Thread: Cool free Podcast about Composing bellydance choreos and improv

If you use IPOD touch or itunes and can use it to view videos, there is a great podcast series out there called Taktaba, by Nadira Jamal (I think I have her name right). Just search "Taktaba" or "bellydance" on itunes and look in the podcast section. I've downloaded all of them, and I'm impressed. It's not dance movement technique, it's essentially music theory or dance theory--she talks about repetition, timing, pattern, variation--really important things that lots of people may not have learned before.

I've enjoyed it! And it's free! She also has a DVD on learning to structure exciting improvisations. I ordered it out of curiousity...I've been dancing mostly improv for a couple of years now... and I found it to still be helpful in reviving my creativity!

Sounds great! WOnder if I have enough room on my ipod for it. LOL

Nadira is a Bhuzzard! And yes, her Improvisational Toolkit is great!

She also sells the taktaba series as dvds if you don't have a dvd burner. She has a real gift for analyzing concepts and making them clear for others.

Thanks for the info! I went to my Itunes and downloaded it but I can't seem to find episode 1? Nadira mentions it in Episode 2 but all that was available under Taktaba for download was her quick intro to her Improv toolkit and then episodes 2 and 3. Can anyone direct me to episode 1? Thanks!

:) Heather

She is wonderful, I cant say enough good things about her. She has a very commom sense approach to dance. You wont find any fancy combos or new moves here...but that is not her subject matter on these great podcasts...get em if even if they have to live on your computer!

Originally Posted by bellydnsr123

Thanks for the info! I went to my Itunes and downloaded it but I can't seem to find episode 1? Nadira mentions it in Episode 2 but all that was available under Taktaba for download was her quick intro to her Improv toolkit and then episodes 2 and 3. Can anyone direct me to episode 1? Thanks!

:) Heather

Try here: Taktaba

ive been watching taktaba too, on my lunch breaks at work :) its awesome!

I agree, great podcast.
I wonder if Nadira will do any more now she is producing dvds. I do hope so.

i hope she will make more podcasts!

Originally Posted by bellydnsr123

Thanks for the info! I went to my Itunes and downloaded it but I can't seem to find episode 1? Nadira mentions it in Episode 2 but all that was available under Taktaba for download was her quick intro to her Improv toolkit and then episodes 2 and 3. Can anyone direct me to episode 1? Thanks!

:) Heather

Or here [ame=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3208166953730951213&hl=en]TaktabaEpisode1.mp4[/ame]

Aw, thanks, everybody! I'm so glad you like the podcast, and it was so nice to read your comments.

(Or, as I put it on another thread: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!)

Thanks for letting me know that episode 1 isn't showing up in iTunes. It looks like my RSS feed (which is what populates the iTunes list) was only including my 25 oldest posts. I'm not sure why that was, but I got the feed to update, so hopefully it'll show up properly when iTunes updates. (It can take up to 24 hours.)

In the meantime, you can download the file directly on the show blog. Right-click on the "our media" link, and choose the option to save it ("save link as", "save target as", or "download linked file", depending on your browser.)

I've also made lower-resolution versions recently, since some people were having trouble downloading the larger files. You can find them on the low-res blog, and they have a separate feed in iTunes.


I will definitely make more podcasts. I have at least 10 more episodes' worth of material, maybe as many as 15. Back when I started the project, I pictured making one episode every week or two, but that was, um, ambitious. :) Now I'm averaging one per year!

I'm hoping to get two more episodes out in 2009, but it might not happen for another several months. The remaining two volumes of the Improv Toolkit series have top priority right now, and I started teaching classes last spring, which takes up a lot of my time. (But is so satisfying!)


I completely forgot that I had a clip up on YouTube! That is just a clip, though, not the full episode. The episodes are way too long to fit on YouTube. I tried breaking them up into 10-minute segments, but they take forever to render, and the episodes have been getting longer and longer (#3 was 71 minutes!), so it's not practical.

Thanks again!