A-Z Bellydance

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The above poll includes responses submitted since December 18, 2002.

The video comes with 32-page companion booklet at no additional cost. When buying a copy for yourself, verify that you'll be receiving both the book and video. If you're being offered the video only (which should happen only when you're buying a used copy, because new copies should always come with the book), you're receiving only part of the package Keti intended for you to have and I'd encourage you to either shop elsewhere or negotiate the price accordingly. For each of the 26 combinations, the book provides a written description of how to do it, including suggestions for the arms. In the very back, it offers some excellent tips that don't appear on the video itself on how to choreograph a dance.

Although Keti's promotional material describes the content as 26 "routines", it's more accurate to refer to them as choreography building blocks - each a 16-part step combination. These are designed to be used either as combinations you can tap into when doing your own improvised dance or as elements of a finished choreography that you are creating. For the most part, the style of the moves is designed for the type of dance that arose during the 20th century in Egyptian nightclubs.

I like this video very much. It is filmed with professional lighting and sound quality, and the camera work almost always makes it easy to see what I want to see. I noticed only a couple of instances where I found myself grumbling about the camera showing me Keti's face when I wanted to see what her body was doing. Keti's step combinations capture the flavor of Egyptian dance quite well.

For each step combination, Keti first teaches the very basic footwork. Next she adds more complex footwork and hip movements. After demonstrating this, she adds arm movements that harmonize with the feet/hips and enhance the overall effect. When introducing the move, Keti works without background music and demonstrates it slowly. She demonstrates both how it looks from the front (as if you were the audience), and also from the back (so you can follow her). Once she has finished describing and demonstrating the combination, she dances it to suitable music to show how it looks at full speed.

• Routines A-E (Basic). The video begins with five combinations designed for beginning-level dancers. Someone using video to study belly dancing could progress to this group of combinations after mastering a "basic moves" video or two for assistance in learning how to combine steps, hip lifts, figure 8's, and arm movements into dance.
• Routines F-J (Folkloric). Although borrowed from traditional folkloric dances such as fellahin and hagallah, these combinations can also be incorporated into a nightclub-style performance. Keti doesn't teach enough about any one particular folkloric form to construct a full-length dance in that form based on her moves, but her folkloric moves can enrich your understanding of Egypt's dance heritage.
• Routines K-O (Taqsim/Slow and Emotive). As the title for this section says, these combinations are designed for slow, fluid music. They could be used with slow chiftetelli, rhumba/bolero, or even adapted for free-form instrumental solos. Although more complex than earlier combinations taught, the ones in this group are still based on reasonably simple moves such as hip circles and figure 8's, and would still probably be within reach of beginners who have mastered the earlier combinations on this video.
• Routines P-T (Intermediate). Two of the combinations in this section have names like "Pharaonic" and "Queen" which suggest that they might be related to the dances of ancient Egypt, but they're really modern-day raqs sharqi. I expected another combination in this group, "Tanoura", to be based on the folkloric whirling dervishes because of its name, but this too is modern-day Oriental style. As the word "Intermediate" implies in the title of this section, these combinations are more complex, and a beginner working with this video would want to thoroughly master the earlier combinations before attempting the ones in this group.
• Routines U-Z (Advanced). As the word "Advanced" in the title of this section implies, these are the most complex combinations on this video. They contain far less repetition than earlier combinations, and they employ a more advanced dance technique known as layering.

Following the above choreography instruction, the video ends with a 3-minute "jam" section in which Keti leads a practice session using the combinations taught. As she dances, titles on the screen identify which combination she's doing so you can follow along. Before attempting this section, you would want to be careful to master the combinations and memorize exactly which name applies to each. Assuming you have done that, it should be reasonably easy to follow along.

You Will Probably Like This Video If

• You're a beginner who has been using "basic moves" videos to learn fundamentals such as how to do hip drops and circles, and now you'd like a "continuing education" video to help you experiment with ways to assemble these building blocks into a finished dance. This one begins with simple combinations, then progresses to more difficult ones later in the video, so you won't outgrow it right away.
• You're a teacher, troupe director, or professional dancer who is looking for fresh step combinations to add new flavors to your own choreography.
• You are seeking instruction in the Egyptian style of dancing, including moves that fit well with the different Egyptian variations such as baladi, raqs shaabi, nightclub, and others.
• You would like assistance in learning how to combine arm movements with hip motions and steps.

You Probably Won't Care for This Video If

• You're not interested in learning step combinations.
• You prefer for your instructional videos to include a section showing performance in full costume.
• You're looking for a video that emphasizes folkloric instruction. (Although this one includes some folkloric combinations, they're not the primary focus.)

What I Liked

• Keti shot this video in a studio that showed mirrors on two sides of her. Unfortunately, the camera was so far away from the mirrors that the mirror image of her was very tiny and not as easy to see as I might have preferred.
• The video is grouped into several categories of combinations that fit logically together; for example, it includes a section of five combinations suitable for slow, undulating taqsim music. This makes it possible for someone using the video to study a group of combinations which complement each other, which can then be combined into her own dance.
• The video opens with simple combinations suitable for beginners, then gradually builds to more difficult ones. It's not something that would be outgrown right away.
• Keti demonstrates each move from both front and back.
• Each move is introduced with an on-screen title identifying it, so that when fast-forwarding through the video looking for a particular move it's easy to find the right place.
• Both the companion book and the back cover of the video list the combinations in order, making it easy to identify how far into the video you need to find the group of moves that you want to study.
• Keti wears exercise clothes throughout the video. Her leggings and bare feet make it easy to see what her legs and feet are doing. At times, she switches to different clothing, which pleasantly varies the visual impact.
• A choreographer who employs Keti's combinations will find it easy to create choreography notes identifying what to. Instead of writing many lines of text on what to do with hips, feet, and arms, a choreographer can merely state, "Do the Delta [or whatever] combination".

What I Didn't Like

• I would have preferred that the camera zoom in a little closer to Keti when she was teaching the combinations. It tended to maintain an angle where the top 1/3 of the screen was just empty space, leaving it difficult at times to discern subtle details of what Keti was teaching.
• At times, Keti wore black exercise clothing, which blended too much into some dark items on the set behind her. This made it difficult at times to distinguish her movement from the background.
• During the "Jam" session, the camera zoomed in for close-ups of Keti's face more often than I would have preferred. I had not yet memorized each of the combinations, so seeing the title on the screen wasn't sufficient - I needed to see what her body and arms were doing, too.

If you'd like to read my reviews of other videos by Keti Sharif, choose from the lists below.

Instructional Videos:

• Bellydance Live, Part 1 - Introduction to Music & Rhythms
• Bellydance Live, Part 2 - Classical Bellydance
• Bellydance Live, Part 3 - Folkloric Dance
• Bellydance Live, Part 4 - Modern Bellydance
• Bellydance Live, Part 5 - Tabla Solo
• Secrets of the Centre
• Jewel of Arabia

Workout Videos:

• Body Quake Elements (2005)
• World Dance Aerobics

In addition, the following opinion polls are available featuring other videos by Keti:

• A-Z Advanced Stage
• Body Quake (original 1998 version)

Contact Keti Sharif as follows:

Phone: (+61) 412747447
Web Site: http://www.ketisharif.com
E-Mail: keti@iinet.net.au

Or, if you prefer, you can order from her U.S. distributor, International Dance Discovery:

International Dance Discovery
P.O. Box 893
Bloomington, IN 47402-0893
U.S.A.

Phone: (+1) (812) 330-1831
Web Site: ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/IDD/dzinetoc.htm
E-Mail: IDD@compuserve.com

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