Product Review

Created by star belly dance performer and acclaimed New York instructor Angelique Hanesworth, Bellydance Layering - Advanced Technique & Practice is designed to help you develop the body control you need to add subtle, sophisticated and visually stunning layered bellydance moves to your dance vocabulary and to perform them with precision and effortlessness.

As the most advanced, top-level technical skill, layering is the icing on the cake for all bellydance styles. In addition to the wow factor of how does she do that? , layering gives a dancer an amazing flexibility in interpreting music, a unique ability to embody the melody and play with the subtleties of bellydance rhythms and accents at the same time.

When designing and performing layered moves, even the most advanced body control is not enough: The dancer needs to train her eye to fully understand the aesthetic potential and visual impact of layers. Unless your range of motion and accents are modulated just right to make the layers look organic, your movement may appear forced, mechanical, or lacking in ease and grace.

A long-term training companion designed to advance you to the next level of dance, Angelique s Bellydance Layering program consists of two main sections: Technique/Drills and Drill Choreography.

Angelique teaches 14 combinations covering a wide range of challenging hipwork and upper body layers woven into tight, high-wow-factor, beautifully-resolved moves. She breaks down each combination into its basic components and leads you through practice with music, building up layers gradually, working on each layer to achieve the optimal amplitude and tightness for the most graceful and illusion-enhancing effect.

The Drill Choreography is a 5-section sequence of layered moves in a rich and vibrant choreographic texture. These sections are designed to demonstrate organic placement of layered moves in a dance context, and to commit the layering techniques to your muscle memory. Each section is taught step-by-step and accompanied by a practice session.

The DVD version of the program offers non-stop practice sequences for both sections - Technique / Drills and Drill Choreography - with options of practicing with voice cues, or music only.