Killer Drillz With Zoe Jakes

I've been fortunate enough to take workshops with Zoe in the past, including a 4 hour intensive on drills at Tribal Fest 11. This DVD comes close to the real thing, very close. It's 93 mins long and only includes 1 short performance (I hate drills DVDs that are filled with performances or nonsense - I want to dance!). The set is clean and simple and the camera is behind Zoe while she looks in a mirror. This angle allows you to feel like you're in class with her - which I love. There are 7 sections with just Zoe then 4 with a group of dancers.

I would give it a B+ overall, I will definitely be using this often as a practice companion!

The Zoe sections break down as follows:
Warm Up - full body waves, full body warm-up - 5 mins approx.

Warm Up 2 - relevé, hip warm-up, foot placement - lots of good tips and hip explanations - 10 mins approx.

Chest - understanding "neutral" - diaphragm work, helping chest locks and pop look crisp - 5 mins

Shoulders - hands versus shoulders (they don't have to move together!) - rolls, 1 shoulder fig 8s 5 mins approx.

Arms - good arm stretches to disengage the head and shoulders from arm movements, fluidity (snake arms) 5 mins

Layer(ing)- Locks with shimmies, arms, chest etc. With locks and layers 5 mins

Belly - Belly rolls, breathing for good rolls - 5 mins

The group section is shot a little funny (Zoe facing students, camera behind Zoe). The set looks a little squished, but the drills are fun. The students are all fantastic LA dancers - notably gems like Calamity Sam and Heather Shoopman!

Those drills are broken down into 4 categories:

Hips- Hip locks and pops along with isolations- 15 mins

Chest- Chest isolations and layers- 15 mins approx

Shoulders- Shoulder / arm / hand isolations and layers-15 mins approx

Shimmy- 15 mins of shimmy-goodness. My fav!

Zoe Jakes is a charming and graceful instructor, whose dvd is a well-planned thing, which could have been better executed. She is VERY verbal, talking non-stop, and painstakingly showing correct positions while slowly going through the drills. She makes a few errors as she speaks, but instead of doing another take, she corrects herself, occasionally laughing at her own flub. This might get annoying with repeated viewings. The group drills definitely flow better than the individual instruction section, with no stopping to explain technique, but the viewer is confused by the strange angles. Zoe faces her students and everyone is filmed at a sort of sideways angle to the camera. Speaking of camera, at times the cameraman focuses on Zoe's upper body during a drill (and also, unforgivably, during Zoe's performance.) It might take me several viewings to figure out some of these drill sequences. This is not a dvd for beginners, but for more intermediate students of tribal style belly dance. In summary, I like this dvd, but I wish there could be some kind of training manual for people who film instructional dance dvds. Rule #1: We need to see the instructor's entire body!

This DVD is just drillz. There is a performance by Zoe on the DVD, but it's not broken down for you to follow. You get exactly what it says on the package- a series of drillz. And they are good ones.

However, you do have to follow the step by step instructions before you go on to the actual practice session. Zoe doesn't go over the movement before she launches straight into the drill. And this is a bit of a problem because she doesn't explain which direction she is going to start the drill before she starts it. Sometimes there is confusion (for me) when Zoe is going back to neutral or going in a backwards direction with chest work or hip work. It's not really explained.

Also, this DVD is not highly produced. It very much appears to have been recorded all in one day with no cuts. Seriously, there is almost no editing to make for cleaner instruction. Often during the drill section, Zoe will say "Start" than have to stop and wait for the music to catch up then say "Start" again. Or she'll get confused about which direction the movement was supposed to start and the DVD just left that in.

I can't help but compare this to Rachel Brice's newest DVD- Serpentine.Serpentine - Belly Dance with Rachel Brice :: Bellydance Technique & Yoga for Strong, Relaxed & Sinuous Movement Where Zoe's DVD production value is low, Rachel's is very high.

Rachel recorded voice overs for many of the movements (especially the yoga) that allows you to more clearly hear the explanation for the movement and the count while Rachel demonstrates the movement without speaking on the screen. There are sections where Rachel does speak, particularly during the step by step breakdown for the movements and during her explanation of her theories and ideas behind the movements.

I wish I had seen this kind of editing and serious consideration for the final product from Zoe's DVD. In the end, if I were going to recommend an instructional tribal belly dance DVD to a friend, I would have to recommend Rachel's over Zoe's. :-(

On top of the content, the price point in similar but you get so much more from Rachel Brice's Sepertine versus Zoe Jake's Killer Drillz. For five more dollars, you get two DVDs in Serpentine.

In Zoe's DVD there is no yoga section, just a warm up stretching section. In Rachel's DVD there are two full yoga sections that you can use separately from the belly dance if you choose.

In Zoe's DVD you get no choreographies; in Rachel's DVD you get two full choreographies that are broken down for you to follow.

Rachel Brice provided additional materials on her website including a suggested weekly practice schedule depending on your belly dance goals. Zoe did not provide any additional materials.

And finally, Serpentine Disc 1 is full of great drills (that are very clearly explained through thoughtful voice over) and Disc 2 has the coreographies. Killer Drillz has only the drills that are not even close to being as clear as Serprentine's drills.

I recommend this DVD is you are not interested in a more thorough DVD, but only want drills. I can not in good conscious recommend it for a beginner belly dancer or anyone who is interested in spending their money wisely.

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