The Art of Exotic Dancing for Everyday Women (2002)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Features:

• interviews with the producer and director
  
• behind-the-scenes footage
  
• dance feature with optional commentary
  
• profiles of the students
  
• music video
  
• playlist music selection feature
  

My Advice: Rent it.

The Art of Exotic Dancing for Everyday Women is not an exercise disk, but an instructional video geared toward teaching women everywhere how to dance like an exotic dancer. The disk combines extra footage with scenes from the actual classes held throughout the country. The Art of Exotic Dancing for Everyday Women teaches both individual elements, such as how to walk, with how to put it all together into floorwork or a striptease.

The instruction by former dancer Laurie Conrad is rather good. She describes things clearly and all moves are fully demonstrated for clarity. She's motivated without being spastic, and her encouragement that anyone can be sexy is nice to hear. Conrad's philosophy is that women don't have repress their sensuality the way we are told we must unless we want to, even as we age or if we have a less-than-socially-ideal figure. The women in the class are "real" women, in a variety of ages and sizes, and this fits into what Conrad says--anyone can be an exotic dancer if they are willing to put aside their inhibitions and try.

The features are rather extensive. The interviews with the producer and director are an interesting look at the history of this exotic dance class phenomenon and how the disk got made. The demo dance feature is inspirational, as is some of the bonus behind-the-scenes footage. The music playlist feature is also kind of a nice touch, as important as music is to the necessary mood, and it's nice to learn more about these students and why they were interested in this class. My only qualm is that it would have been nice a few times to have been able to select an alternate camera angle for some of the moves.

In short, if you're looking for a way to add variety to your workout regiment, this is not the way to go. The moves are far too slow to burn fat and not strenuous and focused enough to tone muscles (unless you do them over and over and over). However, if you're looking for what the disk claims to be, instruction on how to dance like a stripper, then you'll be quite satisfied with the quality of instruction contained here. Die-hard feminists who think anything "feminine" is automatically evil will not be happy with this disk. No, you don't, as a woman, have to buy into what society tells you is sexy and/or feminine. But if you choose to, or if you're just looking for a bit of a lark, then The Art of Exotic Dancing for Everyday Women might be just the ticket for a fun change of pace. If nothing else, Conrad's message of self-confidence is always timely and good to hear.