Customer Reviews

Chantal Pierrat: Soul Sweat

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I did this DVD this morning and I have to say that I did work up a sweat. You have a choice between a 45 or 30 minute workout followed by a yoga-lite stretch. The dances are routines to 9 songs and the class builds in intensity with each song and then cools downs with the last song. If you have thick pile carpet as I do, you won't be able to move as freely as the dancers do. There are a couple of pivots,chasses and turns.

Music: Techno world beat music. Very rhythmic and earthy. Think Shiva Rea Trance Dance type music. However, it wasn't loud enough for me. I do my workouts in the morning and I can't turn up the TV too loud for fear of waking up my spouse. I could barely hear the music over the teacher. I gave it 4 stars for this. Great world beat music but you can't hear it unless your TV is very loud or you have surround sound speakers, which I don't have. Also she doesn't have a music only option, so I went on omstream and calabashmusic and downloaded 7 of the 9 songs, bought 1 album (Dance, Dream Dance)Because I like Shaman's Dream, and put the music on my ipod. I turn the sound down and listen to the music in my ears. When you hear the music in stereo with heart beating bass, you can feel it in your soul. I wish you could feel that on the DVD. Sometimes the music is out of sync with the DVD on mute, but if you pause the DVD and start up again you can usually get it back in sync, and anyway I know the routine so well that I dance facing away from the tv screen. This may seem like a lot of effort but I tell you that this music is meant to be heard LOUD. Especially the Bob Holroyd song. That song jams!!. I think that soundstrue should re-do the DVD with the music louder than the teacher and extra bass. Or at least a music only option!!!!!!!!!!!!

Setting: 6 dancers (I think, with 1 guy in the back) No professional dancers here, just regular folks in a hardwood floor studio.

Routine: Loved it. A cross between jazz, modern, african and latin dance moves. Again very earthy. No ballet here. You feel it in your lower and upper body. Lots of arm movements. Ths is like a Nia class. In fact Chantal is a Nia certified teacher. After each routine segment there is a short free form segment to keep you moving until the next song. You never stop moving. I didn't know how out of shape I was, because I had to stop several times to catch my breath. There is a separate tutorial that teaches you all of the routines. Didn't look at that as I follow along pretty well. One more thing, she DOES NOT do mirror image to you. When she says left or right she is talking about her left or right NOT yours. But the moves are so simple that you can just go in the direction she does.

What's missing: In my opinion what is missing from this class was a good floor routine. The yoga stretching at the end didn't do it for me. It consists of deep squat, side warrior, open legged stretches, butterfly, thread the needle and child's pose. I was so warmed up that some ab work and intense stretching would have been perfect. In a Nia class they have something called floorplay that Chantal didn't include on this DVD. Next time I do the class, I will use Core abs & forward bends from Shiva Rea's fluid power DVD as her type of dancey yoga is a perfect compliment to this DVD. One other suggestion is, if after the deep sweat you need more, you can put on Shiva Rea's Trance dance and bliss out some more. I felt that I needed just a little more bliss.

Overall: Will I do this again? YES! Will just add my own stretches at the end. I hope she comes out with another DVD soon! (See my review on "Dancer's Body workout, Patricia Moreno" Take note, Soul Sweat is what a dance workout DVD should be!!!)

This is a great workout if you are looking to sweat, not have any breaks as you are dancing hard/fast & know you are picky about great music to dance by that puts you in a great mood.
There is a 20 min tutorial with no music where Chantal alone shows you all the moves & the 12+ combos you will do. This is a little slow/boring, but it she breaks it down so well, anyone could get it so when you do the dancing, you know you'll get it easy, just a question of getting use to the speed. The dances are quite simple have have things such as easy steps like grapevine, v/square step, box step, cha-cha, chasse (easy stepping 2x quickly), plies, 2 different basic turns, etc. All these steps feel great since they are easy to do, but really strech your muscles at the same time really work the abs/obliques as well as the legs. She adds a lot of arm movements so your arms & chest get the same treatment & you really open up.
There are two workouts, quick sweat (30 min) & Deep Sweat (45 min). Tehre are 5 women & 1 man. Chantal & all the dancers have quick text bios in the bonus section & they are everyday people who love to dance.
The music is the strong suit, she had a great marketing idea to get great music that normally musicians didn't in the past want to be used by fitness dvds & making sure the names of the group & song are featured so you can buy them. The music is very positive & help put you in a better mood. Chantal does a great job of only speaking to tell you what moves are next or only every so often, remind you of the energy your body is producing that doesn't get in your way of connecting to the music.
I had no problem hearing the music though, yes, it could be louder in relation to her sound level.
There is also a 13 min stretch chapter that uses (not in this order) mountain, standing fwd bends, Indian style bending fwd, butterfly, sitting wide legged side stretching & torso to side stretch, kneeling arm to the side stretch, side angle & child's pose. The pace was slow & relaxed & did feel good, though, as another said, short.

You can see a trailer at soundstrue & soon at her site soulsweatdance.

I fell in love with Ana Brett & Ravi Singh's Dance the Chakras Yoga Workout and wanted to find more just like it. This is the closest I've found. I love it. The moves are earthy, easy to do, and fun. Chantal has awesome abs. I would give it 5 stars but the stretching/yoga section was not very good and I like to feel the music pulse through me when I dance and in this one I couldn't turn it up without her voice blasting as well. Overall though, I really love this DVD and will do it again.

I'm so glad I bought this DVD. Like a fellow Aussie reviewer, I was looking for something similar to Ana Brett and Ravi Singh's Dance the Chakras. And there are some similarities - barefoot dancing, very accessible dance movements that feel so good to do; wonderful instruction; great music. You'll sweat a lot more with Chantal's workout though because it's very aerobic. At times you may feel like stopping, but the music and dance will compel you to go on.

My only complaint (which other reviewers share) is the volume of the music. It's slightly softer than I would have liked.

I hope Chantal releases some more DVDs. She's a great instructor and dancer.

I really love this workout. The more comfortable I get with the steps, the more I am able to use variations and self expression. This is definately not your traditional cardio, just what I was looking for. I also love the music and the way it flows with the moves. I would recommend this to anyone who is open to trying a new way to workout and get in touch with their body.

Soul Sweat is an interactive dance workout DVD featuring choreographed exercise to a "world groove" soundtrack from Vargo, Shaman's Dream, One at Last, Bob Holroyd, and more. The dance steps build coordination, body toning, and stamina; Soul Sweat is a total experience that promotes not only fitness, but also self-expression and sensuality. Soul Sweat includes a 45-minute "Deep Sweat" workout with warmup, high-intensity cardio, and cool-down exercise; a 30-minute "Quick Sweat" workout with emphasis on high-voltage cardio; and a tutorial section that breaks down the 26 foundational moves into easy-to-learn steps. A wonderfully exciting, fun, and graceful supplement to personal workout and fitness DVD libraries.

I like to do workouts when I am inspired by the instructor's own body. Every dancer on this DVD has a midsection to aspire to and my own has improved since doing this workout. Like another reviewer, I wanted to supplement Ana Brett and Ravi Singh's Dance the Chakras and this tape makes a great companion to that workout. The moves on SoulSweat invite indivdual interpretation and spontaneous response. It is difficult enough to make you sweat but fun enough to want to do again and again. No difficult moves here, but it is not a belly dance routine, more of a cross between yoga and jazz dance. You can get a great workout the first time, but unlike some "freeform" workouts that get boring after one or two times, I am just as enthusiastic about doing SoulSweat now as I was when I bought it, a month ago. Personally I love the music and find it inspiring, especially for doing this type of dance.I recommend.

I saw this DVD recommended in a magazine and I love it. It is really fun and the 45 minutes go by in a flash. It is exercise that doesn't feel like exercising, which is great for me. I love yoga and this definitely has elements of yoga in it. The music is nice too--earth dance/rhythms type music. If you buy this, check out the token male in the back row--he is hilarious!

I love this dvd! First, I grew up dancing so the moves seem fairly easy to me. However, there is an awesome tutorial section and if dance does not come naturally to you, going through this tutorial several times will make you feel more confident.

Second, if you truly put your all into the workout, you will sweat and burn calories. I am not an athlete but have exercised for 3 years on a consistent basis. Therefore, I think this workout is challenging for all people at all levels of fitness. All muscle groups are used, and if you are not as fit, you can eliminate or scale down some of the moves.

Unlike many other dance videos, the people in the one actually sweat too!! Also, Chantal reminds you to breathe often which sounds silly, but is so important. She also tells you when to exhale and when to inhale.

Again, if you put your all into it, you will work all muscle groups and its really fun. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because as a Christian, I don't agree Chantal's "spiritual" take on dance. Otherwise, its a great workout!

The workout is fantastic, though the moves themselves might be a bit challenging if you've never taken any dance classes. The reason I rated this 4 stars rather than 5 is due to the intensely annoying intro sequence. You have to go through a lot of music and graphics to finally get to the "press start" button - so much so that I find my blood pressure rising before the workout even begins.