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Luscious - The Bellydance Workout for Beginners | | |
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| φ | Lavish and overflowing with deep, rich, feminine movement, Luscious: The Bellydance Workout is made of 100% of bellydance moves and steps It is gentle, but it will work your body to enhance your muscle tone, flexibility, and fluidity, and promote weight loss. With a special focus on muscle conditioning and elongation, the program works each group of muscles deeply - using carefully built combinati |
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 73
 A langurous but intense escape into the beauty of the dance May 16, 2008
atisheh (New York, New York)
132 out of 133 found this review helpful
Did we really need another bellydance-based workout? I wouldn't have thought so, but Neon, as usual, has gone and proven my expectations wrong.
"Luscious" is an exquisitely made program, with more good qualities than I can enumerate. The costumes and setting are gorgeous -- nothing like the typical brightly-lit aerobics studio -- and Neon advises you at the beginning to dress up for it and join the three dancers here in making the movement special. This is the kind of thing that sounds cheesy, but I did it, and it makes sense: how will you forget about bad body image or those extra pounds if you're wearing ugly workout wear? Dressing up makes you feel like you're dancing, not punishing yourself.
The instruction itself is taught in sections themed "Circles," "Infinity Loops," "Undulations," "Hip Accents," "Shimmy," and "Body Line." Each dancer leads two of the sections: she stands at the front and her voiceover describes the movements to be done. What I really like about this is that the sections weren't assigned randomly; instead, each section bears the particular dancer's imprint, and showcases her strengths. It's subtle, but you start to notice that Neon leads complicated, quick-changing combinations, Blanca shows her wonderful, large, and sensuous movements, and Sarah Skinner adds an upbeat Turkish feel to the shimmy section. This made the instructors seem much less like exchangeable dancing bodies, and much more like teachers with particular areas of expertise.
The movements are varied, and quite a few combinations are introduced and repeated from two to six times. This is not a "four of this and four of that" drill. In fact, I would suggest that complete beginners start with a different video. This would be great for advanced beginners like me, who are not expert enough for a complicated choreo with tons of layering, but get bored when everything comes in fours and is repeated ad infinitum.
All along, the dancers offer tips on putting emotion into the steps, on maintaining form, and on making movements deeper and stronger. While the dancing is rarely fast-paced, the slowness of the movements is often more challenging and grueling. The workout made me sweat (though it might not make everyone), but more importantly, it challenged me to maintain grace, form, and muscle control while learning the combinations. I couldn't believe it when the forty-five minutes were over -- it felt like fifteen!
If you have weak knees, you might want to be careful with some of the lunges and plies; on the other hand, there aren't a lot of them, and they're done slowly enough that you can be careful. I'll also repeat the warning that this might be a little hard for complete beginners who aren't already good at picking up choreography. However, the video does have a well-indexed instructional section which describes all the movements used in the workout. As a step up, there's a version of the workout with music alone, and no voice over.
In case my enthusiasm wasn't clear enough, I really think WDNY has a winner with this video. It's simple, but also simple enough to do regularly and to grow into. At the same time, even once you have learned the step combinations, adding graceful arm and handwork (to say nothing of being aware of facial expressions, head positions, and dancer's poise) poses an extra layer of difficulty. And finally, the movements are, quite simply, beautiful. You will be happy to be dancing.
The Three Graces May 13, 2008
Alejandra Vernon (Long Beach, California)
41 out of 42 found this review helpful
"Luscious" is a terrific bellydance instruction DVD geared towards beginners, though intermediate students may enjoy and learn from it too, as Neon, Blanca, and Sarah are superb dancers and teachers, and the choreography is varied enough to find interest and enjoyment for a very long time.
After the "Welcome" by Neon, the dancers guide you through the moves, each taking their turn at being in the front and doing the teaching. There is also the option of a "Step by Step Tutorial," which explains each move in detail, as well as an option to practice just with the music, without the voice-over instructions. The music is marvelous, all with a traditional flavor in its instrumentation and melodies.
Your instructors:
Neon is a stunning blonde born in Russia; a famed dancer, teacher, and choreographer, whose technique is dazzling, and creativity amazing. She has helped bring the art of bellydance to a new level. Blanca is a goddess. Born in Mexico, her sensual style and grace have few equals. Sarah Skinner is a dancer I'm less familiar with, but she is incredibly impressive and beautiful, and fits in well with Neon and Blanca. These 3 dancers are the epitome of "The Three Graces."
"Luscious" is very well produced, and the dancers are filmed in a simple stage setting with excellent lighting, making it easy to discern and follow the movements. The costuming is also lovely, in shades of teal and red, and adds to the visual beauty of the program. This is a great way to learn bellydancing, relieve stress, get your exercise and have fun at the same time. If you want weight loss, many experts agree that the best way to lose is through doing continual movement as is done on this DVD, rather than in aerobics. "Luscious" is a superb DVD for your dance instruction library, and if you're just starting out with bellydancing, it will inspire you to keep practicing and learning.
Beautiful, slow, languid healing communion with the goddess. September 13, 2008
sylvia plath (denmark)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
All I can say is wow.
I am an an advanced belly dancer who performs and choreographs for other dancers, I also come from a Middle Eastern family, so I am generally a hypercritical malcontent when it comes to Belly dance DVDs. However, this one is like nothing I have ever purchased before and yet it is everything I have ever wanted in a practice conditioning workout, but didn't know how to articulate. Not only do the beautiful dancers on the DVD lead you straight into the "Goddess Zone" but they also keep you there long enough to heal and nurture your body, soul and mind. If you concentrate and perform every movement as it is meant to be executed you will get more of a workout than you realize. It is only a few hours after you dance this out, will your body tell you what has happened. Your internal organs will glow, any physical injuries will start to self heal and your confidence and inner sensuality and joy will radiate from every pore. Forget "exercise", this "workout" will turn you back into the living work of art you have always been.
Delicious, irresistible "danceout" May 18, 2008
Mala Bhargava (India)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
Too exquisite to be called a workout, this seven-part "danceout" as I like to call it, is beauty in motion. The three absolute goddesses who draw you warmly, elegantly, charmingly into the beautiful world of bellydancing, look every bit luscious. Dressed in equally luscious costumes, they create an atmosphere that totally fills your mind even as you watch on your screen.
While Neon, Blanca and Sarah may look as if they're dancing the most impossibly beautiful moves, the bellydance beginner can join in. Conceptualized and choreographed by Neon, who has produced numerous instructional videos that have spread bellydancing to many places in the world, this video is targeted at beginners. And it includes the "simpler" moves. If you've recently begun bellydancing and have a video or two focusing on basic technique or better still, if you're taking classes, Luscious will be a lovely way to practice them in a connected, smooth, flowing way. I won't describe each section because other reviewers have done so and the video clip does a great job of telling you what to expect. But I will say, that for the absolute beginner, there's a natural sort of break up in each segment which makes it easier to work with the video a little bit at a time. Another really useful touch is that in the tutorial section, led by Neon, each set of isolations ends with an extract from the danceout. You can use that to practice putting the moves into action.
The tutorial section is very thorough and the moves are explained very thoroughly at a pace which a beginner will have no trouble with. For anyone not familiar with Neon, she's particularly experienced with clear, precise and ever-so-gentle explanations and demonstrations of dance movements. She happens to be the one who started me off on belly dancing as a video-only learner and several years later I'm amazed to have reached a happy level with no injury.
For more experienced dancers, this is a wonderful video to deepen, intensify and beautify the basic moves without the usual almost-military drills we do. Use it to focus fully on engaging the abs and back while doing a full 45 minutes to strengthen the moves you'll use most often. There are combinations and arm moves sprinkled through the sessions - so it feels like a long, long leisurely dance. It's a very pleasurable way to go through all your moves, for all body zones. It reminds me a little, conceptually, of Jehan's Ultimate Fitness, which of course is a fast-paced advanced workout with complex movements and layering.
Two things need a special mention and that's the absolutely gorgeous costumes and the music. The costumes contribute significantly to how this whole video looks and the aura that it creates. They're lush and totally mouth watering. The music. Ah. There are 17 (if I counted correctly) tracks used here. They're beautifully selected and add so much richness to the dance. The most-featured artists are DJ Mosavo and Solace. I've got myself an entire Luscious playlist because the music is so very pretty.
beautiful flowing bellydance September 1, 2008
K. Page
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I've been taking bellydance classes for over a year and have over 20 bellydance DVD's. I love this DVD and it's become one of my favorites. This is great for people who have taken some bellydance classes and want to be able to put moves together in a flowing fashion without the choppiness of trying to learn a choreography. It's exactly what I've been looking for and I like that there are transitions and combinations I haven't seen before. This is perfect for someone who just wants to dance, not drill moves, not learn a specific choreography and is looking for some new ways of putting moves together. The moves they use are beautiful and make you feel beautiful and serene while you practice them. I think it will add grace and elegance to your dance. I tend to like the World Dance bellydance DVD's and I hope they make some sequels to Luscious. I strongly reccomend this DVD.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 73
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