Product Description

Join certified aerobics instructor, Rania, a multi-award-winning dancer, in this unique weight loss series. Rania's bellydance skill is truly remarkable and her dancing is beauty in motion.

Rania has combined her vast dance background, her extensive aerobics training and her award winning bellydance flair into this fun filled dance workout. Bellydance is one of the most ancient and evolved forms of dance in the world. Universally embraced for it's incredible benefits to the body, bellydance is a powerful way to lose weight and sculpt the body. This is because bellydance not only burns calories and fat but massages and stimulates the digestive system, thereby increasing the metabolism. This is the key element to losing weight.

This specially priced boxed set includes four great DVD titles. You save $9.94 compared to purchasing the individual titles separately!

Pure Sweat is a cutting edge, high energy aerobic workout that combines bellydance moves with hot Salsa, Rumba, and Samba dance rhythms. You will learn to move, gyrate, shake and twist all while getting a weight reducing, calorie burning, aerobic workout. The music cleverly combines hip shaking Middle Eastern percussion. The music is hot and your feet won't stop. It's Pure Sweat, all the way through!

Hip Drop Hip Hop is a bellydance workout done to the driving, dance inspiring beats of Hip Hop. Rania takes you through this innovative Middle East meets West workout that fuses Hip Hop sounds with bellydance moves. As you learn actual bellydance combinations, your hips, arms, buns and tummy will thoroughly be toned and worked. You will isolate, move and work muscles you didn't know you had. Get your workout for the day as Hip Hop music takes you away. See your weight drop as you Hip Drop!

Cardio Shimmy is a vibrant and electrifying bellydance workout that explores the numerous varieties or "Shimmies." Shimmies are fast, shaking, and electrifying movements commonly seen in bellydance. In this workout you will learn a medley of hip and shoulder shimmies at different rhythms and speeds all while getting a full aerobic workout. Let Rania lead you through this fun, easy to learn dance workout routine while you shake and Shimmy those pounds away!

Bellydance Boogie is a new, exhilarating, dance workout that combines the sensual rhythms and beats of Hip Hop and R&B. Every muscle of the body will thoroughly be worked as you learn the more smooth and undulating hypnotic moves of bellydance. Your body will be trained to move with grace, power and femininity. Rania's elegant and precise movements are a pleasure to watch and follow as she guides you through this one of a kind workout.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14183 in DVD
• Brand: GOLDHIL ENTERTAINMENT
• Released on: 2003-01-14
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: .85 pounds
• Running time: 130 minutes

Customer Reviews

my perspective
I bought this set before I read the reviews here. I am a personal trainer/fitness instructor, and I thought these workouts were well written, well-produced, and well executed. One of the most difficult things to do as an instructor is break down a new dance style without stopping the workout. Rania did an amazing job of starting techniques slowly, repeating them, layering them, then speeding them up to tempo. After watching the performances at the end, I realised why she left the more strenuous or potentially dangerous moves out of the fitness programs. I was really impressed with the whole set.

When I read through the reviews I noticed that most of the negative reviews came from people proclaiming to be belly dancers. I was a jazz dancer before becoming a fitness professional. There is a big difference between teaching dance for fitness than for teaching dance as an art form. When teaching for fitness, you have to use only the moves that are effective in terms of fitness, safe, and ones that target a range of muscles groups for a well-rounded workout. If you are expecting to learn to really dance, buy a dance instruction tape. If you want to work out safely and effectively using bellydance moves, this set is first class. Congratulations to Rania.

Well Rounded Workout Series Will Make You Less Round
If you're not familiar with the Bellydancer Rania and her Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss series, she is an AFAA certified Fitness Instructor and internationally renowned bellydancer. Her four part workout series fuses bellydance moves with a variety of different Western musical rhythms in her belief that bellydance can be done to any kind of music. With soundtracks not always coming off as authentic sounding as one may like -- you'll have to use your imagination a bit when you hear the `Disneyesque' and sometimes cartoonish sounding strains of Hip Hop, Salsa, and R & B. The Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss series are a set of fun workouts and a great way to interject life into a dull and stale workout routine.

Before beginning each workout it's important to keep in mind what these are -- workouts. Although you will learn some bellydance, as all of the routines are nearly completely comprised of bellydance moves, don't expect to buy this set and have it be your one-stop shopping for instruction and workout. They haven't made anything like that yet. The pacing required for instruction is way too slow to get your heart rate up for a cardiovascular or fat burning workout. Rania does a very good job of creating routines with moves using similar muscle groups, starting with a slower tempo to teach the move and then returning quickly to full tempo, layering all the movements together to create an interesting routine. Lots of repetition will give you plenty of great bellydance practice.

Each one of the four follows a similar format and vary only in specific content and theme. One thing that's nice about the whole set is the variety in movement that each will offer you. Rania selected moves for each of the four workouts to work different areas of the body. With the whole set, you'll get the most rounded workout.

Cardio Shimmy features the signature shimmies that are the hallmark all good bellydance performances. This workout uses a variety of these high-tempo, and high-energy bellydance moves. It also highlights a calf-building move known as a chu chu. It's one workout guaranteed to get your heart-rate up as quickly as you can wiggle your hips, buns, thighs, and shoulders. The Bonus section of this disc includes two performances, Rania's Techno Drum Solo and Rania's veil dance in traditional style, that later helped to form the "Bellydance Divas" CD as well as the "Waist Sculpting" workout that later became one 10 minute segment of "Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss: Daily Quickies...5 Ten Minute Workouts."

Bellydance Boogie is supposed to fuse the sounds of Hip Hop and R&B with bellydance but once again you have to use your imagination here. It's the slowest of the four workouts, tempo wise, but not the easiest. The smoother and more undulating bellydance moves featured here will work your muscles in surprising ways considering its slower pace -- further proof that a faster, higher impact workout isn't always a better one. The Bonus section of this disc includes Rania's sword dance and Rania's improvisation dance from "Divas" and The 10 minute long Dancer's Legs & Buns workout from "Bellydance Quickies."

Hip Drop Hip Hop - Not exactly street style Hip Hop sounds here, but if you work your imagination a bit, urban dance-esque in feel. This workout is a bellydance routine set to 80's style hip hop instrumental music. The Bonus section has Rania's Wings of Isis dance as well as one other from "Divas" and the Arms, Chest, and Back workout from "10 Minute Bellydance Quickies."

Pure Sweat - Pure Sweat is the "Latin-esque" flavored bellydance workout and, of the four in this series, is by far the lightest workout. Try this one first if you're really out of shape. If you're no stranger to excercise, save this one for your 'light' excercise day. The music is more `tropical' sounding than Salsa as it claims; you could imagine the soundtrack being written by Disney. A couple of the bellydance moves featured here are similar to Salsa moves and with slight styling variations could easily be transposed -- further proof that learning one dance will help you in the learning process for another. The Bonus section features Rania's veil and cane dance as well as her Turkish 9/8 count Rompi Rompi dance from "Divas" and has the 10 minute Abs Isolation segment from "Quickies."

The workouts are set in a studio and Rania is backed up by a small group of dancers in matching workout attire w/ hip scarves -- similar in look and feel of the Crunch workout series but without all those annoying logos. The back up dancer's bodies are all variations on different female body types with some being curvy and some skinny, and at least one should look how your body could look if it were in a little better, but not rock hard, shape.

Each of the four workouts has a warm up of roughly 5 minutes. 20 minutes is spent on each disc devoted to instruction and routines. All four finish with a cool down and stretch segment of approximately 5 minutes in length. My biggest complaint is that I wish workouts were longer in length. 30 minutes just isn't enough for me to keep the fat molecules at bay. I would rather the workout be an hour in length and I could always quit part way through on days I have only 30-40 minutes to workout. Also, studies show that the body does not even begin to burn fat until after 20-30 minutes of sustained cardiovascular activity. If you're not loosing weight, consider doing more than one in a row for a great, results-getting workout. Then once you reach your target shape, one a day can be used as a maintenance program.

Not a lot of explanation is given to the individual bellydance moves but nearly everything is done in half-time to start before moving up to full tempo. Rania's voiceover often gives pointers as to how the moves are done but one would need to either be a little bit familiar with bellydance, or have a dance friendly set of coordination skills. Nearly anyone could eventually pick up most of the bellydance being done on these DVDs with enough patience and practice. Even without doing the moves perfectly you'll still have fun and get a good workout. Only the beginner absolutely new to all forms of dance would be truly lost. Some of the names Rania gives to certain Bellydance moves are different than I've heard them called before but this is common in the dance world where dancers come up with a move and patent the only part people can't `steal' -- the name. Don't let this bother you; it happens in Bellydance, Hip Hop, Salsa, et all. The move is probably the same thing you learned in class just with a different name.

Probably the biggest complaints about Rania's DVDs are concerning her stiffness, often vacant look, and inability to sustain a heartfelt smile. The look and smile I just consider window dressing for a video; I'm certainly more concerned with her ability to dance and teach. As far as her stiffness goes, it does have one advantage here -- a slightly stiff body is actually easier for a beginner to follow because lots of extra movement is distracting to the beginner who is merely trying to get the essence of a move down pat. While it may irritate an intermediate to professional dancer to watch, the beginner will benefit, and although Rania is certainly not the most fluid of dancers, the routines in the bonus section will attest that some, but not all, of her stiffness comes from making the workout moves look simpler. This is, of course, a fitness video for beginners.

In all, each of the four workouts are fun and you'll learn a little bit of dance. I just wish they all were longer.

Pretty to look at, but uninspiring
I've taught fitness for over 15 years. I was a jazz dance major in college and have also started studying various forms of Middle Eastern Dance. My review of Rania's videos will incorporate all three points of view.
In terms of fitness, this is where they rate the best. The Cardio Shimmy is the most challenging, at about a beg-intermediate low-impact workout level. They are safe moves, although I believe Rania left out some key verbal cues for proper technique and alignment. The verbal cuing on the DVDs is also either not aligned properly with the video, or Rania cues late. A participant needs time to react to verbal cuing, thus the instructor needs to cue a couple beats ahead of a new move in order for it to be effective. A good amount of the cues were also completely off beat with the music. Once you know the moves, play the DVD with only the music. Rania and her team are in very good shape, so in this way are inspiring.
From a dance perspective I find Rania's style to be very stiff. This stiff style works very well with her performance of the Phaeronic Temple dance (bonus feature). Her delivery, smile and arm movements are wooden, maybe she was nervous. Her "back-up" dancers were pleasant to watch, as they exhibited more grace, extension and ease.
From a Middle Eastern Dance background I've most commonly seen a different method of doing hip isolations. Rania initiates the movement by straightening the leg. While this can be a good way to help beginners, it also needs to be emphasized that most hip isolations are not meant to rely on the leg movement, the legs are just "carried along". This difference in technique shows greatest when Rania looses her hip shimmy a few times (in Cardio Shimmy), with lots of movement still going on in her legs.
I recommend this series to beginners who wants a light, different workout at home, or someone who wants to get an idea of beginner belly dance moves at home before going out to study somewhere. More exprienced dancers can also use the simple combinations to brush up on their technique or practice zill drills (although it's not Middle Eastern Music) along with their dancing.
The special features were enjoyable. I've watched Sohaila over and over again. She has impeccable, inspiring technique, elegance and grace. Marina is a little firecracker with lots of energy. Her drum solo and cane dance are lovely. Lochia shows folk inspired dance with interesting combinations of folk inspired costuming in cabaret style fabrics. Rania's temple dance was well executed, the costume beautiful.