NeonBellydance - First Steps for Total Beginners, with Neon: Beginner belly dance instruction, Belly dancing classes, Full bellydancing how-to

This video is like a crash course in belly dance. If you really are a total beginner, be prepared because Neon jumps right in and immediately starts teaching the forms without any real introduction. You will learn everything from hip drops to figure eights. Neon is a good instructor who puts together bellydance moves that are fun. The DVD will quickly teach someone the basics of belly dance. Neon doesn't waste any time on endless explanations that are of no value. She goes right into the moves and even shows how to use them in combinations so you are dancing right away.If, however, you are a complete novice to belly dance, you should be aware that you should never strain yourself while belly dancing. If a move is uncomfortable to you, start slowly and work up to it. You should always stop doing a move if it is uncomfortable and see if you can do it at a lower intensity. Never make yourself continue doing something that's uncomfortable for you or you could hurt yourself.None of these points were brought up in the DVD at the beginning. Neon really should have had a brief one- or two-minute introduction in which she explained that it's a good idea to keep your knees bent and to make certain the movements are comfortable for you. Don't try to make your chest movements as sharp and as big as Neon does them, for example, unless it feels right for you. Always be careful to listen to your body. You don't have to be perfect immediately. It's fine to do the movements with less intensity until you've mastered them.I can remember when I first started belly dance, none of these points were explained to me so I tried to do too much too soon. Total beginners in belly dance should really be given an introduction to belly dance that talks about safety. It's also a good idea to have a warm-up included, also, especially for beginners who may not know what kind of warm-up is appropriate for belly dance. This DVD was missing a warm-up as well as an introduction that talked about safety. I think those two things would really be helpful for beginners.P.S. I do wish Neon would include a performance with her DVDs. She is a talented artist and her students would like to see her in action.

First Steps is Fantastic! I tried several other bellydance dvd's before discovering Neon's. In my opinion, this is by far the best. I love the fact that both beginner and some more advanced movements are covered in it. This dvd has been challenging enough to hold my interest every day for quite awhile. I am determined to master these moves! Neon's wonderful style of teaching has really motivated me to stick with this dvd. I do love her expressions while demonstrating and explaining the techniques. Just about the time I feel like a totally uncoordinated newborn calf, I look up at the screen to see Neon smiling her encouraging smile - just like a kind sister or friend urging you on to keep trying. I also really love the fact that at the ends of the dance routine sections, Neon demonstrates the sequence in "real" bellydance time. I can't yet keep up with all of the dance routines at the ends of the technique sections, but knowing what the moves should look like really pushes me to keep trying. I am overjoyed to see my slow improvement each time that I try to keep up! The dvd is wonderfully organized, both by level of difficulty and the progressions make perfect sense. How lucky we are that one of the best dancers in the world was kind enough to share her techniques with the uninitiated! I highly recommend this dvd! What a treat!!

The first 30 minutes of the video is ok, she doesn't really give details on what your legs or torso should be doing much. Also, when she starts on combos they're just randomly thrown in. She also only shows you the combo moves together once before she speeds it up to the point that you can't easily keep up. She tells you what the moves are, but by the time you understand what she's saying she's already done the move and moved on. On figure 8's she talks about your chest moving as little as possible, and yet she winds up being all over the place. I'm not very good at them and my chest moves a lot less than hers does. When she does hip circles, she actually bends forward and backwards to emphasize it. Which is not how it's done. You are supposed to work those back muscles when you start the back part of the circle. Your whole upper body is supposed to be still doing them. Think of it as your body being earth and your hips are the moon orbiting your body. I also seem to remember she showed how to do vertical 8's, but when she showed horizontal 8's she did the exact same thing. And it's not even close. The menu page doesn't tell you a thing about where to find a particular move. It's all called hipwork and percussive work. That doesn't tell you how to find a move you need to work on you just have to remember where that move is. On chest lifts she contracts her back to do them, which is not right either. You are supposed to only use your chest to pop out and then your upper abs to pop back in. If your upper back is moving it's being done wrong. And I'm getting these statements from dancers like Rachel Brice who is very detailed in explaining how its done. On chest slides, instead of actually going side to side she makes a half circle, the outer curve of which is near her chin. Slides are supposed to be straight lines, not curved. I did an hour of this video and the mistakes made are beginner mistakes and I'd only recommend this video if you knew how to catch those. Otherwise, you're going to learn the exact wrong way to do some things. The only thing I do like about this is it's decent for getting your blood going and I think it will help in me learning to do combos and moving around while dancing. Overall, I've seen much better learning videos on Youtube. Try [...] If that link doesn't work just type free bellydance classes. It's the name of the woman doing them. She covers a lot of things.

Great routine, fun

Pédagogie excellente. Plusieurs mouvements de base sont expliqués d'abord, chapitre par chapitre, puis combinés en mini-chorégraphies. Par exemple,Chapitre 1 : "vertical hip slides" & "horizontal hip pushes" - déhanchés verticaux et horizontaux.Chapitre 2 : "step touch" - pointer la jambe devant soi, à droite, à gauche, puis lier les déhanchés à ce mouvement.Chapitre 3 : "triplet hip push or hip accent steps" - déhanchés en décollant le pied (ce qui donne l'impression de marcher en déhanchant); même chose par séries de 3 en diagonale, en avançant et en reculant.Chapitre 4 : 1ère "Dance party combination" - mini chorégraphie employant les mouvements jusque là enseignés.Ce DVD comprend 48 chapitres, dont 12 "Dance party combinations". Bien expliqué, évolution logique, ces combinaisons sont tout de suite applicables sur n'importe quelle autre musique de son choix.Le petit plus : même si on ne comprend pas l'anglais, le DVD inclu l'utilisation de flèches et autres effets visuels pour faciliter la compréhension.Excellente prestation et au prix actuel de 3,37€, cet article est donné!

I have, literally, tens of belly dance DVDs, and in my opinion, this is the best one, followed by the rest of Neon's DVDs. This one is very thorough, it covers an incredible range of movements, and provides excellent explanations, along with visual aids that render every movement crystal clear. The DVD is divided into sections, each section covers a few movements, then puts them together in one combination in the end, hence giving you a feel of performing a piece of a dance, as well as an experience of the variety of contexts wherein such movements could occur. I am a big fan of Neon, having liked the first DVD I purchased of her, and went ahead to order most of them. Her explanations are impeccable, her voice itself is very pleasant to hear (unlike some dance teachers who have shrill voices that can be off-putting!)and her passion for belly dance shines throughout her entire work in a very refreshing, uplifting and pleasant manner. I highly recommend this DVD as it covers so many moves, and the ideas and combinations in it could be used as a reference for a long time, even after you have mastered the techniques it contains.

ベリーダンスを始めて半年足らずの初心者です。レッスンを補う家での自習用DVDとして購入しました。基本的な動きを繰り返し教えてくれて初心者だけでなくもう一度基礎をおさらいしたいかたにも向いているような気がしました。レッスンの前のストレッチなどの動きはないのであくまでも「ステップとヒップワークの練習用」と考えるのがいいかと思います。難しいふりつけなどではなく、動きの基本を学ぶのによいかと思います。英語は聞き取れなくても、動きを見ていればついていけます。続けてすれば、エクササイズとしてダイエット効果もあるような気がします。通してやってもものすごくしんどいということはありませんが結構な運動量があるので有酸素運動としても満足できるのではないかと思います！外で走ったりするのが苦手なインドアエクササイズが好きなかたに是非おススメです！！

たぶん基本的な動きが中心なのだと思いますが、動きのバリエーションがこんなにあるとは驚きました。先生の声が優しく、聞いていて聞きやすいし、感じもいいです。何度も繰り返して覚えて行こうと思います。姿勢やストレッチの解説や収録がないので、そこがマイナスかな・・・。初めてベリーをする人にも良いと思いますが、習った事のある私にも少し難しさは感じました。と言うより、先生に動きをならっている頭がありつつ、先生の動きの素晴らしさに、思わず見とれてしまったりするほど、ダンスが芸術に近く、見るだけでも、価値があると思います。関心がベリーにある人にはお勧めです。