Princess Farhana’s Bellydance Intermediate is billed as a workout DVD, but I’d classify it as straight instructional. It gives clear instruction but really isn’t geared towards the totally beginner. It assumes the viewer is familiar with the basics.
She starts with a verbal introduction to the idea of taxim, the slow and sinuous movements of belly dance, and offers suggestions on how to develop the challenging skill of forcing yourself to slow down. As with her other videos, much of what I love about Princess Farhana is her vibrant personality and her great little tips and hints.
Following the introduction, there’s a basic warm up, then a very nice section on how to develop your flutters and belly rolls. I was glad to see her identify the difference between a skeletal movement, (one that involves the spine undulating), as well as a strictly muscular belly roll.
Then she goes through figure eights and includes how to layer shimmies on top of the different figure eight movements, camels and reverse camels. The final two sections include a veil performance and then a drum performance. She doesn’t offer any technical instruction for these last two section, but Princess Farhana does have a good instructional veil DVD.
(Click here for the review of Princess Farhana’s Veil Obedience School).
I love Princess Farhana, I think she’s a great instructor with solid chops and a wonderful sense of humor and fun. That being said, she isn’t my favorite performer as a belly dancer. I think her style just doesn’t jive with mine. I don’t always care for her music and her musical interpretation.
For example, included in this DVD is a bonus performances I really didn’t like. Princess Farhana is definitely more of a traditional style/cabaret dancer, and that’s just not my thing. But I do think she’s a very good teacher and I highly respect how knowledgeable and accomplished a dancer she is.
I recommend her videos because I think they offer a lot of value and this one is no exception. Two thumbs up!
Click here to buy Princess Farhana’s DVD on Amazon.
Princess Farhana Belly Dance Intermediate Workout DVD 2008 (1 Hour 6 Minutes)
