Totally Turkish - Belly Dance

Ruby's Totally Turkish BellydanceOn the plus side: Ruby is a competent dancer and teacher. The production is decent. For an intermediate or advanced dancer who wants a quick intro to Turkish (Oryantal) style ... its worthwhile.The choreography is broken-down and drilled with plenty of repetition. It is mostly shot from good camera angles (i.e. as if you are in dance class following the teacher.)Minor gripes:NO WARM-UP. Instead you get a "laundry list" of the moves and combos you need for the choreography. It's all talk no music ... boring ... This would be a 4-star review if they had a warm-up section with some music (even basic drum beats!) and incorporated the moves and combos into the warm-up. Talking through a "laundry list" of moves is NOT a warm-up. Given that this is a fast-paced choreo ... this DVD needs a warm-up section which prepares the body for the specific moves in the choreo.If you buy the DVD ... watch it through once and create your own warm-up so you don't pull any muscles or anything.The producer also needs to get rights to more than one song per video. As mentioned above, my personal preference is to integrate the movement and combo drills into a warm-up with slower music. This DVD goes from talk-through to full speed on fast music with nothing in between. Using that same song for an hour+ class gets old. Yes ... we are learning the choreo to that one song ... but it might be nice to see how the combos look on different music. For example some slower music might provide a bridge between the talk through and the full speed choreo.In the Roman section, some of her moves were very authentic and well-done but others were totally off-beat. Still it was a nice touch to add.What would keep me from giving a 5-star review even if this DVD had a decent warm-up ... No background! Ruby mentions taking classes in Turkey ... but from whom? Her stye is obviously heavily influenced by Didem ... why not say so? Which moves are modern (Didem style) and which are old school oryantal like Nesrin Topkapi? What moves are her own? Call me crazy, but I like to know the context of what I am learning. There is so much "fakelore" out there. I like to know the lineage and sources of a dance.Datura remains the gold standard of dance video ... but they don't have anything in Turkish style. Totally Turkish is it (except for Artemis video) ... so I am grateful for it ... But my fantasy is Didem teaching on Datura. Ahhhh ....I bought this DVD used, am mostly happy with the purchase and would recommend it, flaws and all.

i love this DVD. Each movement is introduced seperately. I like this option because i can pick and choose what i want to use in my own vocabulary. There is a weath of information and movement on here. It is the first Turkish DVD that I have seen that shows you the Basic step (not so easy if it's not explained well). Ruby explained it perfectly. I was able to pick it up right away. I would have liked more on this Romany style in the DVD. The choreography was challenging and nice. This video is made to give you the choice of using a choreography or using each movement in a freestyle way. I appreciate that. I would say that this video is for people who know the belly dance movements already. This is one of my favorite videos

I really enjoyed working along and learning contemporary Turkish Oriental techniques and styling in Ruby's Totally Turkish - Belly Dance. I must confess, I did not get all the way through the DVD--my students came in for class but they liked what they saw as well. I am in the choreography section and can't wait to get back to the studio next week and review the zill section. From what I have experienced so far, I am impressed. It was fun, because I can add variety to the Turkish movements I am already performing and teaching!

When my new dance room was completed, I was so excited to try this DVD. With all of its fast turns, direction changes and quick footwork, I was really able to test out the new flooring I had put down. This DVD is educational, really sinks the dancer into the feeling of Turkish dance, uses great music, and is in addition to all that a great workout. The bonus features include a breakdown of a more folkloric kind of karsilama rhythm and the dance steps to go with it, and a performance by Ruby. Ruby is a great dancer and I like her as a teacher as well. Although I'm normally an Egyptian style dancer, I enjoyed learning about Turkish dance and for a bit, I got really interested in Turkish style music. I do work with a Turkish/Armenian/Greek band from time to time, and these moves felt like they would suit that style of music more. I would definitely recommend this DVD to other belly dancers, particularly those that are interested in the culture side, but also those who want a challenging choreography.

Where is the warmup? In the trailer they imply there is a warmup and I can't find it at all? This dvd is very jumbled and not clear. I have her floorwork dvd which has a very thorough pilates warmup on there. She does breakdown the moves and drills them butafter a 1 hour yoga and a long walk, I tried to do her video and managed to get a twinge in my upper right quad? (B/c of not a proper warmup for this style)I'm debating on whether or not to EVEN keep it but there are so few dvd on Turkish dance.I like that she has zills in there, and other than the Lack of a WARMUP anywhere it seems like a ok dvd?

Totally Turkish is definitely not a DVD for the beginner belly dancer. Although the choreography is not super intricate, the steps, turns and moves require a solid basic belly dance knowledge. Ruby is a delight, her movements are clean, energetic and fun. I love the setup with Ruby dancing to a mirror so that you can see the steps both from front and back. I'm also very pleased with the camera work. None of the "lets focus on the butt or boobs while she shimmies" nonsense. You can see Ruby full length at all times which makes it easier to study the foot work. I like the added instruction for zills, though I have to agree with another reviewer that I would have liked to seen that part broken down more.The DVD itself is easy to navigate and breaks down into section so you can skip and/or backtrack as you see fit. All in all this is worth your time and cash if you want to learn more about Turkish steps/movements.

I was so impressed with the content of this DVD. I am often disappointed that there is not enough content on such dance DVD's, but this one well exceeded my expectation. The level of dancing was sufficiently challenging to make it really interesting.