Bellydance: East Coast Tribal, with Sera Solstice: Basics, Combinations & Strength, Tribal fusion belly dance classes, Belly dance instruction, Belly dance how-to

I finally worked through this video after owning it for a while, and I was stunned at how excellent it is. There are a few flaws (which I'll get to later), but those aside, it's a superb video.First things first. This is not a beginner's DVD. Sera neither gives the kind of explanations of basic movements a beginner would want, nor does she present all the basics of bellydance. No way. It is, however, a great DVD for intermediate dancers. Sera goes over some basic movements (especially in the warmup), but in such a way as to help you increase your flexibility and power.The 20-minute warmup and the 10-minute drill section get you doing some basic stretches, focusing on your isolations, and quite importantly, working on powering moves from particular muscles. The dancers mirror your movements (so when she calls "left," they actually move to their right) which I prefer. Sera is extremely thorough about calling out which muscle to use for a move, and always managed to remind me as soon as I forgot. I *was* worried about the neck stretch, since she moves the head all the way back, and some moves also seemed quite hard on the knees, so I modified them. In the choreography Sera is careful to point out which sections are knee-unfriendly, and sometimes offers a modification, but this is not the case in the workout. She does, however, tell you when certain moves are difficult for beginners, so you don't get discouraged.I would say that, considering how cheap the DVD is, the warmup is worth the price alone. I know I'm going to use this (with some extra stretching) as an introduction to other bellydance videos.Next comes a demonstration of the combinations to be learned, and then very detailed instructions for each of six movement combinations. I had watched the video before, but only by doing it could I see what a brilliant teacher Sera is. She has that uncanny ability to know *just* when you're relaxing a certain muscle, or doing a movement lazily, or forgetting about your posture, and to give a perfectly-timed reminder.On the other hand, the combos themselves are challenging and, to my eye, beautiful. It's not hard to get the basics of each, but to do them right, with the correct arm movements, good timing, and perfect form, is hard. This is a major strength of the DVD: you can grow into it a little. Both the warmup and the dance instruction are basically doable for an advanced beginner/intermediate, but they have enough layering and little details that you have a reason to go back and do the video again.As you can probably tell by the length of this review, I am impressed! I do want to say though that it's not the right DVD for you if you just want to pop something in the player and shake your hips around. Some of the muscular movements can be quite strenuous. You need to pay attention to the instructions, you need to listen to your body to avoid injury, and you may even need to pause it and practice a movement slowly and carefully on your own. And you need to stretch thoroughly at the end. But this is what makes it so good.

I liked the teaching, it's REALLY step by step so that you can understand the movements well. I also like the combinations.The light is good and Sera demonstrates everything in front of a mirror, so you have a good front and back view.I also liked the workout - great for your glutes :-)BUT: Melodias pants are not a good choice for teaching, especially not if they are black and so long that all the dancers' feet are completely hidden. I don't want my teacher to look cool, I want to see her feet/legs. At one point they roll the pants up which is good - but I would have preferred to see the feet all the time.Also, Sera wears her hair open which at times hides her shoulders when I want to see them.As for the warm up: There are some movements that are quite hard on the spine. And she should have mentionned to keep the knees over the feet when bending them. There is potential of hurting yourself, so I would recommend others to only do as much as they can.Unfortunately I don't like the music they have chosen. I can kind of ignore it during the teaching session because I like the movements that she teaches and concentrate on those.But when it comes to her performance... Actually, the first time I wanted to watch the performance, I stopped it after 20 seconds because of the music. Then I watched it again with my friends and we turned the sound low so that we could concentrate on the dancing (my friends didn't care for the music either).The performance is not the same style that she teaches though - it's mostly breackdancing. I guess it goes with the music, but it's not what I expect to see on on a DVD that has "Belly Dance" written on it. I preferred it much when she demonstrated the short choreo with her group.I will definitely I can see our troupe use several of the movements that Sera teaches.I will also go through the workout again and pick some stuff for my own teaching.So all in all, it was a good investment.

I am not a huge fan of the super urban, breakdancesque style of East Coast Tribal bellydance, but I love this DVD! First of all, it has a fantastic, thorough warm-up, stretch, and isolation segment. This 20min segment is very well put together. The movements really flow, and you really get a great stretch while tuning into the muscles you will need for dancing. I have been doing this segment daily whether I continue with this DVD, do another, or attend dance class. Next you get 10 mins of hip work drills. This portion really gives you a leg work out. Then you get to see the choreography that you will be learning demonstrated in costume by the Solstice Dance Ensemble. Again, if you are a traditionalist, you will probably not like this very funky, urban style. But if you are always looking for new expressions of the Bellydance artform, you will. The longest segment of this DVD follows. This is a detailed breakdown of the six combinations used in the choreography. Sera does an outstanding job teaching these moves. Her technique is the reverse of many other instructors. Rather than start with small, very muscular, segmented moves and moving to flowing undulations, she begins with large over exagerated moves and then reigns them in to very controlled movements. Her technique really works. This segment is 45 mins. so if you do the entire video, incuding the choreoghraphy demo, you get 1 hr 25 mins of wokout time, a great value if you dance to stay fit. Finally, the DVD is organized quite well. It has logical, easy to use menus, good graphics, sound, a visual effects, and is attractively packaged.

I have not danced for years and I am pleased to have chosen this DVD to begin again. The warm-up section is very helpful. Regarding the combinations and steps shown, it would be better if the dancers and the teacher wore leotards so that the movements of the feet and legs can be seen clearly. The flared pants they wear are very attractive but hide the knees, ankles, feet arches and toes. The combinations demonstrated are easy to follow and interesting but again, it would be more informative to see what the lower limbs are doing.The choreography combines belly dance with Western movements, which I don't care for because I feel it dilutes Middle Eastern earthiness with a Pan's People look, but I suppose this is what Fusion is, an eclectic mix of styles.Sera talks the student through each step, counting and repeating in a useful and unhurried way. Her control is very good. But I need to see what her legs are doing so that mine can try to do the correct thing.

i'm on belly dance class for 1 year and am a beginner with tribal belly dance.Sera explains in a very comprehensible way the movements step-by-step. - the combinations are nice to look upon, but not to hard to learn with a little bit of practice.the basics are easy to understand and the 6 shown combinations result in a nice choreography.There are enough lessons to spend some time with this DVD.It's pretty easy to understand even for Non-native-speakers - she speaks without any slang in a calm way.only 4 stars because the choreo is done with her ensemble (all in all 4 girls) and the camera angle changes quite often. So you get easily confused when trying to focus on the teacher.This is only the case with the choreo - the step-by-step explanations of the combinations are just with Sera with a fixed camera angle.

Never get tired and bored with it. One of my top 3. Great warm up and very good dance routine. Not for beginners, but all explanations are very clear and allow you with time to perfect every single move. Performance at the end is additional bonus. Joy to watch.

I agree with the previous reviews. This is my favourite warm-up DVD. Sera is a natural teacher and communicates her enthusiasm. The other dancers are all very individual and work well together. I love the choreography, and the music by Freek Factory is addictive, so much so , that I have tracked down and ordered it. If I could find any other DVD's by East Coast Tribal, I would buy them .

bad quality hard to follow