Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Why did I buy this one? I keep asking myself that. Kathy Smith is a good exercise instructor-she is knowledgeable and motivational in that aspect-but she needs to stick with that-and stop doing the dance videos. I tried her Latin dance video a few years ago and it was awful...and now this. I have been bellydancing and performing with it for a few years,and I knew better-but I had to buy it. Save your money and don't. First of all-you can't teach a belly dance video if you can't belly dance yourself. The first thing I noticed was that Kathy can't keep a rhythm and you cannot properly execute most of the moves-so it was a bad idea to have her lead this video. The sets and costumes were gorgeous-but the background dancers should have been leading this one. I think since Ansuya (Of Bellydance Superstars) was in the background, and was the one who taught Kathy the dance moves-that Ansuya should have been the main instructor here, maybe with Kathy Smith "assisting her", rather than Kathy leading the video. Just to throw out a few examples of this-when Kathy was leading clockwise chest circles in the slow segment (lifting the chest up, to one side, down, then to the other side) she was letting her chest collapse to center between each move rather than holding it there. So, she was teaching a "chest circle" but she was not doing one. She was actually doing a "chest lift, chest slide, chest drop, chest slide" because she was collapsing her chest to center and not executing the movement properly. She also had trouble with basic belly dance moves such as the hip drop pattern where you drop forward, back, back, back...she was too inflexible in the hips so you ended up with forward, back, same, same. I understand that she is a beginner, and that she is not a belly dancer. This is my point. Kathy doesn't need to be a "pro" to teach these basic moves-but these are basic moves that in my area are taught in the first 10 weeks of beginning class. Kathy should have at least taken belly dance lessons for a few months from Ansuya before putting out this video-or at least long enough to master the moves she was teaching in this video. Her snake arms were stiff and lifeless and she let her arm form collapse on the downward motion of the arms every time. Belly dance is harder than it looks-and sometimes it takes a while to fully grasp these moves and to do them well-you can't take lessons for one month, and then put out a video. This was not even the worst part of the video, in my opinion. You cannot belly dance in your "perky step aerobics instructor" persona. I have NEVER seen a belly dancer perform and all of sudden squeal out "OOOOOooooowwww!" This is something that has annoyed me in Kathy Smiths fitness videos for years, but at least it is okay for an exercise instructor to be obnoxiously perky. (although I avoid exercise videos by instructors like this) This is ESPECIALLY out of place in belly dance, however. You wouldn't see a ballerina or a tap dancer shout out like that in the middle of a number, and I feel that Middle Eastern dance deserves the same respect. I found Kathy's overall attitude about belly dance appalling. Her "woo-hoo!" -ing and shouting...and yelling "Yeah!" "OOOOoow!" during the dance moves. It really felt to me like Kathy was in "aerobics class" persona, just wearing a fancy costume. During the fast portion of the workout, it is almost as if Kathy can't hear the music. She has no natural rhythm, and frequently gets off beat with the music. What I found funny about this, is that Ansuya and the other dancers refused to follow her and this point, and continued to dance WITH the rhythm and Kathy is left doing her own thing. The costumes and sets were gorgeous...but a her whooping wolf calls, bad dancing, and total lack of knowledge of belly dance in general can't be covered up with "pretties". There should also have been a brief rundown of proper posture in the beginning before starting and there was not. It only takes a minute to do this...and it is important to properly execute some of the moves. Other than the moves she learned from Ansuya, I would venture to say that Kathy doesn't know a doumbek from a zil...or a beledi from a karshlima. Trust me...you want someone who DOES. To sum it up...Kathy saw the popularity in the Veena/Neena and Rania bellydance videos-and decided to jump on the bandwagon to make a few bucks. The only problem is that belly dance is an actual art form and takes a lot of training to execute. She took a couple belly dance classes and then put out a video. Sheesh. Ansuya should have known better than to sign on with this...because I actually think less of her now for putting her name on this one. I understand completely that this is marketed as an "exercise" video, and is not a professional dance instructional. However, most belly dance exercise videos (such as those from Suhaila, Rania, Veena & Neena, etc.) are by women who have a lot of Middle Eastern dance experience-not by someone who just decided to "make a video" on it, but has no experience at all. To teach Middle Eastern dance in any form-a real dance video, or an exercise video-you should know how to do it yourself.