Customer Reviews

Hot Country Dancing for Couples

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

 

 

I've been teaching couples dancing (rumba, cha, foxtrot, waltz, etc.) since 1993 and have designed a few dance DVDs. I got this DVD because I have no expertise in these particular dances. And I'm glad that I bought it.

Some people learn primarily by seeing a lot, others by hearing a lot, and still others by doing a lot. Most people learn best by getting some of each. Shawn Trautman overtalks the instruction? Not at all. DVDs that attempt to present a lot of information in a relatively short amount of time, as this one does, are condensed learning presentations. So, the necessary and helpful repetition of information may seem too much to people such as Mr. Davis. But if Shawn cut his verbal instruction way back, then people who learn primarily from hearing would be shortchanged. It is better to offer the maximum of which the DVD is capable, and let the viewer focus on what works for him/her.

Mr. Davis makes a value judgment when he says that he thinks that Shawn is "...trying to impress us..." I get the exact opposite impression. Shawn's presentation is very relaxed, even casual... as though he is a knowledgeable friend whom you invited into your house to teach you some dance basics. Friends don't try to impress; they try to help.

Would the DVD look different had I designed it? Sure, but it would be similar in more ways than it would be different. That's a matter of two teachers who have somewhat different approaches. There is no single correct method to teach dancing. Shawn's is certainly a valid technique.

The bottom line is: this DVD is a good introduction to the dances that are presented. People who buy it can expect to be successful in learning what is covered.

This DVD is so cool! I could not believe it was possible to learn how to dance from a DVD, but I thought I would give it a shot. I'm telling you, if I can learn this stuff, anyone can. Do not hesitate to buy this DVD.

this is a wonderful DVD. great instruction very to the point and well done - thanks!

I play in a country band in Reno and I was looking for some dvd's so I would know what the dancers were expecting out there when we play. I've had such a good time with these, I'm out dancing now! ...And it was relatively painless. This is the best series out there I've seen. I have 4 other ones. And they are very clear and well paced so you can keep up. These guys are really good at putting themselves in the dancers shoes and answering your questions before you ask them. These dvd's will save you alot of time and, in my case, embarassment. My girlfriend says she highly recommends these too. Good Luck.

Living near an area where country music is king, I always wanted to know what the big fuss was about with country dancing, especially couples dancing. When I went out to a country western club, the couples line dances were AMAZING, but when I tried to catch on in the club, it just wasn't working. I searched all over to find DVDs like this one, and really there aren't many. When I found this one (I've bought from Shawn's series before) I was thrilled because I knew that he was a great instructor and already taught me quite a bit. After practicing for awhile, I went out to the same club and fit in really well! I even got a few compliments from my dance partners saying how fabulous I looked on the dance floor! If you want to dance the night away in the country club, this DVD is for you!

This is the second DVD I have bought from the Trautman's series. My fience' and I are preparing for our wedding and will be able to use several of these steps during the night. I can't believe we are having fun learning together instead of being frustrated with each other. Shawn breaks the steps down in such a way that we picked most of it up easily. (we're still practicing) Worth it.

My aunt and uncle are in their late 60's and took up line dancing at the community center about a year ago. Now they attend 3 times a week and sometimes help teach the classes.

As a gift, I decided to buy them a copy of this DVD and they absolutely love it. They haven't heard of amazon.com before and are now asking me where they can get more dances. Fortunately, I was able to search and find more DVDs from the same instructors.

I couldn't believe it as they were using just the step sheets to try to learn the dances. Since they had past experience dancing other dances, they were able to easily pick up the lessons in this DVD after just a couple times through. Now they're even shopping at the local western store for shirts, hats, etc. and have been going to the Country Western night clubs once a week in addition to the community center.

Many thanks to Shawn and Joanna for creating theses DVDs and helping me give the perfect Xmas gift to someone I had no clue what to get!

Wow, we really liked this one! This one gives a number of specific dances to go through with a partner that are like line dances for couples. The Sweetheart Schottische and the Ten Step are fun to do and are the same dances they do here where we are. We found the instruction to be very easy to learn from and liked the speed of the teaching.

Not knowing much about country dancing, we didn't know what to expect with this DVD. We were very pleased. Shawn's teaching style was great as it has been on all of his DVDs so far. We surprised ourselves with how easily we learned the Barn Dance and the other couples dances taught and we really enjoyed the two-step and swing lessons. We have since taken up country dancing and we were glad we started with this one.

Main problem was the dances are not like any they do here in Southern California (except 2-Step of course) even though they use the same names. If this is a regional issue, product should be labeled accordingly.
Second complaint the DVD is full of filler, it takes ages to get to the dances from the introduction, there is copious time given to promoting the presenter, whereas the dance instruction is very brief, and the interesting parts of two step were skipped altogether.
Finally the music is horrible. I assume they use copyright free music. For the price of the DVD I would have expected at least cover versions of popular country songs.