Thread: Bdss 3d

I was EXTREMELY disappointed in the performances on this dvd.
I enjoyed the first studio and live dvd (Paris) A LOT. Loved Amar Kamal, Tamalyn Dallal, found Jillina, Ansuya, Suhaila, Rachel Brice, Sharon Kihara and some others interesting if their style was not so much for me..

Already the Babelesque dvd was a lot less for me. Sharon Kihara, who I love a lot, and Sonia and Petite jamilla who have improved a lot since the first live dvd made the dvd worth watching for me.

Well on this studio dvd Sharon Kihara is missing. Hmm.

Sonia is good - she has a very nice saidi dance in an awesome costume (although I am always a little sad if dancers do not go for folkloric costuming for saidi, it's only half the fun watching for me).
She also has a drum solo which is close to her live one, so I did not watch it entirely in the first run.
To start with the positive: A tribal girl (Samantha) and two oriental dancers I did not know (Stefanya, Nathalie) were nice.
The rest I wanted to say: WTH? Dancers that are, uhm, not well-known, let alone superstars... aside Sonia no one BDSS could sell as a real superstar, in fact. And well a lot of the performances were lacking skill, which is sad for a "superstar" dvd. Not to name anyone particularly, but if you watch the dvd I believe a lot will think these dancers are not at a very advanced level.

What happened to BDSS? Sure it never has been for the taste of many bellydance lovers. I did enjoy their early dvds I must say, and did not mind the Vegas and fusion thing on the first live show. it was a colourful potpourri and it worked for me.
I did not have the chance to see any of the later tours - so maybe the decline was gradual for many fans, but for me it was a fall from very high to pretty low from Paris to Babelesque and now this studio dvd, which to be honest is the first bellydance performance dvd I bought and feel I have to rate as poor.

Actually this is the first negative review I am writing here I think. I tend to speak about the dvds I love only. but in this case I am so disappointed I feel I have to review. What is everybody else thinking? Am I alone in my judgment? Did I maybe grow out of BDSS? (Although I'd say it is unlikely since the first show and studio dvds still appeal to me after watching it again after two years or so of a "BDSS break".)

@3D

I had to try and watch it with my own glasses beneath the 3 d glasses (two come with the dvd). That was not ideal.
I watched only the one performance I loved most (Sonia with cane).

Now this is not the 3d cinema generation type of glasses you may know from avatar, but the older ones in red and green from the earliest 3d comics that remind me of my childhood somewhat (anyone remember dinosaur comics in 3D :) )
Overall the 3D effect is there but the colours suffer, and I do not know if it is because I had to wear optic glasses beneath it made me a bit dizzy.I do not think I will watch the entire show in 3D. just performances I like for fun, and I believe for repeat watching of some select performances I will use the normal perspective.

Overall it is a very nice idea to make a 3D dvd.

Honestly Dina, I loved BDSS when they first came out. But after seeing the last show they did in Chicago, I went home scratching my head wondering where the raqs sharqi was because there was so much fushion, that it caused CONFUSION on my part. The dancing was par excellence but it wasn't the type of show I was expecting.

And I did love the Folies Bergiere but after seeing them live last year I had no desire to purchase anymore videos.

On this dvd - correct me if I am too negative, someone - I believe you may even be disappointed with the dancing. Sorry to say so.. as I said not all performances lack, and the ones on there that do IMO are not all bad - the level of skill of the solid shows you are talking about is just not there. I am used to seeing a few performances I do not like at all skill (and not taste wise) on some of the performance dvd series out there, notably by IAMED or HMC. These companies have put out dozens of performance dvds, it's natural at some point they will include someone that is not at a certain level skill wise simply because they may have trouble finding a large enough amount of excellent and different/fresh dancers after this many dvds in essentially one country. But on this particularly dvd honestly there were TOO many dancers for one dvd I somehow felt were not ready for a "superstar" project...

And yes, while I can see the reasons why many objected to Miles copeland and/or the BDSS concept: I too liked it.
At the beginning I did not think I would (that much), but I really did. Even if many of the dancers did not dance an oriental dance style I personally love, or I would not see them as pure/traditional oriental dancers at all (notably Ansuya, and also Jillina in the beginning - her style grew on me more though).

I started out with Jillina's videos so I am partial to her. But the idea originally was really good because it introduced bellydancing as a tasteful dance and not what was the stereotype. But now I don't know what it is that they are doing but it doesn't resemble much anymore what they started out doing <sigh>

ya exactly

I haven't seen the DVD, but I really apreciate your review!

:-)