Thread: Instructional DVDs, What you do you like?

Hi Everyone,

My teacher and troupe leader Suzy is going to be putting together a couple of choroegraphy DVDs this year, Egyptian style Bellydancing.

As someone who buys a lot of choreo. DVD's I have a few ideas about what I like to see on a DVD and what I don't.

1. Full Costumed Performance of the Choreo being taught.

2. A Teacher facing a mirror at an angle, think Jillinas 3 choreo dvds, so that i can see what shes doing in front and from behind.

3. don't really care if strertching and warm-up is added

4. Choreo break down, something broken down into at least 3 or four segments. A run through of each section by itself it and then all together from the top with music.

5. Seeing the choreo performed at the end of instruction from the back, and the front if theres no full costumed performance, like the way Hadia does it. Because once i know the sequences its just nice to have someone to follow along with sometimes when practicing.

6. Chapters for each segment of the choreo. so i can rewind and do it again and again if need be.

7. A short but direct explanation of complicated movements, if it something simple like a shimmy or a turn i don't care i want to get on with the choreo. allready. (My friend all ready has a set of instructional DVDs where she goes through tech. so I think it would be pretty fair for her to just say, if youd like to practice these movements please refer to my tech. vids.)


So those are my opinions, What about yours? What do you guys love to see or hate to see on Instructional DVDs? Let me know, for the sake of market research.

Also, She will be teaching these choreo.'s frequently in workshops, the main purpose ofthem was to be able to sell them at workshops so that when people go home afterwards they have a clear reference to what they learned. Because sometimes there's just too much to absorbe in a workshop and you find yourself forgetting the entire choreo. and just give up on it entirely.

Anyway, she was thinking of maybe shooting the instruction at one of the workshops that she would teach these choreo's at, perhaps to cut costs.

What are your thoughts on workshop DVD's? Are they any good? Which would you prefer, something done in a studio with just the teacher or something shot at a workshop?

Anything else you'd like to add to the list go right ahead!

Thanks for all your help ladies!

Veighouda

If she decides to go with something shot at a workshop, I'd want her to be clear with the videographer about what to shoot--that is, *her.* I'd want a clear shot of her teaching, not the heads and shoulders of the workshop students, not the floor or the ceiling. Get somebody who knows how to operate a camera and is willing to stay focused, not get distracted and chat with somebody offscreen.

It would be nice if it were chaptered, as well.

Oh, and charge a reasonable price!

i think the workshop shot videos /dvds suck . record it in a studio . I know i would like to have a simple run down of the combos and run of the routine shot from back in a mirror , to take home to use that night so i remember the routine and can pop it in to practice later. also please tell her to have the music she uses available to buy. and a print out of the routine with the dvd would be great also.

I probably wouldn't buy a video shot in a workshop environment unless the choreography was so outstanding / superb / thrilling that my desire to preserve it would overcome my hatred for the inevitably horrid audio and heads in my way of what I'm trying to see. I can think of only a couple of workshops out of the many I've attended through the years whose choreos were so important to me that I would find myself willing to put up with a video filmed in a workshop setting. If she decides to cut costs by just filming one of her workshops, she'll probably cut the size of her potential market because I think there are a lot of people who think this style of video is horrid.

Now, if she were to film it in her exercise attire in her studio, with enough light for me to see what she's doing, and light-colored clothing that contrasted well with her background, THAT I would consider buying. No-frills single-camera is okay so long as there's plenty of light, easy to see what the dancer's body is doing, and easy to hear what she's saying without distracting background noise.

Regarding your 7 points, Veighouda, I agree with all of them. However, if she decides to do #3 and #7, she should be careful to market the video as "intermediate" or "advanced" to set the right expectation in the minds of buyers. She wouldn't want beginners to bad-mouth her video on the grounds of it being "too hard", but any beginner who sees the word "advanced" on a video and buys it anyway deserves what she gets.

Beyond what everyone else said, one thing I'd LOVE to see on a choreography video is why the dancer chose the moves she did. In a perfect world, this would be an alternate audio track where she says, "Here, the rhythm goes into a Khaleegy beat, therefore I chose this step which is typical of traditional Saudi women's dance." If that is not an option, maybe she could incorporate those statements into the instruction as it goes along. Another thing I'd love to see on a choreography video is stuff about mood (linked to the music) or stage presence - for example, "Here, the lyrics are talking about how angry she is with the worthless guy in her life, so when I perform it I use facial expression and body language to convey a rebellious "glad to be rid of him" attitude. Or, "Here, you've just finished doing this really dramatic move, and since the music is now going into a quieter mood, I use this time to gather in my energy and embrace a more introspective attitude."

You see, I really don't have much interest in learning choreographies in workshops and videos UNLESS the instructor is giving me insights into her process of creating the choreography and her thoughts on the story it's trying to weave or the mood of a particular moment.

Interesting stuff, thanks for all the replies, keep them coming, I'll be sure to forward them to her!

Veighouda

I like what is already written, but here are my thoughts:

1) I love the way Jillina 2 teaches EACH of the combinations to different pieces of music. I was so overjoyed to begin to see how combinations can work with music. Then the the choreography is to ANOTHER piece of music and I saw how combinations are CHANGED to suit the music. Invaluable!!!

2) I think I saw on her website that she also suggests music or a cd that would be good to use with the taught combinations.

Choreography is dancing, but there is more to dancing than choreography. For someone who has learned a couple of choreographies, but is clueless how to dance, this approach is a godsend.

There are a lot of good thoughts on here already. I am not sure I saw one of my pet peeves and that is sound. I have a number of videos where it is hard to understand the teacher because they echo or sound garbled. The ones with a microphone clipped seem to be the best. This goes even for a medium sized studio made DVD.

Lisa

One more important point: No black/very dark clothes.

And I also don't think filming a workshop is a good idea.
Noisy coinbelts anyone?
Plus she would have to ask all the participants for permission to use a video with them in it. Also, when I teach, I walk around and correct students. I wouldn't want that to be on the video.

I once did a short video with a choreo that I taught for the workshop participants. I just put up the camera in the dance studio, pressed "record" and danced in front of a neutral background.
This is enough if I just want to sell a DVD for a choreography that I teach.
I would not make a fancy teaching DVD for this situation.

Reason: If I can have the entire choreo taught on a DVD, why take the workshop?
In my opinion it's better marketing to offer a DVD with a different choreography. "So you liked this choreo? Here's another one!"

MEISSOUN

POSTURE !!!! it MUST BE ON THERE, both for the begginer and experienced, I know Im not the only one that NEEDS to be reminded of posture....and for the begginers they will dance and do it wrong if it is not taught first thing....