Dance Off the Inches: Fat Burning Belly Dance

Note: DOTI is rereleasing this as just "Dance Off the Inches: Belly Dance."

I'm reviewing this workout after doing it twice.

General workout breakdown: PeakFitness has already described this workout well, so I'll just add a few notes.

The workout's total running time is 45 min. That includes an intro (just over 1.5 min.); a warm-up (just over 6 min.) of simple moves that turn into a little dance combo and a combination of dynamic and static stretches (the latter of which I'm not a fan of in a warm-up); the three sections (approximately 13 min., 11 min., and 11 min.); and a cool-down (just over 3.5 min.), where after a few slower dance moves you do many of the same stretches from the warm-up. I definitely still needed some longer lower body stretches after.

Each of the three dance segments stand alone, so they're never added together for one big dance. Kili builds up each dance a few steps at a time until you have the full routine. You will TIFT (take it from the top) and run through moves several times; usually Kili does 3 big TIFTs once you've learned the whole dance, although IIRC one dance only gets two final TIFTs. Now, I like TIFTing, although even I have my limits, but the amount here felt just right. It was enough to learn or remember the moves, get some oomph out of them, and feel like I had a worthwhile "performance" but not so long that I was totally over them by the time we got to the first big TIFT or something.

In addition to the moves PeakFitness listed from the step guide, Kili includes the traditional Egyptian squat, Greek grapevine, Arabian pony, and Moroccan mambo. OK, I'm being silly: she does "Egyptian squats," which are squats with Egyptian arms, and she does grapevines, ponies, and mambos, but she doesn't pretend the latter are authentic Eastern dance steps. Also, Kili will do some marches, hip sways, "serpent arms," and similar moves in between segments, but she doesn't stay in these very long. As PeakFitness says, this is bellydance-inspired, a combination of "East meets West," as Kili herself says several times. Anyway, all of this is a roundabout way of saying this is definitely dancing for a workout, not learning a routine for performance.

If you don't want a workout with impact, you can pretty much adapt this to be all low impact, but as shown Kili includes some hops and bounces. There are also some turning and twisting moves, if you have really sensitive knees and are working out on carpet with shoes whose treads catch in your pile.

Level: I'd recommend this to experienced high beginners through intermediates who are comfortable with some choreography, although you don't have to be a dancer.

I agree with PeakFitness that the fairly non-stop nature of this workout contributes to the intermediate level. I'd also say that the little bit of impact; quick transitions between moves, blocks, and segments; and the constant core engagement helps heat that body up and get that sweat going. I don't know that this could or should replace your regular abs workout, but doing this a day after doing a good core workout I did feel it in my abs.

I consider myself an int./adv. exerciser, although because of some health issues I'm more int. than adv. these days. I picked this up to use on those hot summer days in my un-climate controlled workout space when I just couldn't face my usual workouts, and it worked well for that purpose; now that the weather has cooled down I'll use this on lighter days (but not those lazy light days, if that makes sense) or as an add-on after strength. I pick up choreography easily, provided it makes sense and is taught and cued decently, but even so I'm glad I worked with the Step Guide before doing this. I felt somewhat comfortable with the routine after one run-through, but I definitely needed the second time to clean some things up.

Class: 4 women join Kili, who instructs live as she does the full routine. No one shows modifications or substitutions, other than the individual flair. The background exercises appear to have been chosen more for their enthusiasm than their expertise; some of them do seem to dance more as a hobby than as a profession.

Music: Well, it's what you'd expect from an exercise mix with Middle Eastern and Bollywood inspirations. I wouldn't listen to it on its own, but I actually kind of like it. (But I don't often hear this type of music, especially in an exercise video, so maybe it's just the novelty.)

Set: bright interior set made up like some sort of living room with a sun room or something looking onto a "garden."

Production: clear picture and sound, camera angles that are helpful rather than distracting.

Equipment: sneakers that won't catch on your carpet. If you have a hip scarf with jewelry, break it out; otherwise you can just pretend - or not.

Space Requirements: You won't need a Bollywood sound stage to do this one. Just make sure you can take a few steps in each direction. I was able to fit this in my workout space of about 5-6"deep by 7-8"wide.

Comments: Usually I'm all about the "purity" of exercises and don't do fusion workouts. If I want to do Pilates, I prefer to do Pilates and don't want to see ballet moves and yoga asanas and athletic exercises. But when it comes to dancing I actually prefer these fusion workouts. As someone to whom dancing doesn't come naturally, I have to work at dancing to begin with. If I really wanted to learn a specific type of dancing, I could and would, but it would be even more work. When I just want to move in a vaguely dance-like manner, I'm OK with something that throws in a little belly dancing here, Middle Eastern folk dances there, Bollywood here, and some standard floor aerobics move there. I'm totally fine with a workout that's just about moving in an interesting way, not about learning the particular dance.

I have to say I was taking a bit of a risk with this one. I'm not normally drawn to belly dancing, but reading other VFers reassure people that this was doable for non-dancers and for those who might not usually consider this sort of dance convinced me to give it a try. I'm still wary, but I kind of like it. It's certainly unlike anything else I have on my shelves, but I think that's a good thing. I don't know that I will reach for it a lot, but it does stick out in my mind, so when I go to look at my dance workouts it will be something that stands out.

I have 6 DOTI titles - in addition to this one, I have Fat Burning Cardio Jam, Sizzling Salsa, Dance it Off Ballroom, Hip Hop Party, and Hip Hop Cardio - and of those I feel this one is among the most intense (it ranks with the two Jen Galardi hip hop ones, more or less) and among the trickiest ones to pick up, at least during the first few run-throughs. My initial difficulty in learning this was no doubt partly due to my lack of experience with these dance traditions (at one point I had a video by Neena & Veena, the bellydance twins, and I tried Sarina Jain's Bollywood-inspired workout on FitTV), but since Kili isn't trying to be too authentic once I started to figure things out I felt more comfortable.

The menu on this workout has the step guide and the main workout. The step guide is chaptered, and breaks down the following moves with instruction only, no music:

Body Roll

Twist

Kick

Shimmy (a full body shimmy)

Hip Hits

Sweep (sweeping arms)

Sunburst (a hop, rock back; then hop, rock back with the other leg)

Pony

Hip Circle

Snake

In the main workout, the moves are put together into 3 combinations:

1. Belly Moves Groove

2. Cleopatra Cardio Combo

3. Hip Roll Hindi Combo

The workout is bellydance "inspired" cardio, not authentic bellydance.I like "inspired" non-authentic workouts just fine, so that was no problem for me. The last combo, Hip Roll Hindi, has a little bit of a Bollywood feel to it, too.

The outfits are regular exercise clothes, like capris and tank tops, with hip scarves worn over the capris. They are all wearing tennis shoes.

Pros:

Background exercisers looked like maybe a mix of professionals and regular people. I liked that.

Fun and enjoyable for me. A little bit of a learning curve on the choreo without being too complex (I can be a dance klutz.)

This instructor seemed less scripted than some of the other DOTI instructors.

Cons:

Maybe too much TIFTing for people who hate TIFTing.

Maybe not authentic enough for some people.

This workout got my heartrate up, got me sweating, and the pace stays up with few breaks in between. I'd call it intermediate.