Rating: 
Summary: Good Fun!
Review: I LOVE these workout videos. I have the entire Rania collection and I cannot complain about any one of them. You will use muscles you didn't know you had.
I hate the "dime a dozen" Pilates, Yoga, and run of the mill aerobic videos. They are so BORING! Not these videos...give me dance workout any day!
I just had a baby and I am looking forward to getting back to the bellydance workout. I am sure it will tone up my ab muscles quickly. I highly recommend these DVDs to anyone with "powerhouse" problem areas. Your belly will thank you!
Rating:
Summary: Most Fun of the 4 Rania Videos
Review: I really enjoyed doing this video. I have all four of Ranias bellydance videos and this one is my favorite. The hip drops are fun and easy to learn. You get a good work out without feeling like you are working out.
Rating: 
Summary: Drop Your Hips To Drop The Pounds
Review: If you're not familiar with the Bellydancer Rania and her Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss series, she is an AFAA certified Fitness Instructor and internationally renowned bellydancer. Her four part workout series fuses bellydance moves with a variety of different Western musical rhythms in her belief that bellydance can be done to any kind of music. With soundtracks not always coming off as authentic sounding as one may like, you'll have to use your imagination a bit when you hear the `Disneyesque' and sometimes cartoonish sounding strains of Hip Hop, Salsa, and R & B. The Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss series are a set of fun workouts and a great way to interject life into a dull and stale workout routine.
Before beginning each workout it's important to keep in mind what these are -- workouts. Although you will learn some bellydance, as all of the routines are nearly completely comprised of bellydance moves, don't expect to buy this DVD and have it be your one-stop shopping for instruction and workout. They haven't made anything like that yet. The pacing required for instruction is way too slow to get your heart rate up for a cardiovascular or fat burning workout. Rania does a very good job of creating routines with moves using similar muscle groups, starting with a slower tempo to teach the move and then returning quickly to full tempo, layering all the movements together to create an interesting routine. Lots of repetition will give you plenty of great bellydance practice.
Each one of the four follows a similar format and vary only in specific content and theme. Hip Drop Hip Hop sports not exactly street style Hip Hop sounds here, but if you work your imagination a bit, it's urban dance-esque in feel. This workout is a bellydance routine set to 80's style hip hop instrumental music. The Bonus section has Rania's Wings of Isis dance as well as one other from "Bellydance Divas" and the Arms, Chest, and Back workout from "Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss: Daily Quickies...5 Ten Minute Workouts."
The workouts are set in a studio and Rania is backed up by a small group of dancers in matching workout attire w/ hip scarves -- similar in look and feel of the Crunch workout series but without all those annoying logos. The back up dancer's bodies are all variations on different female body types with some being curvy and some skinny, and at least one should look how your body could look if it were in a little better, but not rock hard, shape.
Each of the four workouts has a warm up of roughly 5 minutes. 20 minutes is spent on each disc devoted to instruction and routines. All four finish with a cool down and stretch segment of approximately 5 minutes in length. My biggest complaint is that I wish workouts were longer in length. 30 minutes just isn't enough for me to keep the fat molecules at bay. I would rather the workout be an hour in length and I could always quit part way through on days I have only 30-40 minutes to workout. Also, studies show that the body does not even begin to burn fat until after 20-30 minutes of sustained cardiovascular activity.
Not a lot of explanation is given to the individual bellydance moves but nearly everything is done in half-time to start before moving up to full tempo. Rania's voiceover often gives pointers as to how the moves are done but one would need to either be a little bit familiar with bellydance, or have a dance friendly set of coordination skills. Nearly anyone could eventually pick up most of the bellydance being done on these DVDs with enough patience and practice. Even without doing the moves perfectly you'll still have fun and get a good workout. Only the beginner absolutely new to all forms of dance would be truly lost. Some of the names Rania gives to certain Bellydance moves are different than I've heard them called before but this is common in the dance world where dancers come up with a move and patent the only part people can't `steal' -- the name. Don't let this bother you; it happens in Bellydance, Hip Hop, Salsa, et all. The move is probably the same thing you learned in class just with a different name.
Probably the biggest complaints about Rania's DVDs are concerning her stiffness, often vacant look, and inability to sustain a heartfelt smile. The look and smile I just consider window dressing for a video; I'm certainly more concerned with her ability to dance and teach. As far as her stiffness goes, it does have one advantage here -- a slightly stiff body is actually easier for a beginner to follow because lots of extra movement is distracting to the beginner who is merely trying to get the essence of a move down pat. While it may irritate an intermediate to professional dancer to watch, the beginner will benefit, and although Rania is certainly not the most fluid of dancers, the routines in the bonus section will attest that some, but not all, of her stiffness comes from making the workout moves look simpler. This is, of course, a fitness video for beginners.
In all, each of the four workouts are fun and you'll learn a little bit of dance. I just wish they all were longer.
Rating: 
Summary: It's alright... BUT
Review: it's not really "hip hop" nor is it necessarily all about "hip drops" either! Don't get me wrong, one will DEFINITELY work up a sweat with this DVD. I just expected more of an actual hip hop sound (think of someone like Lauryn Hill) and more instruction on how to actually do the moves than was given. The workout itself was a weird combination of belly dance and pop dance moves which was not what I was expecting at all. I bought the DVD for the hip drops, not to learn how to dance!! And is it just me or does Rania become a tad bit annoying with all the fake smiling? Just curious... Overall though, I would still recommend this DVD to someone who's looking for a decent belly dance inspired workout. The performance segments at the end of the workshop are worth the price as well.
Rating:
Summary: cabaret choreography & technique for the non-beginner
Review: The case features Rania (pronounced "Ranya" -- am I the only one who catches myself calling her "Ranma"? :P ) in two costumes which aren't on the DVD. There's a lo-ong intro from the producers, but you can skip most of it by clicking straight to menu. Your choices are the main workout, a shorter upper body workout and two performance pieces. There's also a photo section and trailers for other bellydance videos the producers have made. There's no region code listed on either the case or the DVD, and I had no problem playing it on a "stripped" DVD player.I confess the "Wings of Isis" performance was the sales clincher for me. My girls love to watch clips from this spectacular performance and the full dance didn't disappoint. Rania used "Isis Wings" props: two sunburst-pleated semi-circular veils attached to her arms and to wands she held in her hands to extend the "wings" outward. Her dance imitated the movements of real birds and was very exciting. The other performance piece was a raks sharqui number set to a commonly-used Egyptian pop tune to contrast with the American cabaret style used in the other dance. Rania is an incredible dancer and it's a real pleasure to watch her interpret the two different styles. The stage for all the pieces is a set done up like the center court of a shopping mall or a talk show stage without the furniture. I guess it was supposed to be Reassuringly American but I found its studied blandness a trifle annoying. There are four backup dancers all with the same generic "American nymphette" bodies. I hated the practice outfits used for the main workout. Flat black looks good on some people including Rania; but three of the four backup dancers looked like they were about to keel over dead. The main workout starts with a very short dance number by the backup dancers, then Rania announces they're going to be studying hip drop variations to hip hop music. There's a warmup using basic bellydance moves like snake arms, hip drops and hip circles, then the workout begins. Rania teaches a choreography which incorporates progressively harder variations on the hip drop as it goes along. It's an American cabaret-style dance which IMHO shows some MTV influence. Previewing it I saw that she used the same "watch and follow along" technique Neena and Veena used in their fitness videos, except her moves were more complex. There was little discussion of posture and none of where your weight goes. I tried out the movements as they came up, but couldn't figure out how to do the more advanced variations at the end of the choreography. Then I tried to do the workout. Oh Goddess! It quickly became apparent this workout wasn't for coordination-challenged among us. With no previous dance experience and no discussion of balance and weight I can't even do the first step at speed. I try to "step sideways and do a front half hip circle" and I'm listing like a ship in a storm. But I turn off the DVD and practice, and by the end of the day I can sorta get it. I'm currently working my way through this choreography at a few minutes every few days. The short upper body workout uses bellydance moves in the warmup then progresses to a difficult gym exercise involving pushups and hyper extensions. The photo section consists of additional shots of the same two outfits shown on the case (yawn). The trailer are for the other DVDs in Rania's series and the two Bidashi series. The four backup dancers are only present on the main workout; my 3yo was highly upset that "her friends had to go home early and couldn't stay". I've heard a lot from experienced dancers looking for choreography tapes. I can whole-heartily recommend this DVD, in fact this entire series judging from the trailers, to you. And the two performance pieces are probably worth the price of the DVD, considering the high prices of most performance videos. However if you're not interested in learning American cabaret-style choreography you might want to pass it up. And if you're a rank beginner like myself you might want to put off buying it until you've got several months or a year under your hip belt first.
Rating:
Summary: Exotic fun..!!
Review: The title says: BELLYDANCE Fitness for Weight Loss; which was exactly what it delivered. I don't understand how people can rate this as a dance video and expect some super-crafty moves from it. This is a dance workout. A DANCE WORKOUT. Not a dance recital, not a performance for other dancers, not a guide on how to master bellydancing..! W-O-R-K-O-U-T.
Okay, that being said, as a WORKOUT video, I find it awesome and great fun. Rania's gorgeous and her smiling face kept me perked up from the beginning and the choice of dancers in a variety of sizes should be applauded. There's a slim one, a curvy one, a little plump one and even a super pale one who looked like she could use a tan badly. Not that it matters of course as this is a bellydance video and not some kinda beauty pageant :D
In short, great video; the routines are simple to follow and are sexy enough to make you an exotic goddess for your boyfriend :D
Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: this video rocks the house!
Review: This dvd is excellent, excellent quality and content, and very danceable music. Great, hip, fresh dance workout routine, two amazingly incredible performances by Rania. And there is a bonus workout that just proves what good shape Rania is in. From the cover of the DVD I thought she looked a little heavy and older, but when I started watching the dvd I could see she is young and in perfect Barbie Doll shape, so don't let the cover fool you!
Rating:
Summary: Break Weight Loss Boredom
Review: This is a fun and quick (less than 30 minutes) way to workout. I felt benefits immediately ... not to mention, I went down a pant size. Granted, I will probably never have the washboard abs of these women, but I do come away feeling a little sexier.
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