dancing with a sword (how wierd is that?)
May. 2nd, 2008 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alonewiththemoonLast night I used the DVD "Sword Stylization with Belladonna" for the first time. Although it is somewhat amateur in production and the constant? upspeak? gets a little? annoying? after a while, I found this DVD very useful for somebody with a little sword experience but not a lot of sword confidence. The technique section is broken into two segments, holding and balancing. I liked that equal emphasis was put on things you can do with a sword that are not balancing. While nothing in the holding section was really new to me, it was useful to go over the movements in a methodical manner and to drill them for a while until the movements combined with the sword felt completely natural. I liked the emphasis on building drama through being slow and deliberate in this section. Balancing was limited to just the head, but there was some good material there too. For me, the best value of the balancing section was again going over movements again and again. I'm not disciplined enough to do a lot of drilling on my own, I will freely admit, so it was helpful for me to have Belladonna push me into repeating things many more times than I would ordinarily. Most of the balancing movements are not that physically demanding, no crazy floorwork or anything like that. There was a turn that included a knee drop in the middle that looked cool but would definitely be a problem for those with bad knees (or in my case, a bad foot that can't be counted on for the support in going up and down). Otherwise, not physically challenging. Though the sword-wielding muscles get sore after a while, and there's that dent in the head factor ;-)
The DVD is labeled tribal fusion, but I think dancers of any style could benefit from the instruction. The movement terminology is definitely tribal (taxsim and so forth) but you can certainly do all of the movements in the style to which you are accustomed--though it's certainly easier to do say controlled heel-down tribal maia's with a sword on your head than it is to do big exhuberant heel-up cabaret maia's, I can tell you that for a fact.
There are a few drawbacks to this DVD. I really disliked a lot of the music, apart from Collide. Most of it was by a band called American Sinners and they were not at all my cup of tea. It made me a bit sad that there was no Middle Eastern music at all on the DVD, not even for the drilling sections. That also means that all the movements were taught in basic 4/4; some illustration of how moves might be adapted to chiftetelli or other slow rhythms would have been very nice. Belladonna also did not regularly count out the timing for combos; if you are an experienced dancer this might not be an issue, but it made for some confusion when combos were put to music. The menu structure was also a bit unwieldy. Each chapter would play, and then deposit you back at the menu when it was done, which made for a disjointed viewing experience and lots of jumping for the remote. I can understand to some extent why it was set up like that, but a Play All option from the beginning, or starting after the introduction, would have been appreciated.
All in all, I'd give it a solid B+. Given the paucity of sword DVDs out there, I have no qualms about recommending it to dancers who are familiar with basic belly dance movement vocabulary (and won't be thrown by tribal terminology, if that's not your thing). If you have a sword and have messed around with it a bit but feel a little at a loss for ideas, this is definitely the DVD for you. It's also not a bad upper body workout, if you switch hands occasionally to maintain balance. You can see a two minute preview of the DVD at YouTube.
I ran a block to catch a bus this morning. Apparently that is something that my foot is categorically not yet up to doing :-( But thankfully, ibuprofen made a big difference when I got to work. I think I should be in ok shape for tomorrow's recital. I hope.
I've got my bourbon and my mint at home waiting for the Kentucky Derby, yay! Though I am still rooting for Big Brown, the horse with the foot problems, there's a handful of legitimate contenders this year and I think it will shape up to be an interesting race. With such a big field, a lot of it comes down to luck and traffic. If Big Brown is really the freak of nature that some claim he is, then his post position of 20 (the far outside) shouldn't hurt him, but if he isn't a freak, he'd need a pretty perfect trip to compensate for the post position. Guess we'll see tomorrow!
The DVD is labeled tribal fusion, but I think dancers of any style could benefit from the instruction. The movement terminology is definitely tribal (taxsim and so forth) but you can certainly do all of the movements in the style to which you are accustomed--though it's certainly easier to do say controlled heel-down tribal maia's with a sword on your head than it is to do big exhuberant heel-up cabaret maia's, I can tell you that for a fact.
There are a few drawbacks to this DVD. I really disliked a lot of the music, apart from Collide. Most of it was by a band called American Sinners and they were not at all my cup of tea. It made me a bit sad that there was no Middle Eastern music at all on the DVD, not even for the drilling sections. That also means that all the movements were taught in basic 4/4; some illustration of how moves might be adapted to chiftetelli or other slow rhythms would have been very nice. Belladonna also did not regularly count out the timing for combos; if you are an experienced dancer this might not be an issue, but it made for some confusion when combos were put to music. The menu structure was also a bit unwieldy. Each chapter would play, and then deposit you back at the menu when it was done, which made for a disjointed viewing experience and lots of jumping for the remote. I can understand to some extent why it was set up like that, but a Play All option from the beginning, or starting after the introduction, would have been appreciated.
All in all, I'd give it a solid B+. Given the paucity of sword DVDs out there, I have no qualms about recommending it to dancers who are familiar with basic belly dance movement vocabulary (and won't be thrown by tribal terminology, if that's not your thing). If you have a sword and have messed around with it a bit but feel a little at a loss for ideas, this is definitely the DVD for you. It's also not a bad upper body workout, if you switch hands occasionally to maintain balance. You can see a two minute preview of the DVD at YouTube.
I ran a block to catch a bus this morning. Apparently that is something that my foot is categorically not yet up to doing :-( But thankfully, ibuprofen made a big difference when I got to work. I think I should be in ok shape for tomorrow's recital. I hope.
I've got my bourbon and my mint at home waiting for the Kentucky Derby, yay! Though I am still rooting for Big Brown, the horse with the foot problems, there's a handful of legitimate contenders this year and I think it will shape up to be an interesting race. With such a big field, a lot of it comes down to luck and traffic. If Big Brown is really the freak of nature that some claim he is, then his post position of 20 (the far outside) shouldn't hurt him, but if he isn't a freak, he'd need a pretty perfect trip to compensate for the post position. Guess we'll see tomorrow!
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 08:06 pm (UTC)I might wait on it, then, until I have a bit more time to work with the Magic: Fantasy Bellydance DVD with Isidora's swordwork. I like how martial it looks, not just balancing.
I really liked Belladonna's sword duet that I found on YouTube, which is what convinced me to get the DVD.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 08:20 pm (UTC)Me, I love to see what moves I know that I can adapt to sword work. It's a real test of balance when you do a traveling 3/4 shimmy, or traveling down-up Arabics with snakearms!
no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 08:21 pm (UTC)I love Romka. My friend Rachel just went to Spirit of the Tribes and was also raving about their workshop and wants to try to host Romka here for some sword workshops. I don't have the cash to do something like that...but maybe if there is enough interest a few of us can put something together :-)
no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-03 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 03:55 pm (UTC)