Dolphina Time!

I have been at Dolphina’s website today, perusing her wares. She’s a bellydance/other kinds of dance instructor and has made it her life mission to empower women – she is truely living the life she wants to, which is great.

Lucky for me, Miss Budget and No More Presents (except flowers – an absolute neccessity) I found Dolphina’s Goddess Workout Introduction to Bellydance DVD almost in whole on YouTube. Thank the Jeesus for YouTube!

So now I get to write a review.

It’s very new-agey (what else would you expect for a Goddess Workshop Facilitator in California?) and she talks about Chakras and drawing in energy quite a bit. Now, being Faeriewitch (albeit an emotionally challenged one) I can handle that, if I was doing the DVD with a group of friends who do not share my interests however I might have felt a bit uncomfortable.

Criticisms first – while beautifully shot and produced, the camera does have a tendency to focus on her face and flouncy hand movements when it should be focusing on the movement she is trying to teach – for example, when explaining a hip movement, the camera would focus on her (albeit very pretty) face instead of what the hips were up to. I was cool with that, even though I found it a bit weird, because all the moves are pretty basic and stuff I’ve covered hundreds of times. However, I feel as a beginner coming to Bellydance I might have found her teaching style a bit difficult – she doesn’t spend a lot of time going over and explaining each move, and tends to expect you to pick it up as you go along. Fine for me, not something that I would reccomend to my Mum to re-learn from. There is something about her technique that doesn’t appeal to me – I have always been taught to isolate movements, for example,when you focus on hipwork, your top half doesnt move and there is no level change. Dolphina has a very… jumpy? style and I was not impressed by her undulations as I couldnt see the movement clearly. Though, I’m not intending to hold this against her as it’s not a bellydancer-orientated fitness DVD, it’s for the general public who are not really down with the bellydancers.

It was quite fast paced and nothing was particularly difficult – I was surprised by how hot I was half way through because it really doesn’t feel like you are getting a workout. I thought the music was really lovely, and the locations really imaginative and gorgeous – most of my DVDs are shot in studios, so it was really pleasant to practice the basics watching someone shimmy away in gardens, in islamic arches and beautiully decorated interiors for a change. She also had lots of costume changes – I loved it! I’m a girl, costume changes will always appeal.

However the biggest thumbs up goes to Dolphina herself. She is just so full of love and light, you can’t help enjoying working out with her. I just such a good feeling from her in the DVD and her empowering messages on her site. I am not going to travel across the world to train with her, as she doesnt hit that bar in my books, but I find her inspiring all the same.

Visit her! http://www.goddesslife.com