Customer Reviews

Dance with Me Jazz Workout

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

 

 

This DVD has two workouts: one is mat based (50 min), the other is done standing (33 minutes). Her moves do not involve much dancing at all and I was very disappointed. She tells you to breathe at least a thousand times, which I found irritating. The production quality is very low: the set is as basic as possible and you do see the camera equipment in several shots. I won't be doing it again!

I was a jazz dancer a number of years ago and thought this would help me start up again. It is an excellent video for stretching and flexibility, but if you're looking for actual jazz dances, keep looking.

The workout is serene, the instructor easy to understand, the set relaxing.....the flowing stretch lengthens your whole body. You feel the music, close your eyes & actually believe that you are really getting it -even if you aren't! I like that the music is there but not overpowering. The time spent leaves you feeling tall, graceful & feminine - I don't know what a guy would think about the workout - or anyone who is more advanced than I - but for me it's the best! I strongly recommend it for a beginner looking for more than yoga or toning and who also wants to feel a good sense of well being.

This really isn't a dance workout, but I knew that when I got it so I wasn't disappointed. There are two workouts: The first workout (Jazz Workout) is sort of cardio lite; it is all done standing up, there are wonderful side stretches, some nice dancing leaps from side to side, and some other steps that were silly but fun. I doubt I'd do this 30-minute workout often, but it's nice. However, the second workout (Stretch) is the reason I bought this DVD, and it is fun, fun, fun! It is all done on the mat, perfect if you're feeling a little lazy, and it flows seamlessly from side and leg stretches to abdominals and chest work -- and the best part is you don't realize you're "really exercising" until you're doing it! Stephanie takes us from our side stretch to our backs with our knees bent and hands cradling the backs of our head, then we're lifting our chests off the ground, and then I'm saying "wait a minute, this is a crunch!" She does the same sneaky thing with push-ups - and she makes it all so graceful and enjoyable. If you like flowing workouts (i.e. Kari Anderson's Angles Lines & Curves without the constant pressure to "test yourself"), you will love this 45-minute workout!

Stephanie Herman blends her energetic jazz dancing with total body shaping in this fascinating dancer's workout. She has been teaching since 1988 and helps her students reach new levels of flexibility, relaxation and balance.

Alignment & Jazz Workout - Cardiovascular Jazz Workout

Through a variety of flowing stretches she leads you through unique choreography that plays teasingly with balance and asks you to tune into your intuitive sense. Once you tune into your body and enter this beautiful flow state, happiness rises in you and you feel emotionally fulfilled, energized and graceful. Stephanie will at times simply point the direction you will be moving and if you keep your complete focus on her every move, suddenly you are dancing, moving across the floor with form and function.

The purposeful flowing poses are very satisfying and if you have always wanted to feel like a ballerina effortlessly gliding across a stage, this is a beautiful experience that can at times leave you lost in motion. As your body learns the new exercises, you can let go and allow your creativity to flow through the movements.

Body Flow Stretch - Toning and Stretching

The second section of stretches made me feel like a mermaid exercising below the sea in a coral reef. Stephanie Herman begins with side stretches (similar to the Pilates exercise: Mermaid) and then moves into a relaxing seated warm up for the hips. Ab circles loosen and tone, increasing flexibility all while soothing the emotions. The feeling is of a flowing pool of water swirling around your body. The mat work encourages elongation and alignment.

An artistic side series becomes art in motion and as you complete this DVD you may start to feel toned all over and refreshed emotionally. This workout is one of the rewards of keeping with your Pilates and Yoga exercises. The dance section invigorates and the stretching tones and relaxes. This is a complete workout with everything I love about exercising all in one DVD!

~The Rebecca Review

DJ & Rebecca wrote great reviews. I can add just my 2 cents:
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.
This workout is just like her dance with me: ballet workout dance part with moves that are more like pre dance workouts. To increase body awareness, muscle alignment, flexibility, coordination & balance. The music is beautiful. It's real music, not synthesized, it gets you into your body & as Rebecca says, it really makes you appreciate your body. I was excited at first to see what moves she would do. Once she started repeating, I lost a little of my great enthusiasm, but the music still held me. The workout gets progressively more difficult, from simple step touches, to grapevines, to hip rolls & bumps, to full out kick fronts & kick behinds in one fluid motion.
The 48 min mat workout is exactly the same one as her ballet one. It's all stretching & pilates toning of the abs & legs. The pace was good, to the point, but still leaves time for body awareness. 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. I was unable to get my nose to get decently close to my knee in a single wide leg stretch, but by the end of the workout, I could do it w/o any effort & have my head lay comfortably on my leg. Like when I did this workout on the ballet dvd, my joints immediately felt wonderful & better then they had with any other workout.
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." Which by the way, the music on this dvd is the same one I think Jennifer copied from here.

This video is for therapeutic, stretching & body awareness, not cardio. 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.

The only thing that bothers me is the dance section from this, her ballet & her old Espirit da danse use all the same moves. The ballet has more slow pace music, but great ballet moves & bar. This Jazz one is is 38 min dance & has GREAT music & quicker pace. The ballet & jazz seem to each share 1/2 of the moves from her Espirit da danse which is 40 min. All had a repetitive feel, but great moves, her grace & love of dance somewhat makes up for that. I just wish she would condense everything into 1 great dvd & also make another with strictly ballet moves.

I was surprised that half the video was yoga style mat work, but I didn't mind. My daughter loved doing the stretches and motivated me to do them to. I liked stephanie. She's super low key and kinda quiet. My style. She does say breath alot but I figure I can put on some better music and enjoy once its a little more understood/memorized. The dance workouts are reminicient of dance class only slower. The moves could be used to do a routine later but on the video she does a series of two or three steps together at a time and then moves on. Just the right speed for a preschooler and her mom together. Not intimidating.

I am very disappointed with this product - there is nothing "Jazz" about it. It is a yoga and Pilates workout, down by a ballerina

I am also disappointed that I cannot exchange this for the original Jazzercise DVD. I wouldn't have known how much I dislliked it, untiul I openend it and once I opened it, I couldn't return it.

You don't even have a phone number to call

Deborah Gonderil
312 640-2866
dgonderil@aol.com