During the Bellydance Evolution workshop series in Bali last year, I took a... Hungarian dance workshop with Louchia. Was it Hungarian? I forgot what it actually was, but it was Eastern-Europe and we had to wear wide skirts (of course I didn't have one... I improvised). The steps were absolutely frenetic (I have two left feet). What did capture me was the floorwork in the beginning. It was hard, but I loved it.
I love doing floorworks, with or without Lilith, my sword. It really shows off my flexibility and strength. Although at times, without proper warm-up and stretch (of at least 30 minutes), I can go wobbly.
Synchronized floorworks have been my dream. My troupe tried to stay away from floorworks, but in our last recital, I forced them to do the Berber Walk and it was so fun (I miss you guys!).
And now, I have the awesome DVD of Tribal Basics volume 8: FloorWork in my hands!! Okay, not quite. The DVD is inside the DVD player of my laptop. I bought it at FCDB's studio last Friday. And my shoppaholic self also browsed their online store and found a very cool black hoodie jacket. Oh, and it rained today! I guess it's still raining out there as I'm writing... So a jacket with a hood will come in extra handy!
Where was I... Oh yeah: the Floorwork DVD.
The video is opened by a yoga routine for floorworks designed by Anita Lalwani - a certified yoga instructor and FCBD member (AND MY TEACHER!!). I've always been somewhat baffled by yoga. There was a time when I would avidly join yoga classes in my old gym, but somehow after I got too busy with work and stopped coming to classes, my interest waned.
However, the yoga section of FCBD's FloorWork DVD, just like the yoga section in Rachel Brice's Serpentine DVD, is very beneficial not only for floorworks, but for my overall muscular strength and posture. So I'll look into it.
And then Ms. Nericcio explains about the way to get down and start the floorwork, getting up again and dance on our feet, and the floorworks themselves.
I like the crystal clear instructions and the spotting tip is very, very good. However, I don't understand why they have to shrink the size of the video during the drills section instead of showing the video full size like in the other sections. In the drill section, FCBD shows all the moves, but the frame is within a black box, smaller than actual screen. I'm very, very stupid when it comes to details, so I have to really look closely, so this is an issue for me.
You might remember the Tribal Pura (Tribal Basics volume 7: Creative Steps & Combinations) with the Devyani Dance Company. Now I LOVE that DVD. The drills have the same black-box type, but the camera stays still, no zooming in or out or panning left or right whatsoever. We can see one whole body and the movements of the feet (YAY!) of either Ms. Megha Gavin or Ms. Nericcio.
I love the Tribal Pura DVD and the Advanced Workshop DVD (Tribal Basics volume 4). In the volume 4 DVD, it's even much better because we can see the front view of Ms. Nericcio in the mirror and her back view. So it really feels like she's teaching in a class. Well, just like volumes 5 and 6.
But actually, in a way, I can always look back to the explanation sections of the DVD instead of the drill section to review the moves.
Last but not least: check out the features! It has the behind the scene part and it's so funny! I know, I know... I'm such a stalker, but it's hilarious. I just wish I they still had the FCBD chocolate bars to sell.
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