The Happy Drunk Reviews- Modern Oriental with Ranya Renee

The kids are going in late today, icy roads, so basically I dragged my butt out of bed at 6am for nothing.....well, except to bring you another Happy Drunk Review.

Sometimes you just buy something because you like the instructor, rather than whether or not you need the DVD. I adore Ranya Renee. She is like the teacher in high school that made a subject come alive for you with her passionate approach. She is funny, beautiful, thorough and clearly knows her stuff. Having said that I almost didn't buy Bellydance Egyptian Style-Modern Oriental with Ranya Renee. I own her two disc DVD set, The Baladi ( see trailer at end of post), and was so pleased with it. I had read on a review somewhere that if you own the Baladi DVD's that this one was not worth buying, because it contained a lot of the same information. Well, I bought it anyway, so here is the review.

The reviewers were right except for the fact that she includes a wonderful ( long) choreo to "Layalina", on this DVD. ( with two versions, Beginner, and Advanced). It does have a lot of the same information as the Baladi DVD's, but at the affordable prices that World Dance charges, the Modern Oriental DVD is worth buying for the choreography , IF YOU LIKE HER STYLE.  I would recommend watching her dance on YouTube or something before you buy. I happen to like her dancing ( it very closely mirrors my own style), it is passionate and very Egyptian, a lot of dramatic pausing, shimmies, pops, and dramatic arms. She is in a word, dramatic. I like that, but you might not. So please, view first.
AND if you want to only buy one of these then buy the Baladi set. It is friggin amazing. It is the kind of set that I will be so bold to say as every dancer should own it. It is almost head-spinningly chocked full of information, and not so much a DVD that you " do" to but more like a DVD that you watch a lot until the information sinks in. I would say it is more like going to a workshop to learn about the Baladi, and Egyptian music. Ranya's teacher/ mentor is Yousry Sharif, and it is clear that she has been taught proper Egyptian cabaret. The Baladi ( and all of her others) is full of Arabic terms, information about the instruments used in Arabic music, and I think she captures the soul of it all. This really is very different from anything else out there...in a good way.
Yep, Ranya has got it all; looks, skills, and homegirl is really funny, to boot.

     Annnnddddd, she has got a new DVD coming out on Taqsim! Hooray!!!! ( the last in the parade of trailers at the end of this post.)

Definately buy the Baladi set, if you want a good choreo then buy the Modern Oriental, and I will be buying the Taqsim DVD and letting you know about it.

O.k., now to wait another hour until I can drop my angels off at school, and have some peace and quiet.