Shake it up!

(HMC DVD 9250) Starring Victoriya, Ava Fleming, Jamileh, Ansuya, Adam Basma (& Dance Company), Meleah, Khadejah, Virginia, Jayna, Souhaila, Kaya and Sadie.

Victoriya - Egyptian Cane Dance. This was a lively, fun opener and so nice to see a dancer who dances for the camera so you almost get the sense that she is dancing for you! Ava Fleming - Ava is a stunning dancer. She opens this number with some nifty veil work (although I have to say that I am not a fan of veil wraps that mimic a bourka!) that then segued into a nice rendition of the classic song ‘Zeina’. I was however slightly distracted by the constant cross-fades to different camera angles and the rather intensive lighting, that said Ava is always a pleasure to watch!

Jamileh - a new dancer to me and someone I’d like to see more of. Her dancing is a nice combination of fluidity and strength. Ansuya - performing to a lovely rendition of ‘Hani’ and nice to see her dancing to something other than pop! Adam Basma & Dance Company - something you don't see enough of these days - a wonderful and vibrant Debke!

Meleah - the description implied fusion, which it certainly was, and as a lover of performing the more unusual I was looking forward to this one. However I found myself reaching for the fast forward button - far, far too much time spent rolling around on the floor with a bit of black fabric. I found myself yelling ‘get up and dance’! Left me rather under-whelmed! Khadejah - Melaya Leff. This was nicely performed but fell a little flat because to really make melaya work you need the interaction with the audience and that isn’t really possible in a studio with no audience.

Virginia - lively, full of bounce and fun; I really enjoyed this drum solo. Okay so some of the accents were a little cheesy, but that didn’t detract from the whole. Jayna - Jayna has been part of the Bellydance Superstars for a while and it was nice to see her solo. Her delicate and fluid performance to ‘Leilet Hob’ left me wanting to see more of her. Souhaila - a vibrant Khaleeji performed to one of my favourite Khaleeji songs ‘Abart al Shat’ - lovely!

Kaya - a dancer of obvious skill who would be even better if she left the overtly sexual elements and ‘orgasm’ facial expressions at home! I wanted to enjoy her dancing but I couldn’t get past the ‘look at me I’m sooo sexee’ bits!Sadie - here is a dancer with lots of flexibility and some mean shimmies - a pleasure to watch, just not sure that black wedge sandals really go with a turquoise costume though. I’d like to see more of her.

Overall the production values were high, with beautiful well thought out sets and not too much cross-fading and fancy camera angles. Possibly a little too much in the way of flickering ‘disco’ lighting, but that’s a minor quibble! What was interesting was the bonus ‘behind the scenes’ footage. This was a montage of action shots of filming & backstage preparations in a kind of candid camera manner. A little confusing to start with as there were scenes with dancers who weren’t on this DVD, so I suspect that 2 or 3 titles were shot at the same time. I spotted Dondi, an Adam Basma sword dance and most of the dancers in different costumes and an intriguing shot of someone dancing with a hula hoop - I guess we'll have to wait for the next set of releases for that one!

DVD courtesy of Metronome Music where you can buy the DVD - www.classicalmusicstore.co.uk

This review first appeared in Taqasim Magazine.

Afra is a regular review writer for Taqasim and other magazines, and is often approached to review music and DVDs for many publications. If you would like her to review your product either for Taqasim or a speicific publication please email her at afra@afraalkahira.com