A 46-minute cardio workout that borrows from the moves of belly dance and Bollywood. There's also a 22-minute step instruction so you don't have to waste a workout learning the moves. Kili Marti instructs.

Advanced beginning exercisers. These aren't your typical cardio dance moves, even if the workout itself is only moderately intense. Don't worry, you won't need zills (finger cymbals) or a costume, although a metal coin belt would be fun to slip on.

If you have done any exploring around the cardio section of this site, you might have noticed the lack of belly dance DVDs. There's a reason for this: I've studied belly dance off and on for most of my adult life and nearly all the belly dance DVDs out there suck as cardio workouts. That's not to say that belly dance can't be a cardio workout, especially when a teacher like L.A.-based veteran Mesmera puts you through your paces. But so far, no one has been able to come up with an exercise DVD that has the type of belly dance choreography that's going to get your heart rate up. (I should make one; I know how to do it.) In any case, Marti gets around this dilemma here by blending in a lot of other influences with belly dance, mainly Bollywood steps, which often involve jumping around. The result is a workout that contains some snakelike moves, camel modifications and one shimmy, but isn't really a belly dance workout at all. That's not necessarily a bad thing unless you are expecting mainly traditional belly dance moves. Overall it's a decent workout for beginners and advanced beginners; intermediate exercisers probably won't find it intense enough. The moves are fun and creative, so if you are looking for something outside of traditional cardio dance steps, you should check this one out. Just don't think you're learning how to belly dance.

 

 

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