Some of World Dance New York's fitness programs allow you to explore special genres of belly dance or particular areas of movement skill.
The Belly Dance Rhythms Workout, with Neon (DVD)
Silk - The Belly Dance Veil Workout, with Tanna Valentine (DVD)
The Belly Dance Shimmy Workout, with Sarah Skinner (DVD)
The drum solo is an indispensable part of a belly dance show, and one of the most dynamic and physically challenging types of belly dance movement, giving you a chance to play with dance rhythms and accents. Neon's "Belly Dance Rhythms" DVD offers two workouts/drum solo practice sessions - beginner & intermediate, and two tutorials. You will work with live drumming, and 5 bellydance rhythms: ciftetelli, baladi, saidi, maksoum, and masmoudi. Each workout flow features a wide variety of classic drum solo moves assembled into 20 beginner and 20 intermediate combinations. Each combination is repeated as a drill:
Beginner - slowly 12 times and at a real dance tempo 8 times; Intermediate - slowly 8 times. Real dance tempo 12 times.
Veil dancing is another must-have of the classic bellydance show: It requires graceful and purposeful arm movements, an elongated, lifted body line, and superb skills in manipulating a lovely cloud of tricky silk fabric.
"Silk - The Belly Dance Veil Workout" DVD is an open-level fitness, dance instruction, and dance practice program, focusing on the genre of veil dance. Whether you are a dance beginner or an advanced dancer, Tanna’s beautifully choreographed dance flow and clear, precise instruction are amazing tools to learn veil dancing or polish your veil dance technique to perfection.
The Shimmy is one of the central features creating 'the 'look' of belly dance. Hip and chest shimmies are a great workout for your lower body and upper back and chest area. "The Shimmy Workout" DVD by Sarah Skinner offers a tutorial section introducing a wide range of shimmies at beginner level, and a workout of 6 five-minute shimmy practice sessions with body stretches in between. The workout is designed for you to do it either as an hour-long class, or -- if you only have a few minutes to practice your shimmy -- you can choose from a array of 5-minute shimmy drills.