Rainbow Dancers of the Dunes
Amera’s "Learn to dance Khaleegy"
DVD review by Bonita
posted February 16, 2009
I have been waiting for a Khaleegy Instructional DVD to come on the market for some time and was delighted to review and learn from "Learn to dance Khaleegy" by Amera..
Amera, a legendary Australian dancer who worked in the Middle East, begins with a brief poetic, documentary presentation of Khaleegy basic background history and how it personally touched her heart. There is an excellent, readable booklet in the DVD jacket that includes history, glossary, step outline and the modern Khallegy song translation for the choreography piece.
The choreography, set to the song "Moushtagaliek" is simple, charming and would be a nice novelty act for a belly dance recital to introduce students to khaleegy basics or could be danced by a professional troupe to expand its repetiore. A minor editorial misprint is that the chapters on the DVD back cover are a bit off and do not line up with the actual chapters on the DVD.
The steps themselves are introduced gradually, built upon with more layers and explained and demonstrated clearly and thoroughly throughout the process.
There are basic steps we are familiar with such as the Hair Swish- but there are also interesting layered add ons as well that keep within the Khaleegy rhythm but can take even the professional dancer beyond the tiresome, trite few tricks up her Khaleegy sleeve (maybe I am only speaking for myself here?)..I really liked how the Hair Swish was explained- I must say it has always sadly eluded me and Amera’s hints were terrific..
The DVD is beautifully produced and climaxes with stunning thobe clad dancers as a rainbow chain on infinite dunes. I would love to see a Beyond the Basics or more Advanced Khaleegy DVD come out from Amera in the future.
Zill Rating: 4
Purchase directly from the artist here: www.ameraspalace.com.au
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