Happy Drunk Review: Killer Ziller

I am drinking wine at 3:30 in the afternoon. Why? My kid is sick, tomorrow is Mabon, which I am feeling most acutely, and I was up all night, so I am sleep deprived.  Wine, sleep deprivation, antsy feeling that always accompanies the turning of the Wheel for me = pissing around on the net. So in honor of the next turn of the Wheel....here is another Happy Drunk Review.
   Naima reviewed this one also, so make sure to check out her take on this DVD, but I am pretty sure we agree.....Killer Ziller is killer!

First of all as we all know in bellydance blogland, I adore Michelle Joyce. She really simplifies without over simplifying. Her DVD's are super affordable, and well produced. I have NEVER bought anything by CheekyGirls that I was not impressed with. She gives you just the right amount of information in digestible pieces, and she has done it again on this DVD.
   There is a reason that there aren't that many dancers skilled at zils. ( compared to how many bellydancers there are out there, what percentage can play zils skillfully? not many, I'd bet). Zils are hard to learn, they are an instrument for goodness sake. Not only do you have to be a good dancer,you have to be a good dancer and a good ziller. I can dance my ass off, I can zil my ass off but put the two together? Let's just say it ain't pretty. I am almost embarrassed as long as I have been dancing that my zils suck so badly, and I have nothing to blame but laziness. No, really. You gotta practice. You gotta put the suckers on and practice.
      That is where this DVD comes in.....it is broken up into three sections, fantastic for daily practice.
In the first section she has you tap out the rhythms on your belly. This is for beginners, and if you have any knowledge of zils, then skip this.
  The second section is just a pair of zils/hands playing the different rhythms. It lasts a while, and I usually stand there and just play on the crazy-ass ones that I can barely keep up with, try to at least walk around on the medium- hard ones, and then dance on the easier ones that everyone knows, like triplets. The cool thing is, she plays a LOT of rhythms....I love it. Some I am sure I will never use, but most I am glad to learn, and practice. This section gives you freedom to just sit there if all you can do is zill, or maybe do some elementary school dancing while you attempt to keep the zils going.....um, I mean, not that I'd know anything about that.
    The third section has four choreography's of escalating difficulty. I haven't gotten past the first one yet. For reals. Yes, I am that bad. But they are freakin' brilliant, and combine several different zil patterns. Maybe one day I can get to the fourth choreo.....one can hope. ( the frustrating thing about zils is that the last "hardest" choreo looks like a piece of cake, but to zil with it would be a joke. So I must face the facts and "dance where I am" like Donna was so fond of telling us.)

    MJ you rock. I mean it. You have brought hope to my zill-less  hands. Thanks again, babe.

and, if you haven't picked up that if you have any interest at all in learning to zil that this would be a good buy, then, well, if you have any interest at all in learning to zil then this would be a good buy.