dvd- the best oriental dancers of Europe
Nov. 10th, 2006 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mekyriaI bought the new dvd 'the best oriental dancers of Europe'at OM. Mainly because three teachers of the 'verdiepingscursus'are on them: farouq, Ahlem and Mariska. There are two other Dutch dancers on it (Sena and Soraya), German dancers and two dancers from FInland and one from Denmark. I'll post a full review of this dvd in a few days after I watched it a couple of times. This is one of the first dvd's that originate from European dancers, are paid for by several dancers and promoted by each of them.
I think the lay-out of the dvd cover is awful, very kitch. Jeoffrey said it reminded him of what Russion porntapes look like (the lay-out and font, not the pictures of the dancers!). Quality of the recording is very high, editing is off beat more then once (it's a very slight difference between music and movement in some of the cuts). Europeans are obviously miles behind when it comes to making dvd's. I offered to write a review and post it on my BD website and got a luke-warm response. They know that my reviews show my perspective and I try not to sugarcoat it.
I love Mariska's performance. Her technique is wonderful, and though I know very little of Bharat Najam, I think her performance is a good example of good indain dance/bellydance fusion. Peter's performance shows of his subtlety and flowing moves, but I missed the charisma and emotion of his live performances. Ahlem is one of my favorite Dutch dancers. Her facial expressions really touched me, in live performances she seems more distant to me. Again very nice technique (ah, if only I had twenty years under my belt!) though one thing I noticed is that her arms are also a focus point for her. (at least it seems that way in this recording, it never attracted my attention before).
Wether this dvd showcases THE BEST DANCERS OF EUROPE is something that I don't agree with. The other dancers didn't impress me much: maybe because the egyptian style is harder to capture on film then the american style. It's easy to like the BD superstars: what's on tape is what they show on stage. Capturing the emotion of an egyptian baladi might be something that's not figured out yet.
I think the lay-out of the dvd cover is awful, very kitch. Jeoffrey said it reminded him of what Russion porntapes look like (the lay-out and font, not the pictures of the dancers!). Quality of the recording is very high, editing is off beat more then once (it's a very slight difference between music and movement in some of the cuts). Europeans are obviously miles behind when it comes to making dvd's. I offered to write a review and post it on my BD website and got a luke-warm response. They know that my reviews show my perspective and I try not to sugarcoat it.
I love Mariska's performance. Her technique is wonderful, and though I know very little of Bharat Najam, I think her performance is a good example of good indain dance/bellydance fusion. Peter's performance shows of his subtlety and flowing moves, but I missed the charisma and emotion of his live performances. Ahlem is one of my favorite Dutch dancers. Her facial expressions really touched me, in live performances she seems more distant to me. Again very nice technique (ah, if only I had twenty years under my belt!) though one thing I noticed is that her arms are also a focus point for her. (at least it seems that way in this recording, it never attracted my attention before).
Wether this dvd showcases THE BEST DANCERS OF EUROPE is something that I don't agree with. The other dancers didn't impress me much: maybe because the egyptian style is harder to capture on film then the american style. It's easy to like the BD superstars: what's on tape is what they show on stage. Capturing the emotion of an egyptian baladi might be something that's not figured out yet.
