Absolute Beginning Bellydance With Delilah

After a complete and continuous viewing of this DVD, I can only conclude that, in this instance, this incredibly creative and spiritual dancer has given her work a misnomer.  It should have been called something like: “A Lecture Featuring Performance Segments, Tips, and Random Instruction by an American Dance Goddess”.  In almost no way does it fulfill my notion of a proper first lesson for an absolute beginner.

Yet, it is an interesting gathering of informative material presented in an attractive and thoughtful manner. 

There is no greater exponent of American fantasy styled Belly dance than the spirited Delilah. Almost single handedly, she has pioneered a specific sub-genre of the Belly dance scene: the Belly Dancing/Goddess cross-over fusion.  

She includes a very attractive and clever feature at the beginning of this presentation as chapter one: the Crystal Ball Dance Collage. 

This collage has the effect of looking into the past dances by Delilah on numerous occasions in various costumes, even a little of her dance on the beaches of Hawaii!  

In Chapter Two, the featured dance is “Leilit Hob”[“Laylat Hob”] with the musicians, Suleyman and Uncle Mafufo also known as “Sirocco”.  Missing is any sort of introduction of this diva and her dance!  Missing is any explanation of these musicians, their instruments, or the origin and history of the composition. Missing is their usual level of fun and playful interchange with the dancer.  Having taught beginning dancers for over thirty years, I know that this would have been information of great interest to them. 

Delilah is lovely in a sea foam green costume, but the dance part of the presentation, though professionally danced, is dry and has a quality of weird energy that doesn’t quite “happen” for me. 

It may be a factor of dancing in an empty room for a camera and the wrong choice of music for the occasion. Perhaps it is the dower faces of the musicians in the background.  Whatever it is, it is too long, and it almost seems that Delilah, by placing these performance pieces at the beginning, is intimidating her new students who are watching on the other side of the television screen.  In my opinion, beginners might like to learn a few simply accomplished moves that they can identify when watching the teacher perform for the first time. 

Delilah delivers a little greeting under a rain umbrella in Maui—if you did not know Delilah and what she is all about, you might be puzzled about this connection.  How and why did Belly Dance sprout in Maui? Next, we find her indoors, seated in an odd Polynesian chair, reminiscent of Gilda Radner as the little girl in the giant chair.  Unfortunately, this presentation does not do Delilah justice.  There is a frown fused to her face that hides her spirit and the wordy presentation seems to go on…and on…and on…

When we finally get into the instructional Chapters, they are pure Delilah. The instruction is careful and detailed.

However, Delilah’s choice of dance movements seems to me to be peculiar: Lotus hands and Head Slides (not generally used in the Middle Eastern version of Belly Dance), and Basic Shimmies, which I believe are too advanced for an absolute beginner.  The topper, or perhaps over the top, is a horizontal belly roll; again, not a part of Middle Eastern Belly Dance.

Delilah delivers complete and clear instruction in Basic Alignment but then does not proceed in any logical sequence to basic dance/walking, foot placement, dance steps derived from folklore, or introduction to Middle-Eastern music. Many students new to Belly dance have never had any instruction in music, so they have no idea what all the “counting” is about or how to interpret the most simple folk music.  Most beginners use their feet in ungainly, un-dancer like ways such as pigeon toeing and walking heel toe, and no help for feet is offered on this DVD.

After the Lotus Hands instruction, Delilah shows its use by including a “Candle Dance”, as if it were an integral part of the Oriental dance; this is why I wish that this DVD had been titled with some words indicating that it is mystic, a fantasy, produces a feminine goddess, or something a little more to the point of its actual content.  All in all, even though you can spend a lot of time looking at Delilah’s fabulous torso and admire this beauty dancing in costume, her DVD falls short of its misleading title and perhaps will become a sacrifice to the nearest island volcano God in place of the virgin du jour.
For more info on this video see http://www.visionarydance.com/

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