Search - Dance with Me Ballet Workout on DVD

Great relaxed paced energizing flexibility/body awareness wo

Lena, LMT | Nassau, NY | 04/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Shona & Rebecca wrote great reviews. I can add just my 2 cents that at first I hated this since the music was soft, ambient, lullaby style which can ruin any good workout. Even though the stage was empty except her, the music added to the sleep inducing slow start of posture & muscle alignment & easy step & turn leg preliminary ballet footwork practice.
The workout perked me up when she added leg lifts & circles that help improve balance & more of a stylish routine ballet footwork that she does several times so you do get it even w/o lengthy verbal cues. I was pleasantly surprised when she said "ballet doesn't have to be rigid" & added some hip bumps & circles & then went on to slightly funk jazz steps & grapevines. At this point her teaching style, positiveness & joy for dancing & body awareness allowed me to ignore the too slow/soft music.
The 5 minute bar work was short & sweet with stretching the legs at the bar & more balance work holding leg lifts behind you & in front.
The mat work was all stretching & pilates toning of the abs & legs. The pace was surprisingly faster considering the slow pace of the dancing. There's a lot of leg lifts to tone the legs, ab crunches/bicycle & very good deep stretches, not much traditional yoga poses except for wide leg, single leg & straight leg forward bends, bridge, supine spinal twists, butterfly & child's pose.
I felt more stretched out in a long time & energized & more then from some yoga videos because her stretches were different. This video really helped me to become aware of my body better then most workouts including many yoga ones or Jennifer Kries "hot body cool mind." At first I was a little sore & thought I overdid the stretches, but the next day I felt very lose/flexible like I already did yoga when I woke up & when did pilates later that day, tight tendons that rub/pull on joints in my lower back/hips/knees that keep me from certain movements (leg lifts, etc.) for YEARS were NOT a problem. I could do movements I couldn't do before since poor body mechanics using gym weights & overdoing some yoga salutaions years ago & over tightening those joints. I'm SOOOO happy!
Stephanie Herman has been a prima ballerina for 10 years, She still has beautiful grace & awesome body awareness that can help you to be in more touch with your own body. Her teaching style is quick to the point, she knows her anatomy & how each muscle pulls another body part, how it feels & says it well with analogies. Her positiveness & joy for dancing & body awareness is beautiful to watch. Her teaching is very soft but strong & patient. You can see she loves teaching & it's perfect for her. Her grace from being a prima ballarina is gorgeous to look at.

This video is for therapeutic, stretching & body awareness, not cardio or hard toning. This video is great for light days when you don't want to exercise or afraid to start & be too tired to finish. This video will energize you to increase your energy to want to workout more or improve your mood for the day.

UPDATE: After renting her Artistry of Fitness & her Dance with me: Jazz workout, I realized she uses the exact same mat workout on her Jazz dvd. The music on her Jazz dvd is much more livelier, but the basic idea of the moves is exactly the same. Which is all from her Espirit da Danse from her Artistry of Fitness DVD. The ballet has 33 min of slower paced music, but great ballet moves & bar. This Jazz one is is 38 min dance & has GREAT music & quicker pace. The jazz one has some moves from the Espirit De Danse, the ballet has others. The matwork on the Ballet & Jazz is better then the one on her Artistry of Fitness. All had too many repetitions of the same dance moves. I love her spirit & style, I just wish she would condense everything into 1 great dvd & also make another with strictly ballet moves."

Work your core muscles as you dance

Thalia del Fuego | Franklin, Massachusetts | 02/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In contrast to the experiences of many other reviewers, I found working with this video to be a very positive experience. It provides an excellent workout; I was amazed at how thoroughly warmed up my body was after doing the first 20 minutes.

Yes, Stephanie has blended pilates principals into her dance workout. This means that, to do the workout properly, you must do more than "follow the leader." You must breathe properly and cultivate awareness as you move, making sure that you use your core muscles. Anyone who has difficulty accessing core muscles and/or who does not understand the prinicpals of pilates would not find this workout to be as beneficial.

If, however, you are comfortable applying the basic principals of pilates in a dance workout, you will be very pleased to find that this video improves your balance, strength and grace.

The only critique I have is that the production quality could be better. There is no elegant set in the background and there are no dancers to help demonstrate the movements. The DVD was obviously filmed at very close range, and Stefanie appears rather short and squat. Once I adjusted to these small details, however, I did not find them distracting and they did not detract from the overall workout experience."

Relaxing workout

D Ang | 04/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have never attended any ballet classes before.
I really enjoy the dvd, I agree this is relaxing and therapeutic, and is not a clean ballet, but mixture of ballet and pilates.

do you know the moments in life that you are that tired that cannot move from your chair? or coming back from work completely tired and stressed. And you think: I would have to workout but I cannot move, I am sleepy tired etc. and you feel so bad that again you will skip the workout you wanted to have regularly...

And in such state of mind I start workouting with Stephanie. the more tired I feel the more I want to relax and workout with her... and I finish and feel new born. She is so gentle! but you will feel the muscles working too.

worth buying for example to workout in the moments when you are sure you wouldn't do it:))

"

Perfect for persons over 60's and light workout

Mary Ramirez | San Juan, PR | 02/17/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I loved the ballet class, but this video put me to sleep. Is to slow and I like more movement. I gave to my mother that have more 60 years and she liked , because is light and more easy to do. Stephanie do the dance for everyone.
You can enjoy if you like light workout."