The Sculpted Blossom: Classical Indian Dance - Belly Dance Fusion with Irina Akulenko

There are many great aspects to this program, including clear step by step instruction to complicated moves, such as foot patterns that are based on classical indian dance. The instructor demonstrates the drills, and provides ample practice in all the key aspects of the choreography, such as hand gestures, arm movements, and drills that put all of the movements together. BUT the soundtrack for the drills is repetitious, mechanical, and will definitely cause a hypnotic ear worm that will stay with you for hours, not good! My husband appeared and commented how bad the music was, and said he couldnt get the sound out of his ears the day before when I was practicing. Indian music is so complex and beautiful, I wish the instructor would have chosen something more complementary to the beautiful movements.

This is a more ADVANCED dance video of very old-form, beautiful India dance (not Bollywood style). I'm not a dancer, so I had to repeat it a lot to learn the moves (and I still look like a duck, not a beautiful swan). My much more talented daughter, however, picked the moves up quickly. I wish I could look that good dancing these! :-) [*envy*] I shall just have to keep practicing. There is a more entry-level 'Bollywood Dance for Beginners' put out by this same video production company that is more suited to my clutziness and lack of grace. Sooo... If you have a bit of talent, this video will teach you some beautiful advanced techniques. If you're totally untalented like me, start with the beginner video and then move your way up to this one.

Irina Akulenko is a fabulous dancer. Her movements are very precise, graceful, and well executed. Her back up dancers are also quite good. I like this video. To learn the whole choreography, it will require some extra time in order to gain good control of the body.

Good quality video with great instruction.

I found this very advanced and a lot to remember, but if one is at this level (I am not), this is a great DVD. Irina is so talented and a wonderful teacher.

I received the DVD promptly and have not yet completed it, but Irina is very thorough and beautiful to watch. Her moves are very exact and informative at the same time looking very natural to her. Thank you

Very much like the way this instructor structured the video. Very well thought, taught and performed.

I was hoping to get more of a workout from this video.

Beautiful graceful fusion of Odissi [one of the Indian Classical dance styles] and Belly dance; usually I find dance fusions end up as a confusing blend of something new, with only fleeting glimpses of the original styles; this dvd bucks the trend as the dancer successfully combines the two forms in a way that preserves the purity of moves of the two styles while integrating seamlessly into a very delightful presentation.

Any woman can do this, but do not expect fast results. Check Neon's page to find out more!Thank you very much for being so breathtaking...

bè Irina è una grande danzatrice e tutto quello che fa lo spiega veramente bene e in modo semplice, un dvd veramente utile a tutti quelli che amano la danza indiana con un pizzico di fusione di danza orientale, molto molto bello!

Genial, detalles de pasos de la india, oriental, y coreo...material para bailarinas

丁寧な振り付け指導のDVDなので、とても良かったです。せっかくなので、何曲かイリナさんが踊っている映像特典があったら、もっと良かったです。振り付けで覚えたダンスの「通し見本」だけイリナさんのダンスが見れました。