Rating: 
Summary: Great dancing, but fire the cameraman
Review: "Bellydance Superstars" the DVD is the latest project from rock-impresario-turned-bellydance-fan Miles Copeland, and features many of the dancers from the "Bellydance Superstars" tour, including such luminaries as Ansuya, Rania, Rachel Brice, and Amar Gamal. It's a great idea, but the reality falls short.I was fortunate enough to see the "Bellydance Superstars" live a few days after I got this DVD, and let me tell you something --- these women are unbelievable. I left the show stoked and ready to dance. It's a shame that the DVD doesn't really capture the incredible energy of the live performances; for some reason, it has the look more of a music video than a documentary, with weird high-angle shots down the dancers' cleavages, several moments when the cameraman seems to be peering around a large candleholder, and LOTS of loving closeups of disembodied sequined bosoms, undulating bellies, and shimmying backsides. If you're a teenage boy, this is great. If you're a student of bellydance looking for pointers, as I am, it's not. There are several moments in which the camerawork is downright amateurish with dancers whirling out of the frame, heads being cut off, transitions being lost, and the camera jerking around as if the operator can't seem to figure out what he's supposed to be looking at. Most of the time the dancers are visible only above mid-thigh, which makes you wonder what their feet are doing during traveling steps. Personally, I think this video would have been better if it had been shot in the style of "Bellydance Divas", where you could see the whole dancer and exactly what she was doing. That being said, there is some fantastic dancing on this DVD. I loved Ansuya's two numbers, as well as the offerings from Amar and Sonia, although I didn't think Rachel's two performances really did her justice --- the woman has the most amazing backbends on the face of the planet and, in person at least, is a very lovely lady who seems to be having a great time on stage (here she seems very somber and a tad scary). And will someone PLEASE get Jillina into something a little less tacky? (I'm sorry, but hot-pink stuffed snakes don't work on redheads.) Suhaila's first number was okay, but her second looked more like a standing lap dance with a tableside violinist. The DVD closes with Dondi impersonating Marilyn Monroe. In the live show, Dondi vamps, flirts, and wiggles to "I Wanna Be Loved By You", and it's a hoot. Here, however, the music has been replaced with a drum solo and the Marilyn impersonation consists of four minutes (give or take) of quivering, gasping, and moaning in which the only thing Marilynesque is the platinum wig. Weird. So is this worth adding to your collection? Well, yes --- after all, the dancers really are spectacular and there are some moments that actually catch that. The cinematography wasn't their fault. It's an enjoyable video, but it could have been more so.
Rating: 
Summary: mixed bag
Review: Although this dvd has a line-up of the best names in the world of bellydance, it was clear to me after viewing it that
1. The main camera man is obsessed with close-ups
2. The video editor has a serial vendetta against dancers with tan skin and long dark hair. Point #1 is obvious.
Let me explain point #2: It you watch the editing on most of the dancers, like Amar, Tamylin, Rachel, it was fairly normal, but one would argue that there were a lot of close-ups. When it came to Sonya, Rania, and Ansuya, the editor went way overboard inserting close-up after close-up, making it impossible to follow the dancing at all. I even wondered if those three girls had a different editor altogether, the difference was so huge. There were far too many close-ups of Ansuya's chest, Sonya's face, and Rania's stomach. I think Rania had it the worst, since she spins alot, no matter what move she happened to be doing, the editor kept superimposing or cutting to shots of her spinning, so it was really impossible to see her dancing. I hardly ever got to see Sonya or Rania's hip movements or combinations, it always flashed to a close-up. The three stars I did give went to the performances where the Serial Killer Editor did not have cut-happy impulses. I was able to watch Amar and Tamylin dance, and had a good grasp of their choreography, which was very nice. So, I would say that this is an okay video ...
Rating:
Summary: What is the camera person on???
Review: First, let me say that most of the dancing is good. Jillina and Amar Gamal do a wonderful job, and the overall dancing is pretty decent. The costumes for the most part are lovely, although I didn't care for Jillina's pink snake (I liked her other one, it was very pretty and sassy!) and Suhaila's costumes were rather strange looking in my opinion. The set was pretty, although crowded and a bit too smokey. The price was VERY reasonable for a belly dance video. Even a regular movie is more expensive. Some of the camera angles were nice, such as the slightly overhead shot during veil work. However... The camera work over all is extremely annoying. The camera person used constant close-ups and sometimes the dancer danced out of the shot. At a few points, the camera jerked violently when the camera man made an obvious mistake and lost the dancer. The camera work seemed very amateur. The close-ups made the dancing seems vulgar, despite the fact that all these dancers are very classy. The props such as candle holders were sometimes used in the foreground, which covered the dancer up. Several times you had to watch the dancer through shier fabric. Either the camera man was on crack, or they thought the dancing wasn't interesting enough to go without annoying camera tricks. Rachel's skill was not shown to its full potential. Her drum solo was so cut-up by CONSTANT camera changes that it's very hard to follow. It seemed to be the worse chopped up of all the segments. I could tell it was amazing, but I couldn't follow it. Ansuya and Rania's performances didn't show their full potential either. They just weren't on the ball. I think they may have been limited to music from Mile's company, instead of music they were most comfortable with. Ansuya's breasts had constant close-ups. Sonia seemed to repeat the same movements over and over. The camera man was obsessed with her face and tummy. Her dance segments were obviously edited to put moves in places where they were not, so her dance is not fluid. She may be a nice dancer, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't have the ability to be using veil, then make it disappear for a hip shot, then retrieve it again in a split second. This was also done with other dances. Suhaila looked like she was having an epileptic attack. I don't even watch her dance segments. I haven't even watched the violin one all the way through. During one of Ansuya's segments, it was obvious they taped someone using zils over her playing, so you don't get to hear HER play while dancing. Overall, the DVD isn't expensive and the dancing is pretty good. The camera man may be on crack, but the video is OK if you can get past it. Also, my version has both of Tamalyn Dallal's dance segments. Someone said one was missing on their DVD. Perhaps this has been fixed.
Rating: 
Summary: Fails to show the dance for what it is
Review: Having seen the Bellydance Superstars in performance, I had high hopes for this dvd. Sadly, my hopes were dashed by a manic cameraman and idiotic editors who apparently failed to realize that their target audience (bellydancers) enjoys seeing nice, stable, full body shots of each performance. What we get in this dvd is a nausea-generating ride from a cameraman who clearly wanted to be on MTV. Some of the more annoying things: 1) Smoke from incense burners clouded the air during most numbers. As a dancer, I hate getting smoke in my costume, but I now reserve a special level of hatred for the genius who decided that a smokey room was the best place to showcase the talents of some of the best dancers in the US. 2) The set is too crowded. Overlapping oriental rugs? With standing vases (in the middle of the dance floor) and knickknacks that belong in the british museum? And a spotlighted sarcophagus? Next time save some production costs and use a very, very plain sound stage. And give the cameraman some valium. 3) The most frustrating part of the whole DVD is that the camera focuses on one body part while the action is CLEARLY happening in another area. I don't mind the occasional closeup of shimmying hips, but it makes no sense to do a closeup of a dancer's face while she's shimmying her hips. In all - ARGH! There is not one thing in this DVD that could make me recommend it to another buyer. This says a lot, as I normally hang off of Ansuya's every movement.
Rating: 
Summary: no title
Review: I agree totally with the reviewer that said it looked like a music video, and that music video style is frustrating and annoying to watch. I have purchased videos of Ballet and Modern Dance performances, and the filmakers always held respect for the art form and showed the dancers full form. I am sickened at the fact that because this happens to be bellydance, they felt obligated to turn it into a vulgar display of body parts. Bellydance should get the same respect as other dance forms.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome!
Review: I agree with some of the other reviewers that this DVD does not show the best of these dancers especially since I have seen them dance in the past two Bellydance Superstars tours--Summer 2003 and last week. But, I still think it's an amazing display of American bellydancers! I have heard that it's not authentic Middle Eastern dance and that it's not what people have been raised with abroad, but they're not trying to be authentic. It's American Bellydance and they do an awesome job of it! They're taking it and making it their own dance. Honestly, if I could move like any of these dancers, I would be thrilled! In my opinion, the close-ups weren't all that distracting. This is not an instructional DVD, but more of a performance. I don't intend to follow their choreography exactly move for move, but it was nice to see how they moved in general and interpreted the music. The close-ups on Anusya's chest were because of her awesome rolling shimmies up and down her body from shoulder to hip. The close-ups on Rania showed her belly rolls and the focus on Sonia's face were because she's absolutely gorgeous, but also an amazing dancer. But, there is more than enough opportunity to see them all dance in the rest of the DVD. I do think that this DVD does not do justice for Rachel Brice. In person, she is not of this world! I hope they come out with a Bellydance Superstars DVD II and include the other dance forms that were in this tour--Polynesian by Sonia and Indian/Arabic fusion by the Desert Roses. Actually, I would like to see a separate Desert Roses DVD and possibly even a separate tribal DVD with Rachel and her dancers. I look forward to more from these dancers since they are amazingly talented women!
Rating:
Summary: GOOD VIDEO!!!
Review: I almost didn't buy this video b/c of all the negative comments and I have NEVER written a review for Amazon before but I just HAD to after watching this video!! It is fantastic! Let me begin by saying, I am a professional working dancer for 8 years, Classical Egyptian style. I really thought I would hate this video but I was SO impressed by the quality and professionalism! I am so sick of spending $30+ on bellydance videos that are POOR quality, shot on someone's home video camera and edited badly. This video is beautiful! Even the dancers that I don't usually like picked pieces of music that really complimented them. Finally bellydance videos are being done PROFESSIONALLY!! It is about time! I think this video is not shot with only bellydancers in mind so maybe that is why people were complaining about it. It is shot for the general public which means a lot of different camera angles, a lot of fades in and out (done beautifully), close-ups (not too many in my opinion), and basically very artistically. Parts of it remind me of scenes I have seen in movies. It is lovely. I don't think anything lost and you can see all the movement fine, with the exception of Rachel Brice's first piece which did focus too much on her face and not enough on her body which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. I have never been moved by Tribal style, not even FCBD, but now that I have seen Rachel she has changed my mind! I also thought the way Suhaila's violin solo was shot was soooooooo beautiful! It was so cool and I was mezmerized watching the camera slowly rotate, although I am not a fan of her dancing. If I could afford to do a video I would do a piece shot exactly the same way. I also am not a fan of electronic music for bellydance but once again I couldn't pull myself away from Amar's first performance with the wings of ISIS. She is such a strong dancer! I think this is a proud representation of American style bellydance. Jillina, as always was awesome with her drum solo! Wow!! It really showed why (most of) these ladies are Bellydance Superstars. Anyone who enjoys good American bellydance should BUY THIS DVD!!!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I almost didn't buy this video, because of all the complaints about the video editing. I had really low expectations, which probably helped me to love this!!! The editing, while annoying, wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. And the dancing -- OMG!!! All the dancers were fantastic. I was eager to see Rachel Brice, since I've only seen her dancing on tiny clips on her website and I was fascinated by her. I'm sure she's not everyone's cuppa tea, since she has pretty much invented her own style of dance, but I found her mesmerizing to watch. I was holding my breath a lot during her performances, and the video editing bothered me most on her pieces, since I wanted to see every unique movement. Suhaila's performances nearly moved me to tears. So expressive, she truly was the music brought to life. Jillina was also a joy to watch - the pink snake costume might have been a distraction if I hadn't already been told to look past the costume and really see the drum solo. Rania's performances were good, as always, but nothing I hadn't seen already on the Divas DVD. I wasn't in love with every performance, but frankly, with what I usually have to pay for a good quality performance video with only one decent dancer on it....if I'd paid twice as much for this dvd I'd be happy with it. Can't wait to show it to my students!!
Rating:
Summary: The best bellydance performance DVD ever?
Review: I am impressed by the opulent, Arabian Nights style set- this DVD doesn't have the cheap look of so many bellydance DVD's and videos. The camerawork is not too flashy, and we get plenty of close-ups of shimmying hips and breasts, and many an undulating belly. I would have liked more foot close-ups, but that's just my personal taste! Most of all I like the dancers. So many of them are just so beautiful. I already had performance DVD's/videos by Suhaila Salimpour, Ansuya and Rania, and it's great to see them again on this DVD. I hadn't seen Amar Gamal before, she is such a sexy dancer. I cannot recommend this DVD highly enough!
Rating:
Summary: say hello to hollywood
Review: I bought this dvd because some of my favorite dancers were in it: Rania, Ansuya, Jillina, Suhaila, etc. Although I was glad to see them all, and overall the production quality was good, there were a couple of disappointments. I liked both Rania's choreographies, especially the dramatic first one, but had a heck of a hard time trying to follow them with the whirling camera movement and close-up body parts. Thankfully they didn't cut her belly rolls or barrel turns. During her second performance, there were too many close-ups of her costume and torso. The editor changed camera angles frantically throughout the entire dvd. I think it made it look like the dancers were moving faster than they were. Jillina and Amar had great choreography, especially Amar, and I think the camera man was starting to calm down by the time he got to them, so that is good. I liked the fact that Jillina and Rachel had live drummers, and that Suhaila had a violin player. That is something that more videos should have. It was also nice that Ansuya and Sonya played zills. I watched both Sonya's performances intently since I had never heard of her before, but I still have no idea about her dancing, since the whole thing was about close ups of her face. She does have a really beautiful face, but as a dancer, I couldn't keep track of the moves. Suhaila looked as though maybe she doesn't move as well as some of her older videos, but she still has magic with in front of the camera. The Marylin Monroe thing didn't make much sense to me, but that's Hollywood. Overall, I would say this production had potential that almost got killed by Hollywood camera work and editing. It looked more like a music video than a dance production. I have to give all the dancers credit that they all managed to shine through all the interruptive editing and camera antics. I am only writing this review because I am hoping they will make another one and just focus on the dancing.
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