From the Director
On this DVD, I teach how the ability to move fluidly in an organic, connected way begins with an intuitive knowledge that arises when you are sensually awake. Sensuality is your enjoyment of the world and your own physicality as perceived by your senses. When your mind is receptive to physical pleasure, it translates your sensory experience into sensual movement, giving a fluid, languid, mesmerizing quality to your dance. As a form of body language, dance speaks the truth of your thoughts and feelings. In bellydance, sensuality has always been one of the most highly prized qualities. Aware of your sensual joy, your audience instantly knows that you are “comfortable with your body” and enjoying yourself. This allows the gift of your dance to be experienced on a higher, richer level. Sensuality is not a special talent or skill–it is present in all of us. The task is to discover it, cultivate it, and translate it from an internal state to an expressiv (more…)

Body + Soul, October 2007
Hemalayaa shows simple yet sultry moves designed to ignite the fire of attraction

Learn to live in and love every inch of your glorious body! The Kama Sutra, an ancient Indian text, promotes the cultivation of sensuality as a sacred duty. The need to cultivate and reconnect with our sensual selves — the goddess at the core of every woman — remains as strong as ever, but the din and rush of modern life make the opportunities all too rare. Through playful movements and heart-centered meditation, yogini and Indian Dance expert Hemalayaa takes you on a journey of discovery. Find the freedom and fullness of expression that come from embracing yourself and your body. Join Hemalayaa in a dance of love and laughter that instills confidence, joy, and poise. The steps are sassy, suggestive, coquettish, and enormously fun. Gesture by gesture, swish by swish, you will remember that you are — and have always been — a divine dancer. Includes bonus de (more…)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 2007
A- With the always-enchanting Hemalayaa as your guide, it will be easier than you think to learn these sexy, cardio-intensive moves.

Creator of the bestselling Bollywood Dance Workout turns up the heat! Spice up your workout and boogie to the bhangra beat. Inspired by the sassy, sexy moves seen in hit Indian films, this isn’t the same old boring exercise routine. It’s playful, seductive, and leaves you feeling high on life. Think of it as yoga with a triple-espresso twist or a double-chai high. Fitness star and yogini Hemalayaa leads you through three 15-minute programs, from low to high impact. The first gets you in the groove, the second ups the cardio to optimum fat-burning range, and the third has you shimmying and bopping like a Bollywood film beauty. As you dance, you’ll lose weight; tone your core, hips, and thighs; and kiss stress good-bye. So liven up, let loose, and laugh like Hemalayaa does. It’s that much fun! FEAT (more…)

Yogi Times, March 2007
Hemalayaa’s teachings are infused with her training and passion for Indian dance, and this release embodies this passion most purely.

For ALL fitness and experience levels. Inspired by the Indian film tradition of infectiously expressive music and dance comes a sexy, saucy, calorie-burning, full-body workout. Fitness star Hemalayaa leads you in traditional moves that will tone you head to toe while unleashing waves of energy and joy. The movements are simple—no exercise or dance experience required—but the results are big. You’ll be getting a cardio, sculpting, and stretching workout while having a blast—and learning moves you’ll love to flaunt on the dance floor. Just let yourself go and boogie to the bhangra beat. It’s impossible not to. Features include audio options (instruction and music or music only) and bonus dance performances.

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Amazon.com
Jane Austen fans will delight in the sumptuous production design and first-rate acting in the 2007 Masterpiece Theatre version of Persuasion. Sally Hawkins is controlled and moving as Anne Elliot, the quietly heartbroken but sensible heroine who was “persuaded” (read: forced) to turn away her true love but still carries an unseen torch for him. Hawkins’s performance is genteel yet steely, and the quiet strength of the entire production. Hawkins looks alternately quietly lovely and sadly pinched–as one might expect the long frustrated Anne to look. Other highlights include a post-Buffy Anthony Head, as Anne’s clueless, blustery father, Sir Walter. Head gets to turn on his deft comic talent here in ways most American audiences have not yet seen him; he’s clearly enjoying himself immensely, blustering about “my shrubberies” and other trivial affairs. The cinematography is lush (several breathtaking tracking shots are used, especially early on), as are the period (more…)