with Princes Farhana
This 50 minute DVD starts out with great footage of Princess Farhana in different dance performances wearing lovely costumes in different settings. Her instruction is clear, and her demonstrations are repeated to give the viewer a chance to “get it.” It is geared towards the beginner, but there are some tips and combinations that are helpful for intermediates as well. The backdrop and background music were complimentary (although at one point I swear I heard traffic in their background.) It is produced by Razor Digital Entertainment and Hollywood Music Center carries it.
Princess Farhana’s first section goes in to a warmup that covers the different muscle groups. Next, she goes into the proper posture of the dance. Following that she covers basic arm positions and hip movements. She included some combinations to put them together. Moving on, she next went to basic shimmies and different traveling steps. Arms and wrists, shoulders, and layering with arm and hand technique with shimmies were covered. Then she went in to figure 8’s, starting with the forward’s, then the backwards, upwards, what she called the “Axl Rose” and downward 8’s. Undulations were the last topic covered before we moved to the bonus section.
Princess Farhana performed a routine that included an impressive drum solo. She wore a fabulous royal blue bedlah and cutout skirt, and the setting was really cool with furniture, pillows and rugs. Not only did she cover what she taught, but she added a wide variety of other movements, and her flutters are among the best I’ve seen. Great performance. The other part of the bonus section were two segments to read. One was “About Princess Farhana” and the other was a guide to belly dance styles. I found it to be an overall enjoyable DVD.
