Cheap The Goddess Workout with Dolphina - Bellydance with Finger Cymbals (Video) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Goddess Workout with Dolphina - Bellydance with Finger Cymbals

"I'm a crappy dancer. I'm a crappy dancer."
"I'm a bellydancer" should be changed to "I am a poser". Instead of teaching the viewer how to really play finger cymbals, Dolphina gives them cheat phrases. Perfectly fine for making noise around the house, but not for learning proper zil playing. You'll be lost when it's time to dance or play to middle eastern music, or really any music for that matter. Dolphina doesn't bother to teach you how to play anything besides her silly phrases, so you wont know how to play to different rhythms. Pointless if you plan on playing seriously.

There ARE other videos which teach this topic, and teach it well. You wont find them on Amazon, so don't bother looking. I used Mesmera's video, which you can get at http://www.saroyanzils.com/ along with REAL zils (not those cheap little ones) to play with for as little as $14.00. That's how much mine were and I love them to death. Had them for almost two years now and they are like new. Mesmera's video will give you months (if not years, depending on your speed) of training to work on. There are many others videos as well, although I have never tried any others (because Mesmera's was so good I didn't need a second video!) but I have heard good things about a few other videos. Look around. Ask a dancer. Join a Middle Eastern Dance forum. They will give you lots of advice. If you REALLY want to learn bellydance, don't hang around on Amazon. The twins aren't bad, as well as some other videos. But to really get into this dance, you need to get into the scene too. You will find the best products, advice, and teaching from other dancers. Go figure! ;)

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A short introduction on a hard-to-find topic
This is the first video I have seen on finger cymbals, or ziller, although admittedly I have not put a lot of effort into hunting a video on this topic. But in the many bellydance videos I have seen advertised and in "mainstream" stores, this is the first I have seen on finger cymbals. For this reason primarily, I think this is a valuable video.

There are 5 sections to the video:
1) Finger warm-up (with "Mudras")
2) Teaching the rhythms
3) Putting the rhythms with some dance moves
4) Mixing it all together in a routine
5) A cool-down

However, the video is much more skimpy on information and instruction that I had expected. Dolphina teaches four rhythms, and you have to listen closely and rewind several times to catch the real names of the rhythms. In addition, she goes into no depth about the actual beat value of the strokes. She teaches the rhythms by putting a catchy phrase with each: "I-am-a-god-dess", "I'm-a-bel-ly-dan-cer", "Wor-ship-me", and "I-am-read-y-for-my-mas-sage". While these phrases may help you remember the rhythms, I would recommend one of three other options: 1)Make up your own phrases if you don't want to chant "Wor-ship-me", etc., or 2) Count as a musician would "tri-pa-let" or "one-two-and-three-four", or even 3) "right-right-left-right-left". I make the third suggestion becuase Dolphina does not really emphasize the pattern of which hand to use in which order for the rhythms. She does tell you for the first three, but for the fourth and most complicated ("I am ready for my massage"), she never does describe in which order to use each hand. You are left trying to watch her hands move to try to figure it out.

I feel she should have done more reviewing of the rhythms and switching between them before tring to pair them with dance moves (which most people will find somewhat difficult if you have not already reviewed a basic bellydance video - she recommends hers).

In the fourth segment of the video she demonstrates (not teaches) a dance routine which mixes a variety of dance moves with a mixture of cymbal rhythms. This would be nice except you can barely hear the music and she does it only once. Hey, if you paid for the video I think you deserve to see her finish it off with an all-out, fully musical performance of the dance routine she taught! She should perform it once as a professional would, at the very least to inspire us!! (By the way, during both her presentation of the dance moves, and the routine, it appears that she made a few mistakes with the rhythms. Couldn't she have re-taped it?)

Finally she presents a very brief cool down. If your fingers are new to these movements, your hands will *badly* want a good stretching at the end of the video, and the few little mudra hand positions she offered I felt were inadequate.

I have a lot to criticize about this video, but I still give it 4 stars. Why? It is pleasant to watch for the most part, with shimmering water and a pretty flowing costume (at the end). It could have been much cheesier. And, because this is such a unique topic, I am glad to have the tape, a small morsel of video information on a fascinating topic.

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I think this is great for the beginner
The 'silly statements' in this video, made all the difference. Dolphina knows they sound funny, but this is what helps you learn the beats. I thought it was very clever AND it made us laugh and giggle while we learned the zills. If this is your first time using zills, you will learn the four rhythyms in this video within one watching. I love all of Dolphina's videos, because although some people may think it's corny, she makes you FEEL like a belly dancer, which I think is the first step to letting lose and discovering what you can do. Other video's feature women with plastered on smiles that make you feel like they are laughing at you, so it's nice to feel like you can be a belly dancing goddess, at least in the privacy of your own bedroom.