If anyone made any rude comments about your weight- I'd be very surprised.

I thought you looked lovely! And as I'm no officianado...(sp??) I can't comment on your actual performance- but I will say one suggestion....You shimmy beautifully- but you needed something to more accent it- it was the only thing that stuck out in my mind....

I'm going to take a second and look at the clip, but I suggest moderating the comments when you post a clip of yourself on youtube. There are a lot of a**holes out there and they don't deserve the opportunity to comment on your work.

As far as weight goes, I'll never discourage somebody from trying to be their healthiest best self, but I do not think you need to be really skinny to be a great dancer and a pleasure to watch.

You have a beautiful and tasteful costume that really suits you. There is a nice quality to your movements as well.

I'm going to suggest a couple of things, one, especially when you are working with recorded music, even if you are improvising, try to know your music backwards and forwards. You missed some great accents and were slow on a couple of the changes, which I would forgive more if you were working with live music, but since this appeared to be CD, I would have liked to have seen you hit those.

At the beginning I would have like to have seen a little more hip and a little less chest with the accents, but that's just a matter of my personal taste. Some of you accents could be sharpened, more staccato, but your umis and choo-choo shimmies were really nice. It seemed like most the dance was done in place (I'm often at the other extreme myself). I would have liked to see more traveling steps and I would have liked to have seen you circle the stage at least once.

This is a great beledi taksim danced by Mona Said:

www.youtube.com/watch

She really masterfully starts subtle and in place with really staccato hip-work, then she starts doing a really rhythmic traveling step, nothing to complicated at first, then she works her way up. If you don't own the original video this clip is from you should hunt it down and get it. It's got some really great stuff on it that I think will give you some great material for your beledi taksim. I highly recommend stealing her moves. I think they would suit you.

I like how you incorporated level changes. I do think you might have held out until the end to pull out the choo-choo shimmy. I would have put a different exciting traveling step in instead of the earlier choo-choo shimmy. I liked how you put your hands in your hair at the beginning, some times your hands seem a little uncertain, but when they know where they are going, they are nice.

I agree with Shems on the hands.. most of the time they are fine.. but sometimes it is like you do not know what to do with them.

I am going to "nit pick" on 2 things ;-)

The BANGy thing... I do not like how that it hanging down in your face. I liked when you flipped your hair up and it stuck in your headband...then it was out of your face =-)

and on your left hip..looks like a tag or something ? what is that ?

over all good dancing, great smile.It's ok to not hit all the beats. That is the difference between American Caberet and Egyptian. You hit some good points and got a reaction from the crowd.

Hey Jody. I'm a big fan of your dancing. I love your subtlety and elegance, and you look beautiful. (I have the same costume in royal blue)! I really enjoyed this clip. You seem to have a large vocabulary of movements, your technique is good, and you have outstanding stage presence.

I agree with most of what Shems has said, so I won't echo her. I will add though, that I think you need to work on your posture a bit. We all have different body shapes and because of your build, I think you have to take extra care to stand very tall and bring your shoulders down.

The bent-over tush-push seemed out of place to me and I felt the hitting of the accents to be predictable. You could add different accents to keep it spicy... for example, just stand there and raise your brows on the accent, drop to the floor (ie a knee-together squat of sorts, not suggesting floorwork here), a chest accent (you know, like those little drama queen heaves).

You could incorporate more ribcage into your dancing (ie. sways) as well as dance to the rise and fall of the melody. (ie reach up with your arms and look up... look down at your hips, etc).

I disagree with the comment made earlier about hiding your cleavage. Work it, baby!

You're brave to post this here. It's tough hearing criticism. I did it on Bhuz before though, and it was invaluable.

for me your dancing was a pleasure to watch - loved the music - and if I may make a comment on your weight, it would be that it doesn't take away from your dancing at all - it's a very nice shape for dancing! I gave all those jerks the thumbs-down.

Can't do a full analysis right now but will try to come back later.