Of course the Combination Nation series is....Combinations. Didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. I adore the way that they are broken down and drilled ( another earmark of Cheeky Girls, they have the formula down right), not too much breaking down,not too much drilling. Juuuuuust right.
The first DVD felt like a lot of the same same same. Other than a cute "gooey soft shoe" by Princess F, and a really floaty piece by Shoshanna, the others were.....well, fine. Not bad, but just not that inspired. Certainly nothing that made me go" Ohh, I want to learn that". ( but I did fall in love with Zafirah on this DVD, even though her combo wasn't something to write home about I loved watching her performance at the end of the DVD).The disappointing thing was, there were so many of my favorite dancers on the first DVD, I expected more.
I guess on the second Combination Nation DVD they decided that they could take more risks. There was a lot more variety, in the dancers and in the combo's. Americans like our variety. We NEED 50 different brands of cornflakes to choose from. I was ( as my southern husband says), "tickled" with this DVD. I loved it.
I have noticed in Combos that if you check out the dancers body type that you can pretty much match the movements to it. I am a big, curvy somewhat chunky girl, so I enjoyed the more curvy type dancer's combo's better. This is not always the case but for the most part there is a reason that I only risk an arabesque when I have had too much wine. I have a lot of hip and ass to heave over that leg, and to do it quickly smoothly, and without wobbling......no thanks. Gimme some complicated shimmies and I'll just stay on the ground thank you very much.
For that reason I LOVED, as in WANT TO MARRY the Magidah combo. It was a cute Saidi type thing, and it is adorable. I also fell in love with Sadiyya on this DVD.( there seems to be a lot of falling in love on this blog...) She is SO creative, and her combo's were as well. I also learned to like DaVid. His combo is simple but so cute, and I love the attitude he puts into it. As for the levels of the combos? In the first DVD they seem to be all about beginner intermediate to intermediate level. But in the second DVD they are all over the map, from beginner to advanced. ( I think Sadiyya's are pretty advanced....reverse pelvis undulation layered with a shimmy walking backwards? um, yeah).
So all in all both of these DVD's are worth buying, but if you only have $17 and you want to buy one, buy the second one.
1 comments:
Thank you for this review and for the video. This is definitely one I'd like to check out - if not only for fact that they use dancers with all body shapes. I'm a bit hippy-er, and it gets kind of disappointing to see so many dance dvds with rail thin ladies on them.
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