Irina AkulenkoThe Tribal Fusion Belly Dance Workout, with Irina: A bellydance fitness class of 100% tribal fusion style moves. Includes complete belly dance instructional how-to

OK, so I'm over 50, I'm not good at remembering choreography, I'm slow at picking up movements, I'm not especially coordinated, I'm overwieght, and I have bad knees.Now that that's out of the way...I bought Irina's video after purchasing Luscious, Bellydance: Beautiful Technique, and Love Potion. It moved a little too quickly for me so I also bought Hard Candy and worked through that while practicing the movements on Irina's Tribal Fusion Workout. Tribal Fusion isn't a particularly easy video for me. I still have problems layering a shimmy on a reverse undulation. And the "Total Body" portion is still a little out of my league, what with alternating hip and shoulder shimmies while slowly stepping more or less in place. (I can still hear Irina's instructions in my head which is probably a good sign. ;)) But that's not the fault of the video.This is where I rebut the more critical review[s]:1) Nowhere does it say that Tribal Fusion workout is especially geared to beginners. It's an open level video, meaning that the beginner can take the movements she knows how to execute and leave out the layers she has a hard time with, while still achieving a good workout. More skilled dancers can follow the layering at their own levels.2) Irina does break down the movements, starting slowly and then building speed. The instruction is nuanced so it might escape some people's notice.(It took me a while to figure that out myself.) The initial tutorial is fairly but not excessively slow, as is each section of the workout that follows. By the time the choreography is assembled and you're taking it from the top, the speed has increased ... oh, about double. But you do get half-time and full speed before that. The breakdown's just not following what may seem to be the standard manner.3) I do agree that the yoga warm up is fast-paced. I accomodated my lack of coordination (falling over) and inability to keep up by watching that section again and writing down each pose as performed. I still use the list to keep track of the lefts and rights of salutations so that I use my body evenly. I don't do the side plank poses because I'm not strong enough yet. But I do an extra regular plank pose to make up for that. (Maybe I should do two?) I also get up differently, but that could be because I'm older and my knees don't do what Irina says. That's OK. Later, in the lower body section, Irina talks about "sensitive knees" so you know she wouldn't want someone to do what will obviously hurt her. That's just common sense, too.4) Irina does have ability as a teacher. Her manner of communicating is simply not what the most critical reviewer was used to. Every teacher has a different style. If we were in a classroom situation we could ask questions, but this isn't a classroom so we need to parse her meaning. We all had to figure out what other teachers meant, why not Irina? Asking her to be like someone else is unreasonable. I did notice a mix up with lefts and rights sometimes, but I've experienced much worse. The mistakes were few and mild.5) While I agree that the instruction moved quickly from one movement to the layering that forms a combination, and on to the routine, my inability to keep up isn't the fault of the video. It's already an hour and forty minutes long, so I got a lot of bang for my buck!6) Part of the beauty of this workout is that you need to pay attention, think, and fine tune your movements. That can take time. Frankly, I would rather use a workout video that's challenging because I won't be easily bored. Right now, I alternate Tribal Fusion with Hard Candy and I use the yoga portion of Tribal Fusion to warm up for both. I've also found and used Irina's "basic" instructions on YouTube (and Howcast). All it took was a little Google. :)

After working with this dvd for two months I have to acknowledge it as a favorite since it finds it's way into my dvd player almost every day. Which is not to say it was love at first sight.I purchased the dvd because I liked the idea of a yoga warm-up, and to this day I ignore it because Irina launches into difficult movements way too quickly. I've done these poses before in yoga class, but they were always towards the end of the session, when we were properly warmed up and limber. I'm sure Irina with her ballet background can go right into them without problem, but I wouldn't recommend it for the beginning at-home enthusiast.Much better to start with the technique sections where she breaks down the bellydance moves. You won't get a cardio workout from this section, but do it right and you will feel the burn. These moves help tone the midsection, and drilling will whittle away the inches over time. As a bellydance beginner, I stuck solely to this section for the first couple of weeks.Irina's cues, given in voice-over, are easy to follow, though a little extra info wouldn't hurt in spots. She does not address finger/hand positions, and it gets a little confusing when she changes the vocabulary for describing a move (this happens with undulations and ommies). Two other pet-peeves are her failure to distinguish between pushing the shoulder "back" as opposed to returning it to "center" when doing shoulder-figure-eights, and the choice of long black pants which obscure the knees/legs. A more seasoned dancer would likely be comfortable with these things, but as a beginner my shoulder movement was sometimes thrown off and I was occasionally left wondering if I was moving my legs correctly.Nonetheless, Irina is pleasant to listen to, upbeat but calm, with no hint of new-agey-mystical or hyper-aerobic-enthusiasm. Of course, if you ever find yourself tired of the instructions there is the option for a music-only track in the menu.Once comfortable with the techniques, the viewer can dive into either an upper-body (@16 min) or lower-body workout (@17 min) or a complete workout (@20 min). The choreographed routines are fast paced and demanding. Irina builds element upon element, but unlike the techniques section, there is no slow intro followed by repetition. She treats the viewer like a dancer: she gives you the steps, and assumes you can keep up.It's definitely a workout, but if your goal is to get the heart-rate in the max zone and drip sweat, you should look elsewhere. The focus here is tribal bellydance, which lacking the jumping and frenetic footwork of your average cardio routine, will not burn as many calories. It will however help tone and lengthen muscles, and increase flexibility.After the choreography is a quick cool down that is gentle on the body while still providing a good stretch. I often tacked it onto the end of the techniques section, and sometimes even onto other dvd workouts.Overall, I'm happy with this purchase. Irina's dance style is fluid and graceful while retaining many of the precise movements that are part of the Tribal signature. Not engineered for a beginner - it's marked as "open" level - I had to work up to the workout section, but for that reason it has great replay value since I didn't conquer it in a few viewings. I'm also a huge fan of the bonus performance at the end. Her grace and elegance is deeply inspiring.(To see more performances by Irina, check out  Bellyqueen: Bellydance NYC - The Ultimate Fusion Experience  and  Tarot - Fantasy Bellydance  )

Great DVD.

Moves made easy to follow.

ベリーダンスの教則DVDこのDVDを買うまでIrinaさん知らんかったけどパッケージがなんとなく好みやから買ってみた(・∀・)パフォーマンスがなんとも神秘的やった☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*ベリー歴１年くらいの私・・・練習は・・・・途中で・・・挫折・・・ストレッチの段階できつかったあと、うちはインストラクターさんの後ろ姿を見て練習するのが慣れてるから前向かれたままやとターンされると・・・・ﾍ(･o･Ξ･o･)ﾍ・・・・・方向音痴やから迷子にパフォーマンスはすごい綺麗やった上級者向け

他の人のレビューにもあったように、イリーナは正面向きで教えているので、ターンしたりすると混乱しますテクニックのレベルが高いのは仕方ないとして、願わくば、鏡を使ったレッスンであってほしかったです。内容はできるようになればすごくためになると思いますが。

Diese DVD ist für Einsteiger sowie Fortgeschrittene. Irina fängt bei den Basics (Schlangenarme) an und geht über bis 3-fach Layer. Alles in kurzen, leicht verständlichen Worten erklärt. Alle Bewegungen werden aus verschiedenen Perspektiven gefilmt. Irina hat eine tolle Isolationstechnik, so das man genau weiß wie es aussehen soll. Ob man das dann auch hinbekommt, steht auf einem anderen Blatt. Diese DVD als Workout zu bezeichnen ist eine Untertreibung. Es ist eine tolle Lehrdvd und definitiv ein excellentes Preis-Leistungs Verhältnis.