Bellydance Superstars

Let me begin by saying, I am a professional working dancer for 8 years, Classical Egyptian style. I really thought I would hate this video but I was SO impressed by the quality and professionalism! I am so sick of spending $30+ on bellydance videos that are POOR quality, shot on someone's home video camera and edited badly. This video is beautiful! Even the dancers that I don't usually like picked pieces of music that really complimented them. Finally bellydance videos are being done PROFESSIONALLY!! It is about time!

I think this video is not shot with only bellydancers in mind so maybe that is why people were complaining about it. It is shot for the general public which means a lot of different camera angles, a lot of fades in and out (done beautifully), close-ups (not too many in my opinion), and basically very artistically. Parts of it remind me of scenes I have seen in movies. It is lovely. I don't think anything lost and you can see all the movement fine, with the exception of Rachel Brice's first piece which did focus too much on her face and not enough on her body which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. I have never been moved by Tribal style, not even FCBD, but now that I have seen Rachel she has changed my mind!

I also thought the way Suhaila's violin solo was shot was soooooooo beautiful! It was so cool and I was mezmerized watching the camera slowly rotate, although I am not a fan of her dancing. If I could afford to do a video I would do a piece shot exactly the same way.

I also am not a fan of electronic music for bellydance but once again I couldn't pull myself away from Amar's first performance with the wings of ISIS. She is such a strong dancer! I think this is a proud representation of American style bellydance.

Jillina, as always was awesome with her drum solo! Wow!! It really showed why (most of) these ladies are Bellydance Superstars. Anyone who enjoys good American bellydance should BUY THIS DVD!!!

However... The camera work over all is extremely annoying. The camera person used constant close-ups and sometimes the dancer danced out of the shot. At a few points, the camera jerked violently when the camera man made an obvious mistake and lost the dancer. The camera work seemed very amateur. The close-ups made the dancing seems vulgar, despite the fact that all these dancers are very classy. The props such as candle holders were sometimes used in the foreground, which covered the dancer up. Several times you had to watch the dancer through shier fabric. Either the camera man was on crack, or they thought the dancing wasn't interesting enough to go without annoying camera tricks. Rachel's skill was not shown to its full potential. Her drum solo was so cut-up by CONSTANT camera changes that it's very hard to follow. It seemed to be the worse chopped up of all the segments. I could tell it was amazing, but I couldn't follow it. Ansuya and Rania's performances didn't show their full potential either. They just weren't on the ball. I think they may have been limited to music from Mile's company, instead of music they were most comfortable with. Ansuya's breasts had constant close-ups. Sonia seemed to repeat the same movements over and over. The camera man was obsessed with her face and tummy. Her dance segments were obviously edited to put moves in places where they were not, so her dance is not fluid. She may be a nice dancer, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't have the ability to be using veil, then make it disappear for a hip shot, then retrieve it again in a split second. This was also done with other dances. Suhaila looked like she was having an epileptic attack. I don't even watch her dance segments anymore. I haven't even watched the violin one all the way through. During one of Ansuya's segments, it was obvious they taped someone using zils over her playing, so you don't get to hear HER play while dancing.

Overall, the DVD isn't expensive and the dancing is pretty good. The camera man may be on crack, but the video is OK if you can get past it.

Also, my version has both of Tamalyn Dallal's dance segments. Someone said one was missing on their DVD. Perhaps this has been fixed.

Some of the more annoying things: 1) Smoke from incense burners clouded the air during most numbers. As a dancer, I hate getting smoke in my costume, but I now reserve a special level of hatred for the genius who decided that a smokey room was the best place to showcase the talents of some of the best dancers in the US. 2) The set is too crowded. Overlapping oriental rugs? With standing vases (in the middle of the dance floor) and knickknacks that belong in the british museum? And a spotlighted sarcophagus? Next time save some production costs and use a very, very plain sound stage. And give the cameraman some valium. 3) The most frustrating part of the whole DVD is that the camera focuses on one body part while the action is CLEARLY happening in another area. I don't mind the occasional closeup of shimmying hips, but it makes no sense to do a closeup of a dancer's face while she's shimmying her hips.

In all - ARGH! There is not one thing in this DVD that could make me recommend it to another buyer. This says a lot, as I normally hang off of Ansuya's every movement.