Belly Dancing for Fitness : The Ultimate Dance Workout that Unleashes Your Creative Spirit

Rating:
Summary: Too little too late
Review: Going by the "Look inside" that Amazon offers, this book looked very promising; It's table of contents promised a nice taste of basics, including the use of zills (finger cymbals), veils, and floor techniques.

But alas, it showed no excerpts of actual moves to get a better feel for the book. After seeing another newly published bellydance book by Rania in a local store, I ordered it from Amazon, and was very pleased. A few weeks later, I saw Dolphina's new book, and I was also very impressed. Today, I finally got to see Tamalyn's book! It looked nice... but sorry to say that it paled in comparison to the other's I had just purchased.

For starters, I feel you get more for your money with the other books: More pages, more photos, more techniques, more detail. The photos in this book are black and white (not color like Dolphina's or Rania's book). Yeah, it may look all artsy and stylish this way, but the abundance of crisp color photos in the other books made the steps a lot easier for me to follow.

As for the specialized techniques (zills, veils and floorwork), I was disappointed. Kudos for the attempt to teach zills (since the other books had no section), but a more extensive (and free) zill technique workshop exists online. When it comes to floorwork, Rania's book went into more detail on various floorwork moves. This book had nothing additional to offer to justify the additional purchase.

Although numerically, more pages were devoted to veil dancing than other books (which was the original selling point for me), less ended up being more: Rania had multiple special veil moves briefly described with pictures. Dolphina had an entire routine that incorporated a veil. Tamylyn, for the most part, glorified the art of "purchasing" the right veil (if I was a true connoisseur of fine bellydance attire, in all fairness, that part would be a plus); The techniques seemed to show the veil more as an "accessory" to basic arm movements, rather than as an art in itself (moves that clearly require a veil).

By its own right, Belly Dancing for Fitness is a good book on basic bellydancing - clearly written by someone who has a lot of experience. If I had seen it first, I would have happily bought it (although I would have tossed it after buying the newly released bellydance books by Rania and Dolphina, since they virtually blow it out of the water).

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book!!!
Review: I reccommend this book to anyone who loves belly dancing. This is packed with pictures and instructions to exercise in the comfort of your own home. Has tons of info. on belly dancing for begginers to advanced belly dancers. I love this book!

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE this book!
Review: I saw this book, Rania's book, and the one by Laura Cooper at the local library and checked them all out. Rania's is the prettiest, Cooper's is very informative but the color in the pictures seems a bit off, but this one I love. The pictures are easier to follow than in the other two books, and Tamalyn writes in an easy, engaging style that reads more like a friendly conversation than an informative book. I especially liked the chapters about what to wear, and what CDs are particularly good for starting a bellydance collection. I highly recommend this to anyone starting out as a bellydancer.

Rating:
Summary: Meditation in Motion, The Perfect Belly Dance Book!
Review: If you are looking for that one belly dance book, this is it! "Belly dancing for Fitness" is a well thought out book that covers everything Belly dance. With over 250 step-by-step beautiful photographs that shows you exactly what you need to know to start belly dancing!

"Belly dancing relaxes the mind as well as the body since it calls for relaxation and focus, like meditation in motion." -Tamalyn Dallal, world-renowned belly dancer and author of Belly dancing for Fitness.

I also like the fact that the author of this book has more than 20 years under her hip scarf and has danced and taught in over 25 countries. Imagine the experiences she has discovered and can share through this book.


Rating:
Summary: Great Book!! Highly Recommended!
Review: This book is absolutely the best! Any bellydancer, beginner, intermediate, or advanced, will enjoy this book. Tamalyn Dallal is a great person, beautiful and talented dancer, and also a amazing teacher. I have taken many classes with Tamalyn since January 2004, and she is just the best. Not only does she teach you all these beautiful moves, she also tells you about the history of the dance, and her workshops are so much fun. This book will help you set up a bellydance workout routine, make CDs for your workout, and tips for costumes, among many more things. No bellydancer should be without this book!! Bellydance is a great way to express yourself and your femininity, lose weight, and have fun.