Customer Reviews

Dance with Me Ballet Workout

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

 

 

Some points to take into consideration:

*This is a gentle, therapeutic workout. If you are looking for cardio, this is NOT it.

*Stephanie's background is that she was a principal dancer and worked with George Balanchine and Martha Graham (and others). Also she has a strong background in Pilates and has worked with Carola Trier, a disciple of Joseph Pilates.

* Although this is called "Ballet Workout", the majority of it is not classical ballet. It is Martha Graham meets Pilates with a sprinkling of classical ballet mixed in there.

*She has worked with all different kinds of people, of different ages and ability.

The Workout & Menu Background:

Alignment and Ballet Workout: 33 mins.

Ballet Barre: 6 mins.

Body Flow Stretch: 49 mins.

Meet Stephanie Herman: 6 mins.

The background is simple and quiet. It includes only Stephanie Herman herself and no backup people. The music is very, very quiet classical music. The background scenery is all blue- the floors, mats, walls, everything. This is kind of nice because it creates a serene, relaxing atmosphere as in what you may experience in a Yoga studio. I did the Body Flow Stretch (which is entirely mat-based; no standing positions) portion of the video the first time at 5:00 am and it was a nice, calm way to wake up and both wake up and strengthen my muscles.

The idea for this video is to make this workout possible for people who have never experienced ballet before to the most advanced dancers. Stephanie even recommends this video as a therapeutic tool for people with or have had injuries (post physical rehab). As far as I can tell it accomplishes a workout for all abilities. It was easy for me to follow and I haven't done ballet for 15 years.

The only glitch I found in this video is that in a moment in the Ballet Workout portion Stephanie doesn't explain the steps real well. At one point she seems to almost forget the camera is there and stops giving directions so I ended up lost.

Throughout the rest of the video, she is attentive, explains everything clearly and why it's important to do so. I do recommend "Ballet for Dummies" or some other ballet manual because there are some ballet steps in there that takes some foreknowledge of ballet steps and terminology.

Also what I liked about Stephanie is that she continuously reminded me to breathe. During many workouts I find myself holding my breath because I'm concentrating so hard. Didn't have a problem with that in this video. And after I did this one a couple of times I actually started breathing better during other exercises. Stephanie explained that breathing regularly gives the muscles oxygen.

By the way, if you want something that's ballet and cardio, may I suggest Balletone, found on Internet but not Amazon.com.

Overall, I've been enjoying this video. It is beneficial and enjoyable. Stephanie Herman is gentle and intelligent. Also I was totally excited to be exercising "with" some one who is so professional and have known such professionals as George Balanchine, Martha Graham, and a disciple of Pilates.

A great and highly energtic workout. If you're looking to stretch and work on your grace when you have some time alone, it's great. For flexibility, this is a good video. For a workout, it's even better. There are a few different programs on the one DVD, ranging from 10 to 35 minutes so you can choose your style and length of workout, tho.

Stephanie Herman's workouts are extensive sessions of body shaping excellence. Not only does she teach you how to move elegantly, she knows exactly how to turn a workout into poetry in motion.

The series of exercises in Dance With Me Ballet flow naturally and go beyond pure form and function. The perfect postures and fluid motions become a moving meditation where you can escape into an inner beauty expressed by the body in a sense of elation.

If you have been consistent with your Pilates and Yoga exercises, the Stephani Herman workouts are your reward. This is where all your repetitions turn into art, where the long hours of practicing precision turns into strong confident movements. While this is low impact, I'd recommend this to anyone who feels they are intermediate in Yoga and Pilates.

There are no detailed instructions (but excellent cueing) for postures and the exercises move fast from one posture or dance step to the next. You are almost expected to know the various Ballet positions, so having some experience with basic Ballet workout videos would be great before starting these exercises. I also think the balance needed to complete some of the exercises requires you to be at an intermediate level.

You are presented with three options and the first is an inspiring dance session set to beautiful music. The second is a Ballet Barre workout and you can complete the exercises using a very sturdy chair. The third "mat moment," for it truly is more than exercising, is a flowing sequence of superbly crafted movements designed to shape and tone the entire body.

I'm honestly not sure why anyone would not think this is an energetic workout, I can feel this all over (that tingly this is going to hurt tomorrow and already does feeling) and can currently hardly type, let alone think....lol. Not only do you move rapidly through a series of dance steps, you continue to workout at a fairly rapid pace throughout even when stretching. If you only did one workout at a time it might seem less energetic than if you did all three at once.

If you want something fun to do on a weekend (or a day where you can stay home the next day) and you enjoy challenging yourself artistically and physically, then this extended workout is perfect. A hot bath with lots of sea salts seems essential after this workout. I completely enjoyed this workout, but I will say sleep is calling me. I personally thought this was pretty intense if you do all three sections at once. If you think this was easy, you are probably at an advanced level.

~The Rebecca Review, intermediate

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.

I have taken ballet classes off & on my whole life, so I'm familiar with classical ballet positions and terms and was excited about this DVD. But this DVD isn't ballet and there isn't any explanation or demonstration of the non-ballet moves. The end result is a workout DVD that you can't follow and can't do properly unless you are already familiar with all of the moves that Stephanie Herman has borrowed from other disciplines.

In the first 20 minutes, Stephanie Herman mixes together classical ballet steps, modern ballet steps and stuff she's apparently made up -- all with absolutely no guidance on technique. You don't have to know much about ballet to know that without proper technique you can injure yourself quickly and badly.

Although she does a good job reminding you about alignment and breathing, unless you are a dancer who is experienced enough to analyze the moves yourself and figure out the proper technique, I would stay away from this workout.

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:))

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.

Like the previous reviewer, I am familiar with classical ballet technique because I have studied it (on and off) all my life. Never judge a DVD by its cover, I guess, because based on that, and the brief description I found, I had expected a traditional ballet class, only to be confused and disappointed. I appreciate Stephanie's approach, her philosophy, her obvious enthusiasm for teaching, her gentle and supportive instruction. However, her variations on the classical theme do not result in the same effect as a traditional ballet routine would. What I found most confusing was the lack of port de bras. As I was adapting Stephanie's 'free-flowing' movements to a more rigorous sequence, I found myself instinctively following along with the arms, as would be traditionally appropriate with an arabesque, for example, or a pas de bourre. But what the heck was she doing? Waving them around, it seemed! After my initial confusion, I gave up trying to follow her moves and simply substituted the classical ones that had once served as her inspiration, I'm sure.

I really enjoyed the mat part of this workout. It's a great combination of stretches and toning for the abs and legs. The final part of the matwork includes upper body work, but I stick to my yoga for that because I have more advanced moves I'm working on :)

The dance part was fun, but I was hoping for something more like classical ballet. I suggest the NYC Ballet Workout (II) for that.

The barre work is nice, too. A little short, perhaps. Again, I was hoping for something more like a ballet class, I think. These moves are traditional, but it's not as long as my old classes.

I don't have any of her other DVDs, but my favorite part of this one is apparently the same on her Jazz DVD; read the other reviews for details on that :)

I do a lot of yoga, and I go to this mat routine often when I've irritated my knees with a traditional yoga class (I have bad knees). This mat routine does not use the knees and provides similar physical results to yoga class!

I danced as a child and in college, but I am not quite sure that I would refer to this video as the ballet workout... As a dancer I found it difficult to follow and extremely boring. I gave up before I got to the mat section. Based on the other reviews I will go back and revisit that area (which people say is worth it)... overall I am sure this is good for someone- just not me...