Bellydance Fitness W/Suhail:4 Vol Gb

Rating:
Summary: Excellent variety of workouts
Review: I have been taking some beginner bellydance lessons and wanted to have something with the flavor of bellydance to work out to at home. These DVDs provide a lot of content and variety to your home routine, with mostly upper body bellydancing - some hip action, but mostly from squeezing your gluteus muscles, and no hip-dropping. I like a lot of variety so I bought the box set. I found most of the workouts to be enjoyable and worth the money.
In order of how well I liked them:
The Jazz DVD is the most advanced and the best. You will learn two short dancing routines. Suhaila explains her actions while she performs them, so there's no time for stopping, just dancing. Sometimes she just says what the move is, but doesn't explain it, so I've had to watch the screen to get it right. This one was fun and gets your heart rate up, and will probably be a favorite once I get the moves down.
The Pilates DVD is my second favorite. Some unulations of the torso and hip circles.
The Buns DVD has LOTS of glute-clenching. What else did you expect? I was able to get through this one with minimal sweat. I will note here that Suahaila uses a glute-clenching move that involves near splits and squeezing the cheeks. I'm not flexible enough to do the splits and I can't seem to figure out how they are able to do this move, and it appears in 3 of the DVDs. (not the Jazz one) It's an uncomfortable one for me, and I might suggest trying to do the exercise in an alternate way.
The Yoga DVD was my least favorite because there are lots of torso undulations, too many for me in one workout. Paired with a segment of glute-clenching (yes, undulating your body while trying to remember how to squeeze those buns) made it a little frightening to watch. I don't think I'll use this one too much until I've mastered the moves.
Suhaila does a good job of keeping the monotony out of the moves. Even though you perform many sets of the same move, she might add a different arm move or pattern. She also does a good job of reminding you of correct posture and keeps you motivated throughout all the routines. Her instructions flow smoothly with the actions and there are several other competent ladies working out with Suhaila. The music helps you keep the beat and the background is pleasing. Each workout ends with a costumed dance and a circle dance to watch.
Each DVD comes with an extra 10 minute workout in case you're feeling pumped and want to make it a 50-minute workout. They also include a couple extra dances to watch.
All in all, I say this is an excellent purchase. I enjoyed most parts of the workouts and I am feeling the burn in all the right places. If you just want a workout with a little spice thrown in, these are great, and you'll feel energized. If you just get one, get the Jazz. And you just might find yourself rocking out using your new "fusion" moves!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent NEW Workouts!
Review: I am so glad that these DVDs were released! I have just about ALL the Natural Journeys bellydance DVDs (Raina,Veena& Neena) and I was getting a little tired of them. Along comes Suhaila, who I must say, is my fave instructor in this series. She is very animated, the sets are great and the exercises and routines are different.
I tried the Jazz DVD and it was a great workout. Although I didn't work up the sweat I had anticipated since I'm a practicing dancer anyway, my hips, waist and abs were a little sore the day after. This is my fave DVD. The rotuines are fun, sexy and with repeated viewings, easy to learn. I take jazz dance classes so I was probably a bit more familiar with the terminology than other people. But hang in there, you'll get it! Also, you may need a little extra room to accomodate the turns in the routines.
I can't wait to try the other DVDs, if Jazz was any indication, then I'm sure the others will be great too!


Rating:
Summary: The dancer's name is Suhaila , not Suhail
Review: I had a very hard time finding this set on Amazon, because I was searching "bellydance suhaila" but the Amazon team has abbreviated her name in the title to "suhail". I hope they will get this corrected soon, as Suhaila Salimpour is one of the top bellydancers in North America, the producer of many excellent instructional videos prior to this series, and is a performer with the Bellydance Superstars. Many bellydancers all over America will be searching for this item to purchase as soon as it is released. Amazon should correct the mistake in the title, and make it easier for buyers to find this product, which will certainly be very popular....

Rating:
Summary: Viva Suhaila!
Review: Wow! I am VERY impressed with this collection. I have tons of bellydance videos, some for dance, some for fitness, and they all have their ups and downs, but none of them can compare to these. I was a little worried when I purchased the entire set since I'd never even heard of Suhaila, they were strangely cheap, and they were too new to find any reviews on them, but I needed new videos since my bratty little sister stole my old ones when visiting for Christmas. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised. The production quality is excellent, the camera angles showed what the girls are doing (not unnecessary facial expressions), Suhaila offers variations on the more difficult moves for those of us who aren't so flexible yet, the music matches the moves, the performances at the end are fun to watch, and the routines vary from video to video and are challenging enough that I know I'll be able to use them for quite some time. You don't learn much dancing from these (of course you're not supposed to), but it did help me get used to isolating muscles I've had trouble with in the past, thanks to Suhaila's explanations. Again, I'm just shocked by how much I love these, and I'm looking forward to doing them over and over again.