Thread: Chinese Silk Fan Fusion with Mirabai dvd

I got this dvd a little while ago, but my life exploded into a ball of "OMG- my life is busy", so I didn't get to begin this dvd until today. My first impression- I'm really excited about getting to work with it!

Mirabai has some good tips in the first section, shows some easy ways to become familiar with the fans, and a few different grips that I found to be helpful.

The instructional portion consists of 6 combinations, and although I haven't finished them, they're quite lovely. For combination 1, she talked through the whole combination (nice to see where something is going), then talked through it again more quickly, and then set it to music. I would've preferred the combination with music a couple of times before moving on to combination 2, but that's my personal preference, and I can always repeat that section, so it's not a big deal.

She assumes (and states the assumption) that the viewer has knowledge of belly dance movements and terminology, which is good, since she focuses on the fan veils.

My favorite thing about the video: for each combination, she gives a visualization (or a reasoning) behing the types of movements used. For instance, one of them uses the fans to "write" calligraphy, and one of them uses the fans as fish, water sprites, and other water creatures. These ideas give my scattered mind a framework, so when I go to dance with fans, I can refer back to her ideas in my own improvisations. LOVE THIS!!!

I prefer when a dvd instructor is in front of a mirror, and Mirabai is not. However, she does go through the combinations facing both directions, so the viewer still gets both perspectives, which is VERY helpful.

First impression: I'm going to like this! Although I'm a professional dancer, I'm a relative newbie with fan veils- I've played around with them, but never performed. I'm going to work with the rest of the dvd after the kids go to sleep tonight, but I wanted to post my first imressions. So far, this is a dvd that I would recommend!