The Way of the Belly: 8 Essential Secrets of Beauty,

Sensuality, Health, Happiness, and Outrageous Fun

Neena & Veena

As Reviewed by Nizana

This glossy book comes with a DVD that is instructive and includes a choreography. Neena & Veena, aka “The Belly Twins,” wrote this book with Nancy Bruning. Its sole focus is not belly dance; it speaks to the “8 Secrets” that will enhance incorporating belly dance into your life and provide ideas for life balance. I’m all about life balance, so I looked forward to checking this out. Flipping through it showed a variety of tasty morsels to glean from and some lovely color photos!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Neena and Veena, you can find them online at bellytwins.com. They are successful belly dancers who have graced many stages, appeared in films and magazines, and have a line of DVD’s.  Neena and Veena take you through ways to do just what the book title implies, while incorporating tidbits about belly dance, such as a description of Middle Eastern musical instruments. Starting out their book, they present an introduction to guide you through the use of the book and DVD; how handy!

Chapter One starts out with “Knowing Your Belly” which touches on astrology, Ayurvedic Dosha, chakras and color preferences, which are all book topics in themselves. The point being is there are many “guides” out there to help you be healthier and happier and being open to them could be beneficial. They also discuss the origins of belly dance.      

Each following chapter has “belly” in it- lighten, listen, shape up, pamper, adorn, beautify and love your belly. The Belly Twins provide ideas on how to do all these wonderful things to and for your belly and your overall being.

The chapters are followed by special sections covering menus, recipes, and “Salon.” The menus include some of Neena and Veena’s favorite Middle Eastern and Indian dishes and beverages. The recipes are also select favorites of theirs. The “Salon” section covers spa treatments you can do at home- scrubs, aromatherapy baths, masks and more. 

The DVD has some odd colorings throughout. It goes from color to black and white or sometimes overlaid with a color such as red. The backdrop is lovely as the Twins start with a warm-up accompanied by soft music. Not only do they have names for all the movements, they actually have names for the different arm frames, which is pretty cool. They used an overlay to show the name of the movement as well as an insert box of a close-up of the movement as the Twins demonstrate the movements. The verbal instruction is clear. Sometime they would mention a layer to a movement and not demonstrate it; I’d have preferred they demonstrate it if they’re going to mention it.

They cover different basic movements, traveling steps and undulations. Movements are done on both sides - they do a short segment on veils that combines movements shown earlier with tips on veils. A short choreography follows putting it all together and they give you veil and non-veil option. Time is not given to practice it; they move straight through then do it to music and voice-over. This is then followed by Neena and Veena performing the number in full costume with a new setting. Bonus footage covers belly stance, breathing, posture, and voice.     

If you’re looking for a strictly belly dancing book, this might be disappointing. If you look at it from a more holistic perspective, you will probably enjoy it. I’m glad I added this to my “belly dance” book collection!