The Best of Middle Eastern Dance & More

Performance Video

By Art Of Dance

ISBN 1-891065-03-3

Running Time is 80 minutes (or 1 hour 20 minutes)

This performance video promises dances of the Middle East, Turkey, Cental Asia, North Africa, India, and Eastern Europe. It has performances by Kaya, Anisa, Eva of Denver, Naila, Siovana, Adiba, Hand Maidens of Isis featuring Joynan, Rooshana, and Shobana. There is also rythmic accompaniament by Billy Woods and Paul Klite durring some performances. The video is very reasonably priced at only $15 (including shipping) which I think is a great price for the quality of dance that you will see. All of the dancers in this video are very talented! The production, picture, and sound quality are all good. Most of the performances seem to be in the same location and are probably even from the same show but a couple were filmed in other locations. The only things that I didn't like was the fact that some of these performances are ones I've seen before in other performance videos and that The costuming and/or dance style didn't always seem to be appropriate to each other. The first dancer is Kaya who performs a drum solo. She does a wonderful job on this. She dances in a very egyptian style and her technicality is almost flawless. The second dance is from Central Asia/Persia done by Anisa & Billy Woods. Billy basically just plays the percussion while Anisa perfroms a dance. I have seen this dance befor on another video but I liked it either way. It's more of a folkoric dance and is done in a more conservative costumes which was beautiful yet fairly simple. Eva of Denver is next doing a Solo Debka, which I thought was cute. Her costuming was folkloric and more masculine and fit nicely with her performance. Nabila performs a Sword Dance in which she demonstrates her ability to balance while doing floorwork. Siovana is next performing a dance from Kuwait. Although I thought her dancing was good I don't know if I would have said it was from Kuwait. The costume was not exactly correct as Kuwaiti dances would not incorporate a hip scarf into their costuming. Her actual dance was not quite Kuwaiti either. It seemed as though it was a mix of American caberet and Kuwaiti mixed together. Adiba performs a piece from Tajikistan after that. I liked the costuming and performance. It was another more folkloric piece with costuming similar to but different from the Central asia/Persia piece erformed earlier by Anisa. I enjoyed this perfromance a lot and am hoping to learn more about traditional Tajikistani dances in the future as I don't have that much experience with them. Eva performed again this time doing a Whirling Dervish dance. I enjoyed the performance although the camera sometimes focused in a little too close for my taste as I like to see the whole dancer throughout the perfromance. Traditionally this dance is not performed by women it's only performed by a man. However her portrayal is accurate in how it should be performed. I found it very calming and beautiful. I almost felt part of the trace as I watched the flowing movements of her skirt as it whirled around her. The next performance was the Hand Maidens of Isis featuring Joynan. It's billed as a Pyramid dance which I guess is acurate since at the end of their performance they form a pyramid with their fabric. I have seen this performance before on another video and although it is very interesting to watch the first time around it loses something after that. It's reallyinteresting the way that they do this continuous arm thing as a group. It has almot a mezmerizing effect. I'm sure it's even more amazing to see in person. After the Handmaidens finish Joynan comes onto stage and performs a double veil routine which is also mesmerizing in it's own way. At least it was the first time I saw it, it too unfortunately losese something after seeing it again. The music was almost too relaxing! Rooshana then performs a candelabrum dance which is done beautifully and with a lot of skill (believe me those things are heavy and take a lot of hard work and skill to be able to dance with). I enjoyed watching it as I don't see too many candleabrum dances. Now, it only billed it as a candelabrum dance and not a shamadan. It was not done in true egyptian style and therefore should not be considered a shamadan dance. Her technicality was nonetheless good. Next is a dance from India by Shobana. If the video were not titled The Best of Middle Eastern Dance "& MORE", I would have questioned whether or not this should be included. Although I personaly love Indian dance not everyone buying a Middle Eastern Dance video feels the same as me. As far as Indian dance goes I am definately not an expert on the subject and in fact I know very little about it which is why I won't comment on costuming, technicality, or music. Although in my personal opinion I liked what I saw. Next Kaya does another performance. This time a Cane Dance. Now her technicality was again nearly flawless however for the type of dance and music that she was performing to, her costume was just not appropriate. It should have been done in a more folkloric costume like a beladi dress instead of harem pants and a coin bra and belt. Siovana again performs doing a drum solo this time. Her costuming is a caberet night club style this time. She was a little off with the music once or twice but overall did very well. Naila performed an interesting tunisian inspired piece and Eva did a Great Romani Fantasy piece. It was nice to see her in a more femanine role since her previous pices portrayed her in a more masculing way. Anisa then performed again this time doing a drum solo. Her technicality was good but I personally didn't care for her costume. Her central asia/Persia costume was much more flattering on her. She's a thin woman but her costume instead of exentuating what curves and supleness she has tended to elongate her and make her look even thiner. It also showed a little too much for my taste. I perefer to watch dancers with a little more covering then that. If it had had a little fullre skirt I think it would have been better. I found it hard to concentrate on her dancing as my attention kept getting drawn to her costume. When I could focus on the dancing though, it was good. The last performance is another by Eva, this time doing a Khaleegy dance. I thought it was fairly accurate although the beginning of the piece was a little strange to me. Overall I would recomend this video to anyone who wanted a performance video showcasing a wide varienty of different types of Middle Eastern Dance. I can see watching it again and again.