Rating: 
Summary: good workout, bad music
Review: I am a beginning belly dance student. I have six months of classes and the Neena and Veena instructional series under my belt, but I've done very little dancing for the past six months. I got this DVD a week ago. I like the fact that nearly all of the exercises are actual belly dance moves. I haven't yet managed yet to make it all the way through the workout. I am looking forward to using it to get back in shape and build my belly dance endurance.
The DVD opens with a display of the various products of Natural Journeys that feels really long. The feature presentation begins with four background dancers dancing backlit. They exit, and Rania dances forward as the lights come up. Rania awkwardly introduces the tape, not quite sure what dance position she wants to assume in order to speak to us, or which smile to paste on her face. Unfortunately, when she's not dancing, she seems to be constantly sorting out at least one of these problems. After the introduction, we get a warm-up of arm movements and slow shimmies, then on to the workout. There's quite a bit of repetition, with only a few moves, but there was enough variety to keep me interested, and it certainly kept my heart pounding.Several people mentioned that they don't like Rania's choice of music for her fitness tapes. I don't find the music intrusive enough to get me down during the workout, but it is bad...really bad. I like the voiceover, which is fairly matter-of-fact. She explains the moves briefly, but I don't really think you would want to use this tape unless you already knew how to do hip shimmies and shoulder shimmies. I also felt that the background dancers frequently (and Rania occasionally) showed graceless armwork. The special features include two bonus performances by Rania, a bonus waist-sculpting workout, and no-voicover option, a photo gallery, previews of other tapes by Rania & others produced by Natural Journeys. I generally liked the performances, though Rania's blank, open-mouthed stare made her look exhausted. I haven't yet decided how I feel about it the bonus workout. I can't figure out its intended audience. Rania shows you a few basic moves, with a little instruction. It does not seem to be designed for someone familiar with these moves, but neither do I think that the instruction is enough for someone who does not know the moves. The gallery shows Rania in her workout outfit and one of her performance costumes in various poses.
Rating:
Summary: good workout, bad music
Review: I am a beginning belly dance student. I have six months of classes and the Neena and Veena instructional series under my belt, but I've done very little dancing for the past six months. I got this DVD a week ago. I like the fact that nearly all of the exercises are actual belly dance moves. I haven't yet managed yet to make it all the way through the workout. I am looking forward to using it to get back in shape and build my belly dance endurance.
The DVD opens with a display of the various products of Natural Journeys that feels really long. The feature presentation begins with four background dancers dancing backlit. They exit, and Rania dances forward as the lights come up. Rania awkwardly introduces the tape, not quite sure what dance position she wants to assume in order to speak to us, or which smile to paste on her face. Unfortunately, when she's not dancing, she seems to be constantly sorting out at least one of these problems. After the introduction, we get a warm-up of arm movements and slow shimmies, then on to the workout. There's quite a bit of repetition, with only a few moves, but there was enough variety to keep me interested, and it certainly kept my heart pounding. Several people mentioned that they don't like Rania's choice of music for her fitness tapes. I don't find the music intrusive enough to get me down during the workout, but it is bad...really bad. I like the voiceover, which is fairly matter-of-fact. She explains the moves briefly, but I don't really think you would want to use this tape unless you already knew how to do hip shimmies and shoulder shimmies. I also felt that the background dancers frequently (and Rania occasionally) showed graceless armwork. The special features include two bonus performances by Rania, a bonus waist-sculpting workout, and no-voicover option, a photo gallery, previews of other tapes by Rania & others produced by Natural Journeys. I generally liked the performances, though Rania's blank, open-mouthed stare made her look exhausted. I haven't yet decided how I feel about it the bonus workout. I can't figure out its intended audience. Rania shows you a few basic moves, with a little instruction. It does not seem to be designed for someone familiar with these moves, but neither do I think that the instruction is enough for someone who does not know the moves. The gallery shows Rania in her workout outfit and one of her performance costumes in various poses.
Rating: 
Summary: Too repetitive, not very professional
Review: I am honestly very surprised by the good reviews this DVD has received so far. In the first place, I don't think Rania does a good job of teaching the basic shimmy. She focuses way too much on the knees and assumes the hip movement happens naturally as the knees move back and forth. To get good hip isolations in your shimmies, the hips need to be the focus and the knees the secondary movement. The routine is way too repetitive and boring and the choreography often does not match the rhythm of the music. Even Rania's guiding narration seems to be off in its counting. The same 15-second set of movements are repeated for about 75% of the entire workout. It is definitely a good cardio-workout, but only if you can manage to work through all the repetition. Also, a good belly dancer makes the movements look natural and easy, no matter how difficult they are. Rania's face looks so strained during her performances, she hardly seems to be enjoying herself. A lot of her choreography is very cool, but she lacks connection with her audience.
Rating: 
Summary: Down to earth style at last
Review: I enjoyed the workout, it's challenging yet doable. Especially after watching some other artists, I find Rania's instruction style easygoing and clear. Music and other minor quibbles that I've read, I don't really care about. As the title says, this is a fitness routine. I find that any video/dvd workouts get repetitive over time, which why I turn the monitor off and get to the studio/ class or go running. This one, however, has enough to keep me occupied and sweating for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Down to earth style at last
Review: I enjoyed the workout, it's challenging yet doable. Especially after watching some other artists, I find Rania's instruction style easygoing and clear. Music and other minor quibbles that I've read, I don't really care about. As the title says, this is a fitness routine. I find that any video/dvd workouts get repetitive over time, which why I turn the monitor off and get to the studio/ class or go running. This one, however, has enough to keep me occupied and sweating for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: belly sweaty
Review: I have been belly dancing for less than a year now. I have the twins(Veena and Neena)dvd's and tapes and I really enjoy them. To keep an open mind to other styles that bellydancers have, I was searching for other workout/instructional dvd's. I saw Rania on the belly dance superstars tape. I was amazed at her belly rolls. I decided to purchase the cardio shimmy.But before I purchased it, I wanted to read the reviews to see what others thought of it. I read the reviews on Amazon and saw that there were alot of negative reviews and only one positve. I did the work out and I thought it was great. I think that if you want to pursue bellydancing further such as teaching or performing, that this is not only a good workout tape but, can help a begginer master shimmies and choo-choo's as well.Heck,I didn't even know the term choo-choo until I purchased the dvd. As for the music,I enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: Good Cardio Workout for Variety
Review: I noticed a lot of comments about the bad music. I guess I just tuned it out because I didn't notice it one way or the other! I'm not a belly dancer or dancer of any sort so I can't comment on the authenticity of the dancing but I was looking for a good cardio routine that was different from the basic grapevine, step, etc. workouts and that is what I found. I think it is very intense and I consider myself intermediate. I've actually had a hard time doing the whole thing nonstop. My calves killed me the next day after doing the choo-choos (shimmy on tippy-toes) but you can always work into it gradually. I did feel than Rania had a pretty fakey look on her face most of the time - kind of like a stepford wife look. I actually focused more on the 2 blondes in the back that looked like they were having more fun. All in all I would recommend this DVD as a good one for your collection.
Rating:
Summary: Good Cardio Workout for Variety
Review: I noticed a lot of comments about the bad music. I guess I just tuned it out because I didn't notice it one way or the other! I'm not a belly dancer or dancer of any sort so I can't comment on the authenticity of the dancing but I was looking for a good cardio routine that was different from the basic grapevine, step, etc. workouts and that is what I found. I think it is very intense and I consider myself intermediate. I've actually had a hard time doing the whole thing nonstop. My calves killed me the next day after doing the choo-choos (shimmy on tippy-toes) but you can always work into it gradually. I did feel than Rania had a pretty fakey look on her face most of the time - kind of like a stepford wife look. I actually focused more on the 2 blondes in the back that looked like they were having more fun. All in all I would recommend this DVD as a good one for your collection.
Rating:
Summary: What a Dissapointment...
Review: I purchased this video a while ago going by what the DVD cover said and I really had no clue who Rania was. The workout does make you break a good sweat that's why I am giving it 2 stars, however it is very repetitive, therefore it gets boring, not to mention the dancers in the back who lack gracefulness. Rania did not impress me in her bonus performances. Belly dancing is a sensual dance, not a sexual one and she makes an erotic act out of it. She rates very low on her belly dancing skills and her instructions are annoying. Thank goodness there's an option to workout to the music without the narration.
Rating:
Summary: Jiggle Those Buns
Review: 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 DVD 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. 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 including a calf-building one called 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."
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.
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.
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