A Review of Shake It Up!: Exotic Bellydance Performances

[shanmonster]

Oh dear. Where do I begin?

First of all, I'm glad I didn't pay money for Shake It Up!: Exotic Bellydance Performances. I saw it at the dance studio where I teach, and since I had some time to kill, I put it in the DVD player.

I suppose I should have guessed from the "Exotic" in the title that this video would pander to all the stereotypes. The video is an Orientalist's wet dream. Let's see what stereotypes are to be found:

Reclining pasha? Check.
Veiled mysterious women leaning up on said pasha? Check.
Hookah pipes and Turkish rugs and King Tut busts? Check, check, and check.
Dancers using those hokey walk-like-an-Egyptian arms? Check.
Dancers making porn faces at the camera while they dance seductively? Check.
Belly dancers as strippers? Nope.

So they missed one. Maybe their next DVD will cover that one.

Some of the performances had me staring with my jaw agape. Although Meleah's floorwork routine starts out interesting enough (if I ignored the faux sultan and seraglio in the background), it soon becomes bizarre, when she gallivants around the room in stirrup pants with some sort of vagina-enhancing metal jewellery. Yikes!

Kaya's performance to "Al Heyla" borders on pornographic with her over-the-top pouting, moues, and silent gasps of pleasure. If she spends half the effort on her isolations as she does her facial gyrations, I bet she'll be a fantastic dancer.

That being said, not everything is bad. Adam Basma's dance company, although not the best I've ever seen, look like they're having a great time, and the feeling is contagious. I'll betcha they're terrific to watch live.

Sohaila's khaleegy dance is cute, and I really love the serenity of her facial expressions. She never looks like she's faking her smiles, and she shows just how good a dance can look in a body-obscuring thobe.

I also really enjoy Sadie's dance. She dances with effortless grace, and although her backbends are extreme, they don't leave me cringing in sympathetic pain. They look very natural for her. She really looks like she knows what she's doing, and she gives us the standout performance on the DVD. I want to find more performances by her, now.

Comments

[water-of-fire.livejournal.com]

It interests me that you mention Sohaila's serene facial expressions. The first thing I noticed the first time I saw Ariellah dance is that her face is ultimately, perfectly serene. Just this sweet, soft, peaceful expression. For the record, she's also one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

I got the Pentaphobe "Tribal Metamorphosis" cd today (finally, thank you, Amazon) -- they're the ones who do the weird, distant electronic-ambient-tribal stuff Rachel Brice dances to. When I can make myself actually listen to it, I'll let you know what it's like.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I enjoy the CD and use it in my floorwork classes.

[water-of-fire.livejournal.com]

Oh, surprise. :)

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Hee!

Useless trivia time: the Pentaphobe dude is Rachel Brice's ex-boyfriend.

[water-of-fire.livejournal.com]

Oh? That doesn't surprise me. I bought the cd to have track two ("Same High," I think), because it's the spacious, echoey noise she undulates to at the end of her yoga/fusion dvd (which I have and don't love).

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I used(d) the yoga/fusion DVD quite frequently. It's as boring as watching cement dry, but if you practice it regularly, it really helps with technique.

I find the isolation drills on this work well in conjunction with some of the drills on the Suhaila DVDs. I just need to get some editing software so I can put together a specialized drill DVD for myself.

[sarcasm-hime.livejournal.com]

BAHAHAHA. As soon as I saw the title I knew Kaya had to be in it. Have you seen the "That's Hot" DVD by Kaya and Sadie? Sadie is indeed an incredible dancer (you've got to see her diagonal full-body accents), but Kaya is just disturbing with her pouting at the camera and porn faces. And her constant head-tossing.

Valizan and Sophie and I were watching it at his place the other day and every time Kaya did a head toss Val'd give a little "Ooh!" squeal. Had us in stitches. It would make a great drinking game DVD if you wanted to get soused REALLY fast. *lol*