[rachelw]

Since most of the posts are from people who haven't seen the show, and I just watched it, I thought I'd give a review.

Overall, I think it's a good show and a good resource for a beginner. They give frequent reminders about posture. They break the moves down fairly frequently and there's a lot of repetition. There are only about a half dozen moves per episode and then at the end they're combined into a little choreography.

One thing that got me was the terminology. They referred to things like ghawazee hands, ethnic shimmy, which I've never heard. I've seen the moves,just not heard them called that. They also talked about "The Dynamic Cabaret Shimmy!" which looked pretty much like a regular shimmy, except that I noticed some dancers were shimmying and some were actually vibrating. I wondered which we were supposed to be trying, but I'm guessing someone who knows nothing about the dance would miss the subtlety.

I thought it was good for someone who doesn't have any instructional videos or someone who's never tried BD and isn't sure whether they want to go to a class. If you're considering buying the DVDs and you have at least a minimal amount of dance experience, I would avoid it, though. There are other DVDs that have a lot more bang for the buck.

Added: To sum up, they presented the dance in a way that was positive and safe, and could attract newcomers and that's what really matters.

*I did think the backgrounds were interesting. However, I thought the one where they were bellydancing in about 3 inches of snow to be pretty funny.