DVD Review “Belly Dance with Veil w/Sarah Skinner
By Nizana
I just watched “Belly Dance with Veil” with Sarah Skinner produced by World Dance New York. First of all, it has more than 8 sections and is 120 minutes long! Second, I must say I really enjoyed it. I knew most of what she presented, including some moves I had learned and forgotten along the way. But I also gleaned some new information that I hadn’t come across in veil classes I’d taken over the years. It was a complete package of information that I say would be great for beginning and intermediate veil level, and advanced or instructors could probably glean something, too. Sarah Skinner is a professional dancer and photographer residing in NYC.
One thing I found interesting, but not surprising, was some of the different terminology for some movements I am familiar by other names. A time or two it sounded like the sound cut out for a second, but she was not talking and the music wasn’t playing at the time, so it was very minor. Otherwise the sound was good, the backdrops were conducive to the dancing, and the lighting and videography was even.
Sarah is a lovely dancer, and her instruction was very clear, and she made it appear easy. She provided opportunity to break veil uses down and practice them to music. As an instructor, I appreciated her attention to what she called “Mishap Recovery” which was one of the 8 sections. The first section is “Hand and Arm Positions and Body Lines.” She also has a section that covers veil types, explaining and demonstrating how the different materials work and for what purposes. She has a wide variety of veils of various fabrics that she demonstrated with. The second section is “Veil dance entrances and Wraps.” Sarah adeptly shows how to get in and out of several different wraps. The third section is “Turns-Traveling and in Place.” Fourth is “Veil Cascades and Waterfalls” which I’ve never heard these movements called by these names, but those are apt enough names! Fifth is “Traveling Steps,” sixth is “Veil Twists and Switches,” seventh is “Veil Dance Endings,” and it ends with the mishap section.
But then it goes into a choreography, putting all of these wonderful things together to make a beautiful veil dance. Sarah also breaks this down, and throughout the video she gives some personalized tips to enhance the veil dance performance. I loved that she says “no claws” when holding the veil and not to bend over with your “tookie” to the audience when picking it up off the floor! Yes, thank you! I would recommend this video, and plan to watch it again and play along this time and refresh my memory on some of those long-lost veil moves, and try on a couple new things!
For purchase information go to: http://www.worlddancenewyork.com
