Search - Desire: Fantasy Bellydance on DVD

Lovely hand veil and head veil dances!

Seir | USA | 05/18/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Fantasy Belly Dance

Desire

One of a series of three dvds featuring Blanca,Darshan, and Naraya. By now we have learned that anything from World Dance New York is innovative, captivating and perfect for the day.

This dvd is no exception.



This program runs 75 minutes and contains choreographies with complete breakdown, the story which depticts the dance and various tips from the dancers.

Nymph

( Blanca) a fairy tale of a nymph who sheds her magical powers for she encounters a human that she has taken to heart; only to realize she is not visible to him. This is a flowing hand veil dance with strong hints of flamenco, impeccable hip work and hand embellishments. Veil tips and choreography break down in depth, including footwork, arm work and the blend of hip work. Blanca is a beautiful performer, sensual and feminine in all her moves. She is easily becoming a favorite and has several great performance and instructional videos out.



Salome tribal style

Naraya -complete technique and choreography breakdown based on the biblical story of Salome with a twist from the Oscar Wilde version. Her dance appears to be contemporary/ modern tribal style with a strong hint of contemporary jazz or perhaps it was the music she chose. I am not sure what her vision is, but entertaining nonetheless. Her costume was lovely as she, her style unique and personal. Her performance was best revealed in practice garb as I felt the costume hid a lot of her great moves.



Temple priestess Darshan tribal fusion

a WOW of a performance. Clad in black head veil and costume, the mysterious Darshan has beautiful expression with her arms and hand embellishments, they are so captivating, its hard to notice anything else. There is a bollywood blend to the fusion of choice. The dancer's vision here is to pass on a ritual for a full moon and such.



Overall this dvd is entertaining with Blanca taking the lead in her extraordinary, flowing style enchanced by the hand veils, Darshan with her head veil dancing and the tremendous arm and shoulder articulation.

The instruction and choreography is an asset for building your personal vocabulary in dance.



"

Second in the series!

Shara of Desert Dance | KS | 04/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very good video, but I liked the first one better. Let me tell you what I love about this one, though....



The first two routines are performed on the concept of having a specific story to tell. Illustrating this concept should encourage dancers to use their imagination, find a character that they identify with, and interpret how they think that character might have felt.



Blanca: Blanca is beautiful to watch, look at, and listen to. Her costume has a soft, floaty feel to it and is such a hue. Her instructions are pretty clear, but she uses some dance terms that may be unfamiliar if one has not taken any other forms of dance, such as jazz or ballet, but an intermediate dancer will catch on very quickly.



Naraya: Beautiful, also. Her costume is a luscious red that looks great on her skin. Some may not like that she does not smile much, but I have to say that I enjoyed seeing her expression as opposed to an ever-smiling face. She extrapolates that Salome might have been experiencing a temper tantrum of sorts, and portrays that in this dance.



Darshan: Beautiful girl... loved watching her dance. This one may be a little mystical for some, but allegorically it is very interesting. I thought her hand movements were lovely when she was "drawing the entrance"

to her sacred dancing place. As many have said, take what you can use from each lesson. There is a lot to take away from this DVD."

Beautiful and inspiring

L. Olson | MN | 11/14/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD would not be easy for beginners. I've been taking a BD class for just over 1 year (1 hour a week) and this is challenging, but learnable. At the very least, a good workout for my muscles.

Two performances do require props: For Nymph you need 2 small veils (not really a difficult task to find) and for Temple Priestess you need a large veil that is fixed in your hair and flows almost to floor length. (Of course you can choose to modify the choreography and forego the props.)

While I found Salome to be a pretty dance, I don't like the song. The other two songs are ok, but neither stood out to me as being really great.

All in all, I enjoy the DVD and learning the steps. The performers are great, the choreography is pretty to watch, challenging to learn, and it is interesting to hear about their backstory and interpretations. Their costumes are inspiring, the camera angles are varied.

I also have the Magic DVD in this series. Both DVDs are fun and challenging and inspiring. I would certainly recommend it.

"

Lovely Production

S. Gardner | Central Wisconsin | 10/12/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is definitely an intermediate-level video, if not higher. Each dancer has her own style of dance and instruction, some of which may work for some people but not for others.



Blanca's 'Nymph' is my favorite of the three. The dance is smooth and flowing, quite lovely to watch. The instruction section is broken down into layers - footwork, hipwork, arms - that are easy to understand, if requiring a lot of practice to get down. Her outfit is fluttery but serviceable, not doing much to hide her movements.



Naraya's 'Salome', on the other hand, is my least favorite. (I'm not terribly fond of the style or the music, which makes me apathetic about the dance itself.) The instruction section is broken down more by section than body part, but works fairly well. What is less impressive is the choice of outfit; the black blends into the dark blue and black background, making it hard to follow some parts.



Darshan's 'Ritual Priestess' is the last of the three. The dance itself is not a style I generally prefer but it works, fitting the theme and music. The instruction section is a bit more confused, referring often to the absent music and its beats, as well as stumbling quite a bit; I found it difficult to follow. This is another dark costume, although the background seems a little better lit, so she doesn't blend into it quite as much.



To be honest, I bought this video primarily for the performances and found it to be a lovely acquisition. Even in my least-favorite portions, the technical level of skill is admirable. I don't know that I'd recommend this video for instruction, really, as the dances are very specific, but it's a wonderful addition to any performance library."