Product Description

Bollywood to Bollydance: Capturing the thriving and phenomenally engaging movement found in the vastly popular Indian movies worldwide, Bollywood dance is bringing audiences everywhere to their feet! Now, guiding you through combinations rich in character and color, internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer, Meera Varma, brings you to your feet once more, keeping you in step with her own signature cinematic style! Showcasing Bollywood Dance's exciting blend of classical Indian, folk and western dance influences, Meera will teach you all the same dance moves that have lead her to award-winning success on the stage and screen, making you look and feel like a bonafide Bollywood movie star! Includes a warm up, cool down, complete dance instruction, an energetic and sultry workout, and the world premier of an exclusive Performance Music Video "Maya" as the highlight Bonus Feature! "Lights...Camera...Dance!" Approx 71 Mins.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35491 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-10-03
• Formats: Color, Digital Sound, Dolby, NTSC
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 71 minutes

About the Actor
Daughter of international ethnic dancer Zarina Varma and classical Indian Tabla player Raj Varma, Meera's musical upbringing has trained her to be an artist since the age of four. Having lived all over the world, at a very young age this Multi-Award Winning Dancer has had the opportunity to perform on a global stage, reaching 6 continents.

During her artistic career, Meera has indulged herself in many different avenues of the arts and entertainment industry, being featured as an actress, guest dancer and choreographer in films, television commercials, and music videos internationally. Meera's strong media relationships have generated cover and front page news stories, international radio coverage and television exposure.

Meera's creativity as a performer highlights the emotions of rhythm as she reveals the sensuality of her soul. Her stage presence is powerful yet playful, expressing extraordinary style with grace and beauty. She has performed to a vast array of cultural music, ranging from traditional music of the East to modern progressive music. Her style of dancing is unique, focusing on the various Dances of India, and authentic Egyptian and Cabaret style Oriental (Belly) Dancing, with the natural essence of her East Indian heredity and technique flowing through every performance. Meera has also formed her own dance troupe called The Mahari Dance Company, performing both Oriental and Indian style dancing. Today, this breakthrough young talent carries on the tradition of her ancestor's musical background, and pursues her artistic career before audiences around the world.

Customer Reviews

Fun and Easy
My motivation for buying this DVD was to find a fun workout. I love the dance scenes in Bollywood movies as well as the music videos for Indian Pop music. This dance video with Meera is a great introduction to the commonly seen dance steps from the movies and it's also a good workout. I should point out I'm a dance beginner and not in very good shape. A seasoned dancer may find this DVD too easy. Meera explains everything clearly with ample demonstrations. The camera shows her whole body. There are no crazy zooms or angles.

Since I've been using this video the last month or so my grace and balance have improved, as well as some shrinkage of my butt (yay!). It was a fun way to exercise so I'll certainly be getting more of Meera's videos soon.

Just Not Enough
The few moves that she shows are repeated enough to really get them down, but the music is very repetitive and gets annoying. The DVD needs 1) More combos!!!! (The ALI DVD I bought has about 14 interesting combos in it and sets a heck of a standard) and 2)Better music selection.

Also, the performance segment didn't show any of the moves she taught and had quite a few that I would love to have learned instead. It's frustrating to see a performance that has completely different moves- it makes you feel as though you are far, far from performing, even in casual settings.

I do think the moves she showed were easyily broken down, but for the cost, it wasn't what it should have been.

Great Instructional DVD
The moves in this DVD are well explained and gracefully executed. I feel like I am learning actual Bollywood moves. The filming and set are professional quality.

I find though that my heart rate is not elevated much (except during one move called the Heart of Bombay). Compared to aerobic dance, Celtic dance, and pop dance, this DVD has a much slower pace. Despite that, the DVD will improve your overall posture and movements since all the motions require control, grace, and involve muscles in the whole body.

My only regrets are that just a handful of moves were demonstrated and that the background music was a bit bland and repetitive. I do plan to buy more of Meera's DVDs in the future.