Combination Nation 3
February 2, 2012 § 2 Comments
I just watched my Combination Nation 3 DVD from Cheeky Girls. Like all the DVDs I’ve bought from them, I love it! Cheeky Girls always chooses very high quality instructors. Combination Nation 3 is the first of the Combination Nations I have purchased.
I read in Aleksie’s review of Combination Nation Volume 1 that the same music is repeated a lot, so while it is interesting to see how different people interpret the same music, it gets a little old by the end. Since I haven’t seen the first I can’t compare the two, but I think this volume uses a good variety of music with a great variety of dance styles to go with it. There is some Modern Egyptian, Turkish Oriental with zill option, Classical Egyptian, Jazz-inspired Modern Belly Dance, Flamenco, Indian, and Samba-flavored pieces. There’s every thing from fast to slow, lyrical to rhythmic, old school to modern. This DVD is very well-rounded. Several combinations are quite challenging (ahem, Ruby–whom I love!) and I will have to go back to them before I can really get them down, but to me that is a sign of money well spent. If I can already do everything on a DVD, it was a waste of money. I want to learn new things! I also really enjoy compilation DVDs like these that involve several dancers because you get introduced to people you may not have seen before (and their websites!) and if they have other instructional DVDs, it’s like a little preview. You can get an idea of their teaching style and whether or not it’s what you’re looking for before you commit to buying their DVD.
This DVD starts out, for the most part, with faster, more upbeat combinations and winds down to slower, simpler ones. This makes sense to me because if you choose to go through the whole thing in one practice session, you will probably be exhausted by the end. It’s also conveniently organized into chapters by instructor, breakdown and practice session, so if you choose to do it in bits and pieces, or integrate just parts into your regular practice, it’s easy to do. There are three performances at the end, which I enjoy watching while I cool down and stretch.
I highly recommend this DVD, especially for intermediate to advanced dancers. I think anyone can take away something from every combination, whether you dance in the instructor’s particular style or not. It is full of great ideas that can be adapted and personalized for your own dance.
As always, great job Cheeky Girls!
JadeDancer.com 
I bought this recently in a massive spending splurge when cheeky girls had that great sale. I haven’t got it out of the wrapper yet! I agree cheeky girls dvd’s are usually very good! It’s nice they cover more than the basics.
I bought this DVD during that sale, too. It was such a good sale! I wanted to get All About Arms with Ruby, but they were sold out by the time I got home from work and placed my order. Oh well. Some other time.