana's 21 Shimmies is one of my favorites.

seconded!

Originally Posted by laura 2

My favorites are:

Pop, Lock & Shimmy - Michelle Joyce

Drum Solo Choreography - Jillina

The Heartbeat of Bellydance: Rhythms & Belly Dance Combinations for Drum Solos - Jenna & Raquy

Laura, Which one? It looks like there are 2 drum solo choreo dvds by Jilina. One has her in red w/ fireworks going off in the background and the other is a yellow background and says vol. 3

Originally Posted by HOOKEDNOVICE

Laura, Which one? It looks like there are 2 drum solo choreo dvds by Jilina. One has her in red w/ fireworks going off in the background and the other is a yellow background and says vol. 3

I had the red costume/fireworks one.

Sonya's drum solo dvd is pretty good.

I really like Sonya's "The art of the drum solo" DVD and Michelle Joyces's "Pop, Lock and Shimmy" as well.

Originally Posted by mish_mish

Leyla Jouvana's 21 Shimmies is one of my favorites.

I agree! It's pretty much the only DVD I own that I really think about practicing to/remind myself I need to keep doing that DVD. It's pricey, but worth every single penny you spend on it!

Not to sound redundant, but is it only shimmies or is there a drum portion?

Originally Posted by HOOKEDNOVICE

Not to sound redundant, but is it only shimmies or is there a drum portion?

Just a ton of shimmy variations. But she does discuss rhythms a bit. Great for working on your shimmies (I own it) but not specifically drum solos.

Originally Posted by tanith

I agree! It's pretty much the only DVD I own that I really think about practicing to/remind myself I need to keep doing that DVD. It's pricey, but worth every single penny you spend on it!

Three of you have mentioned this DVD, I must need to check it out :).

I own it but haven't used it - will now check it out again!!

I own it and love it, Leyla clearly breaks down the movements and also teaches how to do the shimmies 'on the beat'. Another good one for shimmy technique is Bozenka's "every shimmy in the book" there is a bit of overlap between both DVDs but Bozenka uses slightly different technique here and there and her DVD has a lovely warmup and cooldown. I use both DVDs for practice.

Leyla has two shimmy videos and they are both wonderful. Her husband, Roland, is a drummer and he drums for her as she is teaching each shimmy or variation., He starts out slowly with new embellishments and then builds the speed or adds embellishments.

I also recommend Michelle Joyce's DRILLS, DRILLS, DRILLS and Nourhan Sharif's raqs sharqi instructional video. And I like Tamra Hennas Arabic rhythms video as well.

What is it you feel you need to work on?

Souzan

I would like to work on precision in my movements. For example, I am pretty good at hip drops, bumps and lifts, but would like to get more range of movement on the figure eights, camels and body waves. I want them to look sharper. I know that's weird because figure 8's are more languid, but I want it to look like an 8, not a tepid circle.

I would also like to learn a drum choreo.