Ballet For Bellydancers

This DVD is instructional in nature, taking basic ballet moves and giving them a bellydance twist. The workout begins with a 13 min warm-up starting with the feet {ex: ankle circles} and progressing to laying on our backs working our legs with leglifts. Following a 3 min talk on ballet posture, next comes 8 min on Port de Bras {carriage of arms} going through 1st though 5th? poses of ballet, then giving bellydance modifications and a short drill. The Plie and Releve {bend and rise} section is 14 min long, we begin with ballet drills and end with a short bellydance combo repeated on both sides, using plies and releves to create level changes. The Chasse section lost me a little, its a bit of a space hog and was 7 min long; it involved combining chasse steps into an 8 count circle and layering on movements. Pas de Bourree was 10 min long, even more of a space hog, and involved instruction of three-step direction or lead change. She went a little faster than I {dance novice and choreo klutz} could follow, and then we went straight into the no-cue drill/combo. By the time we hit Arabesque {in the Arabic fashion} and Turns sections I was sitting on the couch, with hurting bare feet, lost in the choreo, and close to 60 min had passed. I'm not used to going barefoot at this time of year, and even using a yoga mat over the hardwood my feet are still sore. I previewed the short 3 combos, but negected to keep time them {maybe 20+min?}. At the end of the DVD, Brianna teaches a brief combo Reverence and explains some common stage directions {upstage vs downstage}. Brianna expected the viewer to already have knowlage of bellydance moves, explaining just the ballet moves and how to modify them to bellydance.