NeonInstant Bellydancer! A Crash Course in Belly Dance, with Neon (TWO-DVD SET): Beginner bellydance classes, Learn belly dance, Belly dance how-to instruction

The DVD is definitely going to assists me in my goals. Would have gave a 5 but I just wish she would spend a coupla' more minutes with the step by step before moving on....just a weee bit but...I love Neon and the way she moves. The instruction is extensive (3 hours)and I now know that Belly Dancing is not going to be as easy as I thought.Yet I am very pleased with the DVD. I will have to keep at it though.You will find the layout of the instruction easy to follow and if you think you are just going to breeze thru the instruction...WRONG!! At least for the majority of us.I stayed on the first phase (STEP 1) for 2 hours because I don't want to half step with the positioning of the body and moves. I'm still not satisfied with my practice...so I will not move on until I get that down packed.Definitely works your muscles though. I think I would fair better with live instruction (say a class perhaps)...but unfortunately we don't have any this way. I just have to take my time with Neon.Girl can move though. Check out her dance where she performs with the candles on her head with no strap.Damn---I wanna be just like her when I grow up!!!

Be prepared to spend more than one session learning this DVD set, because although it is fast-paced, there are more than three hours of instruction.This DVD is more for the dancer who wants to expand her steps or hone her technique than it is for a beginner, but a beginner could learn by being patient and repeating the segments. The DVD includes illustrative graphics of the moves which I would prefer to be left out, but they might be useful to a beginner.I hesitated to purchase this because I wasn't sure if it was a repackaged version of Neon's other Instant Belly Dancer DVDs, but it is, in fact, a stand-alone program, similar in content, but with a new format.I actually liked the format of this better than Neon's other Instant Belly Dancer DVD set. It seems a bit more professional, if you discount the strange background with changing images. (Note: If you're going to include images in a false landscape with geometric shapes behind the instructor, at least have a similar theme throughout. Don't jump back and forth from garden scenes to cityscapes unless you really want to hamper the effectiveness of the DVD.)The best thing about this DVD set, in my opinion, is that nearly all of the time the camera is on Neon so you can clearly see what she is doing. Also, I appreciate the fact that Neon goes over the moves clearly and wears costumes that make it easy to see the legwork. Nothing's more frustrating than trying to learn new moves while the camera is off elsewhere or the instructor is unfocused and/or badly dressed.I think most students of belly dance will like Neon's pleasant, professional style. She is a pleasure to learn from.

I have seen at least one review of this DVD set that claims it's not beginner level and was too difficult. If you are totally new to belly dance, if you are NOT taking lessons, then, that might indeed be the case.If you ARE already taking lessons, and having a hard time getting your isolations "down", then this DVD set may be helpful. If your ARE already taking lessons, and not having a hard time with anything much, then this DVD set may NOT for you.The good points of this DVD set are the "animations", little drawings of what should be moving, and in what direction, and on what "plane" (horizontal, vertical, forward, back.... etc.) These can be VERY helpful if you are having a hard time with this kind of circle, or that kind of figure 8 (which Neon calls "infinity loops".)I bought this set when I first started taking lessons. I have a VERY good teacher, so, there were no surprises from the DVDs, or really anything that I could not already do, or that we were not already working on in class. I used it to help me make some things "better", but got really quite bored with it very quickly. That's the down side of this set, from my perspective.Bottom line: If you are already taking lessons this may not be a DVD set for you. If you are having a hard time with the basic moves, this DVD set might help. If you are trying to learn to belly dance on your own, you SHOULD get this DVD set.

I'm a beginner and I have to say that Instant Belly dancer 1 and 2 are wonderful!!!! Neon, is an excellent teacher. She reviews the moves slowly before speeding up so that you can get a feel for the movement. The first dvd is an extensive review of the basics, while the second dvd is more complex. I will warn you that this dvd is not like Neon's other dvd Luscious, instead it has more of a tutorial feel. There are reviews however after every four chapters, which puts all the steps together, but there isn't a combined dance performance. Both dvds are long and cover a lot of different steps, so it should take you some time to learn the moves. At least it takes me time. :)A few extra bonuses Neon is very talented! She has great muscle control and you can actually see her stomach muscles moving which is helpful because it lets you know what you should be doing. Another plus is that she wears pants in both dvds so you can see her leg movements. The beat in the music is clear. I definitely recommend it. Another thing is that Neon has posted a three minute introduction on youtube to the dvd. Watching that helped me choose it.

Good

I decided to get this DVD set because I love Neon's dancing and I have her Rhythm Workshop DVD which was amazing and had great instruction so I assumed the Instant Belly Dancer Crash Course would be just as great. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed because while she covers many moves her instruction seems a bit hurried. When she does the basic foundation move she does usually give it enough practice time and explanation but she also adds combinations onto each basic move and that's the area I feel needs some improving. The way she teaches these add-ons is a little fast and unclear for me, maybe more experienced dancers would have no problems with that but then again, would experienced dancers need a crash course? Another thing I really disliked was the music, during the practice session the music has a techno/house type feel and it really aggravates me. It does change to a more drummy type sound every once in a while. It really depends on the movement but even the more middle easterny music is kind of irritating. It just doesn't sound as nice and inspiring like in Luscious and Love Potion. I think I'll be enjoying this DVD more when I become more familiar with the moves so I can turn off the volume and play something of my own, or even practice in silence.I can see how the geometric superimposed shapes would be able to help absolute beginners understand which way to move their bodies for a given movement, so that is a nice feature to have. Also, Neon wears clothing that makes it easy to see the movement of her body. If you are a complete beginner I do think this may be a good DVD set to buy because it does give three hours of instruction of the basic moves along with combinations. However, you will need to be patient with the combinations at first because she just piles things on and it is easy to get lost with her add-ons, a lack of coordination does not help.In addition, this is only a reference for basic moves instruction, there is no choreography or information on how to use the moves you learned for actual dancing. I do like this DVD but I would love it if it had better music. Because of the combinations she adds I imagine I would be able to expand my dance vocabulary, assuming watching it over and over will clear things up. Because the DVDs are well chaptered you can practice each session once a day or you can actually pick out a specific move that you want to practice (when you click on a chapter it goes to another screen that shows each move and review in the section). There are also two Practice options that the DVD claims you can use for a cardio workout. I suppose it's true but you will need to work up to it because the practices include the combos as well, so beginners can get frustrated, as everything goes so fast. I would recommend this two disc set because for the price ($20) you get three hours worth of instruction and the system makes it easy to select specific moves you want to focus more on. Also, because of the combinations you can definitely grow in your dancing as you practice with this DVD. This DVD is definitely for beginners but if you are an absolute beginner it may help you to get some other beginner DVDs to accompany this once because it does not teach you choreography or how to use the music. I think Autumn Ward's Beautiful Artistry from the First Step would be very beneficial because she exhausts all the necessary information about proper posture and technique, as well as giving you the chance to practice the moves and do a choreographed dance.Lusicious and Love Potion are very good too if you want to do actual dancing!

ＤＶＤ2枚組みという、かなりのボリュームになってます。グラフィックを使用し、「どの部分の筋肉をどう動かすか」が分かりやすいです。英語は得意ではないのですが、グラフィックでの解説とでなんとなく言ってる事も理解できるます。1枚目のＤＶＤは、滑らかな動き編。ヒップサークル、アミ、チェストサークル、ヘッドロール、片側だけで行なうヒップサークル、フィギュアエイト、マイヤ、アンジュレーション、スネークアームetc・・・。定番の動きから、それをアレンジしたちょっと高度なテクニックまで、基本的な動かし方は同じでも、知ってると踊りの幅が広がるといった感じです。1つの動きのレクチャーが終わると、それを使った短いダンスタイム。徐々に習った動きが加えられてコンビネーションが出来上がっていきます。2枚目は、シミーやヒップドロップ、ヘッドスライドetc・・・。こちらも1枚目同様の流れとなっています。Youtubeで動画を発見したので、こちらで購入を検討されている方はチェックしてみるのも手だと思います。[...]

かなり動きのバリエーションも多く、初心者には向きません。テンションも習う時間が長すぎて、保つのが大変です。少なくとも、初めての人には難しすぎると言えると思います。トータルビギナー向けのステップのハウトゥーから初めてみたほうが良いと思います。私には、こんなにベリーって難しいんだ。。。と思わされるビデオでしたが、もっともっと動きのすべてを知りたいという上級者向けだと思います。