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Mezdulene's
review of the video -
Belly Dancing The Sacred Shapes™
with The Goddess Dancing™
This video starts out with a
talk: “In 1989, we started as a group of women interested in the Goddess and
the spiritual nature of belly dance. We soon became a group of women dedicated
to sharing our remarkable discoveries with as many people as possible.
Contained within this video is our curriculum developed through years of study
and experience. It is a new form of self-expression and movement designed by
the Goddess Dancing for greater health and balance. We have taken the core
movements of belly dance from around the world as they exist today and grounded
them in the ancient movements of Goddess cultures worldwide. Grateful to all
the women before us and along side us who dance for their own health and
enjoyment, we strive to bring this art form to the new millennium….” There
is so much more and very well stated. During the talk there are a lot of
visuals presented, which makes it very interesting.
The video is professionally
made and uses some great graphics to show various things such as the horizontal
and vertical planes. After studying the dance they have broken it down into 5
basic shapes, the circle, crescent, figure eight, shimmy and undulation.
First the basic stance is
shown, and never have I heard such a beautiful description of the basic stance
including imagining your feet and knees anchored in the ground and a beam of
light traveling up your spine lifting and supporting you, coming up through your
head and showering you with light. I just loved this!
Next, we move on to
stretching, and Goddesses were described with stories, and the warm-up movements
were an expression of the stories. What a wonderful concept!
The instructions started out
with the shape of the circle and how we find it in nature and the human body.
Here are the circles they covered: Horizontal Hip Circle, Horizontal Heart
Circle, Vertical Heart Circle, Sagittal Heart Circle, and Horizontal Head
Circle. The Heart Circles are what I call rib circles, but I like their term
“heart circle” much better. Not only are you shown the movements, but also a
beautiful visualization is given. Then, they are broken down, and even the
specific muscles are mentioned.
The visualization used is
incredible. For instance, the hip circle, imagine your essence in your belly
being stirred around in a bowl. Stir your essence and try not to spill a drop.
What beautiful concepts are shared in the video.
The next shape is the crescent
and again examples from nature and our bodies. The movements covered were the
Horizontal Hip Crescent, Horizontal Heart Crescent, Vertical Heart Crescent and
Horizontal Head Crescent.
Three beautiful women take
turns describing each of the shapes and standing in front while showing the
movements.
Next came the figure-eight
including, the Horizontal Hip Figure-eight, the Vertical Heart Figure-eight, and
Vertical Head figure-eight.
Shimmy is the next shape and
is described as the invisible shape all around us, the quiver of excitement, our
heart races, earth shifts. Their shimmies included The Earthquake Shimmy,
Twisting Shimmy, Heart Shimmy, and Ecstasy Shimmy. Of course I couldn’t wait to
see what the Ecstasy Shimmy was, and it turned out to be a full body vibration!
The undulation came up next
and the unseen forces of the universe such as sound and heat waves. Their
instruction included The Wave and The Snake.
Costumes were changed with
each shape, and the music used throughout this video is all from Desert Wind, a
perfect choice for Goddess dancing. There was also a performance included.
I absolutely loved everything
about this video, the concepts, the beautiful backdrop, visualizations and
instruction. I would have liked to seen instruction for arm movements and some
veil, (Part II?) but I would still recommend this one for all dancers.
Beginners will learn the basics, and the rest of us benefit from the concepts
and visualizations. I, for one, hope they do make a second video!
Reviewed by
Mezdulene,
owner/publisher/editor of
Jareeda: The International Magazine for Middle Eastern
Dance.
Reprinted with permission: This review originally
appeared in Jareeda: The International Magazine for Middle Eastern Dance,
October/November 2004.
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