The Heart Beat of Belly Dance,
Rhythms and Dance Combinations for Drum Solos
By Johanna Gamble

I was looking back at some of the local events, well local to Virginia anyway, and saw something for Raquy and the Cavemen.  Okay, the title of the group is interesting enough for me to ask, “who is this guy Raquy anyway”?  I browse through a couple of websites and low and behold, One, Raquy is a She.  Two, she and her cavemen have some nice sounds going on. And three, she has an instruction DVD with Jenna, who I know from my many Rakkasah East trips.  So with a click of the mouse I have The Heartbeat of Belly Dance headed to my door.

I really like this DVD.  It has a warm-up and three drum solos with clear instruction, good break-downs of some of the more difficult combinations and performances of the same choreography in costume.  Filmed in two locations with mirrors as the background you get lovely, angled shots with both the front and back of each movement.  When playing the instructions you have the option of running through all of the instruction for each solo separately, or going through the individual parts followed by practice sessions for each section.  Each sequence of movements also has numbers on the screen as well as counts, where applicable, and names for the moves that she is using to make it easy to follow along or go back and review. 

The rhythm breakdown section is clear with Raquy describing the beat, clapping the count, playing the drum and then following this with drumming for Jenna who does some nice improvisations. With eight common rhythms for belly dance, it is great for dancers of all levels who want a better grasp of the rhythms we use in this dance. I also really liked the extra feature of an improv drum solo with Raquy and Carmine Guida of Djinn out of New York City playing for Jenna.

From the technical side, again this is a good DVD.  My only hang up, which is pretty paultry by the way, was the changes in the studio lighting of the floor which had reflections ranging from daylight to Wow that’s blinding during the instruction sections.  The sound was good throughout, with easy insertions of the voiceovers.  The slow motions of each of the major movements for each set is a nice bonus.  Jenna’s costuming is flattering throughout.  Her simple black top and pants with a hip scarf for each of the instruction sections makes it easy to see body parts without a costume in the way.  Later during the performance sections her classic costume looks great on her and really shows how much is added with a beautiful ensemble.   I recommend this DVD to all levels of dancers and encourage you to check out Raquy and the Cavemen at http://www.raquyandthecavemen.com/.  They have not only some nice excerpts from their albums, but also some ring-tones you can download.

For Information:

http://www.worlddancenewyork.com/product.php?proid=38&catid=7