Chinese Silk Fan Fusion with Mirabai: A Belly Dancer's Guide to Enthralling Fan Fusion

I bought this for a ready made fan veil choreography however I didn't really like the moves or the song that much, not my style. Was very classical looking and sounding, a little too boring for my taste. I did like the song for the bonus performance on the video. If the choreography was done to that one I would have been ok with it. Actually that is the song I saw on the trailer for this dvd so I thought that is what the choreography was to. I like Fantastic Fan Veil video better , more dramatic, it does not have a choreography though it does have combos that you can create your own choreography with. I am always short on time though and am particular that the choreography interprets the music well so that is why I was looking for something already complete.

What else can I say. No this is a great dvd. It explaines the use of the silk fans in easy terms. I feel that I shall be able to use my fans now with ease. It was delivered in great time too.

Nice lessons, sometimes goes a little fast, but can be repeated.

Have gotten the basics from the video where I was struggleing on my own. Good explainations of the moves and a lovely dancer

After seeing Mirabai dance twice with fan veils I quickly became a fan (pardon the pun) and decided I wanted to learn how to use them too.The DVD begins with Mirabai explaining how she has incorporated her study of traditional Chinese fan dance with the popular fan veils used in belly dance. She assumes that the viewer has knowledge of belly dance vocabulary and movement and recommends that the beginner spend time every day becoming familiar with how to open the fans, how to grasp them and the various ways to manipulate them such as fluttering, circling, wafting, framing and posing. This makes learning the combinations she teaches much easier.Another part of the introduction is about how to care for the fans. I really appreciated these tips but was bitterly disappointed that she demonstrated with only one fan veil - the right handed one. I was also disappointed that she didn't explain how the veils are keyed for the right and left hand, which affects how they open - especially if you use them together in one hand and then separate them again without being sure you have each fan in the corresponding hand. Neither did she speak about the variety of lengths the fan veils come in. She used medium length fan veils. Several of the combinations did not work with mine because the much longer tails got tangled. It also appeared that she was using two right- handed fan veils rather than a left and right.Production Quality was very good though the volume varied from one section to another and Mirabai tended to speak very slowly - too slowly at times. The music for the choreography was given during combination one and then listed in the end credits. Music used for the additional bonus performance was also listed in the end credits.Demonstration of the combinations was excellent: clear instructions, shown from front and back view, slow enough to follow along and then done to the music. I also loved that she incorporated floor work into her choreography - another element of difficulty when using a prop and something that is not seen a lot in oriental style belly dance these days. I also loved how the choreography went so well with the music, allowing for exciting movement as well as the quiet still moments.Mirabai is a beautiful dancer, an excellent choreographer and she makes dancing with fan veils look graceful, elegant and effortless. I will be continuing to use her DVD to practice the more difficult combinations that she taught.I highly recommend this DVD and would love to be able to take a workshop to glean more of Mirabai's expertise with this beautifully expressive dance prop

The DVD begins with the main menu giving various options of: Introduction, Combinations (1-3 & 4 to 6), Performances, Play all, and an excellent follow Along section with Mirabai with her back to you. Plus of course the Thank you & Credit sections.There is no warm up/cool down sections or bellydance movement instruction, therefore this DVD is for students familiar with Bellydance movements & to a certain extent fans - do warm up before practicing. Mirabai's explanations are easy to follow and not rushed making it easy to follow along.I began with the "Play All" to enable me to get a good overview of Mirabai's style & teaching method.The Introduction, introduces technique for holding the fans and hand transitions as well as tips on fan care. Mirabai also suggests that you spend time practicing the holds, fan movements & transitions to help you become familiar with your fans for 20-30 minutes a couple of times a week this will help you to perform smooth transitions & break the fans in.In the combinations section Mirabai explains and demonstrates each combination carefully, showing front view, rear views and the section set to musicMirabai also explains what the various fan movements mean in relation to the Chinese fan veils dances, there are movements to represent the elements, birds, butterflies & sea creatures, Movements have names such as, jellyfish, peacock, seaweed, fish, water sprite & sunhat and also a section on the iron fan, which was a weapon used in ancient Chinese warfare and now used in dance.The combinations include, barrel turns with fans open and fans closed, gentle traveling with fan flutters, spin turns with free flowing fans, calligraphy movements (closed fans in graceful pen-like movements), framing poses, wafting & rolling movements and also some floor work, which transitions into the use of a single fan.If one is not a fan of floor work, the combination could easily be altered to include the combination without actual floor work or just use kneeling in floor work.The 6 combinations can be joined together to form a 5 minute choreography which Mirabai demonstrates with grace & fluidity to Music from the CD "House Of Tarab Beledi - track 11 -Adaption by Sallah Ali". There is also a lovely bonus performance by Mirabai, to the very beautiful "Darigh Nur by Mario Kirlis from the Album Junto a Saida".The Follow Along section is a great idea, as once you have mastered the combinations you can practice the choreography by following Mirabai, who performs the routine facing the back in a position you would generally be use to following a teacher in class.I would have liked to have seen the Music used listed on the back cover of the DVD, I had to seek out one CD as I didn't know the music, The other I do own. Mirabai did mention it when she began the combination sections and it is mentioned on her website.This DVD is produced by Mirabai, [...], Camera & editing by Fact & Fable productions, [...]Overall Mirabai's Chinese Silk Fan Fusion DVD is a lovely DVD to have in your DVD library**Disclosure: I received this DVD free of charge to honestly review it, which I have done & would recommend it to anyone who asked.