Rating: 
Summary: Love Jillina's Box Set
Review: Jillina's 3 dvd box set was on my "Christmas List" this year. I had been anxious to purchase one of her dvd's, coming across several from IAMED. I finally settled on this one, because I liked the idea of three levels; beginning, intermediate and advanced. And the price is really great. I have been studying bellydance for about a year. I attend class twice a week, practice on my own and attend performances whenever I can. I love dancing and want to expose myself to as many performers as possible. I discovered Jillina from one of my bellydance instructors. She is a professional bellydancer and as part of our ongoing instruction plays a performance or two at the beginning of every class. It helps us to recognize the various styles and dancers. Anyway, I just wanted to give a short idea of my background and how I came to become a fan of Jillina. I feel the dvd's are an excellent compliment to regular practice and class. I found them very easy to follow. And I have to say that no matter how many times I have viewed Jillina's performance at the end of the DVD, I am still impressed and taken in by her style, expression, and interpretation. Excellent and highly recommended. I plan to search out some of her other DVD titles.
Rating:
Summary: Love Jillina's Box Set
Review: Jillina's 3 dvd box set was on my "Christmas List" this year. I had been anxious to purchase one of her dvd's, coming across several from IAMED. I finally settled on this one, because I liked the idea of three levels; beginning, intermediate and advanced. And the price is really great. I have been studying bellydance for about a year. I attend class twice a week, practice on my own and attend performances whenever I can. I love dancing and want to expose myself to as many performers as possible. I discovered Jillina from one of my bellydance instructors. She is a professional bellydancer and as part of our ongoing instruction plays a performance or two at the beginning of every class. It helps us to recognize the various styles and dancers. Anyway, I just wanted to give a short idea of my background and how I came to become a fan of Jillina. I feel the dvd's are an excellent compliment to regular practice and class. I found them very easy to follow. And I have to say that no matter how many times I have viewed Jillina's performance at the end of the DVD, I am still impressed and taken in by her style, expression, and interpretation. Excellent and highly recommended. I plan to search out some of her other DVD titles.
Rating:
Summary: American Cabaret
Review: Jillina,a Southern California dancer is a dance artist coming from a western jazz and ballet background with training in ME dance. Like many American Oriental dancers Jillina's western dance training shows through very strongly in her style and her performances are designed to please American audiences and their preferences. I think its time we stopped penalizing American Oriental dancers for being what they are- American Oriental Dancers!
So, if you are looking for authentic Egyptian Raqs Sharqi, this is not it. However, that does not diminish the fact that this DVD set contains some excellent instruction and combinations. It is fun, well presented and easy to follow for an advanced beginner and higher dancer. If you enjoy performing to Arabic pop you will find value also.
Rating: 
Summary: Mimi White
Review: Move over Neena and Veena; Jillina far surpasses anything the belly twins have done. I think these videos are excellent. The combinations are easily adapted to other music and the technique section will appeal to all beginning dancers who are working on the basics. She is an excellent teacher and the DVDs are well organized so that you can focus on what interest you the most. She is a vibrant dancer and I think one of the best of the belly dance superstars.
Rating: 
Summary: pretty good
Review: There were good and bad points about this series. I was glad that it was a real dance class and not mixed into a workout, but it is hard to get over Jillina's plastic look: fake hair, fake breasts, nose job, plastered on smile, and all the jazz mixed in with her belly dance movements. I got the feeling it was a Hollywood marketing idea or something. There were some good moves, explanation, combinations, but if you buy this, I recommend supplementing your education with videos from some of the real authentic dancers, such as Nourhan Sharif, Amira Mor, Rania, or Susanna Del Vecchio or Suhaila Salimpou.
Rating: 
Summary: BAD BELLY DANCING
Review: These DVD's are a waste of money. If you want to see great belly dancing watch videos by Dina, Suzanna Del Vecchio, Soraya, Nourhan Sharif, Dondi, or Lucy. This is all Hollywood fluff and is an embarrasment to belly dancers worldwide and the community. Jillina sucks, her dancing is as phony as her bad nose job and implants! If you are interested in arab dance, culture, technique and style of middle east, Jillina is one to stay away from. Dont buy into the Hollywood hype and keep it real. Jillina dances like a stiff jazz dancer trying to belly dance correctly.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of my money
Review: This is without a doubt the bast instructional dvd I own. I'm not a beginner and still found lots of interest on this set. It's proffesionaly filmed and put together and this shows! Unlike most bellydance videos, this is easy and enjoyable to follow.She may not be "authentic egyptain" but she's a great looking girl who's a pleasure to watch and learn from. If you only buy one bellydance dvd make it this one.
Rating:
Summary: Great american style bellydancing
Review: This is without a doubt the bast instructional dvd I own. I'm not a beginner and still found lots of interest on this set. It's proffesionaly filmed and put together and this shows! Unlike most bellydance videos, this is easy and enjoyable to follow. She may not be "authentic egyptain" but she's a great looking girl who's a pleasure to watch and learn from. If you only buy one bellydance dvd make it this one.
Rating:
Summary: Good Value and Easy to follow
Review: Wow, three full instructional DVDs for under $50. What a value. I find Jillina's look so tame compared to some of the "authentic" Egyptian cabaret performers I have seen. She is lovely, her body is ideal for bellydance and I don't see the Hollywood "plastic" as has been previously mentioned. Bellydance is a performance art and as such the performer needs to be well groomed and have a sense of style. She specializes in cabaret/pop style and her "glamorous" look is very appropriate. Although I am not crazy about all of her performance costumes, they suit her. (I am sure my costumes probably wouldn't suit everyone's taste either.) I love danse oriental because it allows everyone some leeway in personal style. She looks great!
As far as content; the production values are great and instruction is awesome. Professional set, audio, visual, titles, etc. Her instruction is comprehensive and easy to follow (you see her as you would an instructor in class, her back is to you and her front reflection in the mirror). She gives you everything you need to supplement or temporarily substitute for classes in your own home. I find having a choreography to work towards more motivating than just learning moves. She provides both, as well as a warm-up (although, as she states, this is not a cold warm-up. You should do at least 20 minutes of cardio first to get your body ready) and a full dress performance of the choreography with costume and audience at the end of each DVD. This is great so you can get a full idea of the embellishments, flourishes and audience interaction that make a routine work. All three routines are fun and not too difficult, with practice, although not my favorites. I personally enjoy her routine on "Jillina's Egyptian Pop Choreography" tape more and there are other dancer's styles that mirror my own better but these three DVDs are an exceptional value and every level can get something out of these, whether you're a complete beginner wondering where to start or an advanced dancer looking to hone some moves or some new ideas in choreography. Thanks to Jillina for making a well-produced, fun and highly instructional product available to almost anyone with its very, very reasonable price.
Rating:
Summary: Good Value and Easy to follow
Review: Wow, three full instructional DVDs for under $50. What a value. I find Jillina's look so tame compared to some of the "authentic" Egyptian cabaret performers I have seen. She is lovely, her body is ideal for bellydance and I don't see the Hollywood "plastic" as has been previously mentioned. Bellydance is a performance art and as such the performer needs to be well groomed and have a sense of style. She specializes in cabaret/pop style and her "glamorous" look is very appropriate. Although I am not crazy about all of her performance costumes, they suit her. (I am sure my costumes probably wouldn't suit everyone's taste either.) I love danse oriental because it allows everyone some leeway in personal style. She looks great!
As far as content; the production values are great and instruction is awesome. Professional set, audio, visual, titles, etc. Her instruction is comprehensive and easy to follow (you see her as you would an instructor in class, her back is to you and her front reflection in the mirror). She gives you everything you need to supplement or temporarily substitute for classes in your own home. I find having a choreography to work towards more motivating than just learning moves. She provides both, as well as a warm-up (although, as she states, this is not a cold warm-up. You should do at least 20 minutes of cardio first to get your body ready) and a full dress performance of the choreography with costume and audience at the end of each DVD. This is great so you can get a full idea of the embellishments, flourishes and audience interaction that make a routine work. All three routines are fun and not too difficult, with practice, although not my favorites. I personally enjoy her routine on "Jillina's Egyptian Pop Choreography" tape more and there are other dancer's styles that mirror my own better but these three DVDs are an exceptional value and every level can get something out of these, whether you're a complete beginner wondering where to start or an advanced dancer looking to hone some moves or some new ideas in choreography. Thanks to Jillina for making a well-produced, fun and highly instructional product available to almost anyone with its very, very reasonable price.
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