Customer Reviews

Generation Xercise! Debra Minghi's Gospel Moves Workout [VHS]

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I'm surprised this never took off. I found this in my library recently.
Instructor Debra Minghi is called an "alternative" fitness professional on the cover of this vhs. Minghi's background is modern dance (she studied with Bob Fosse, toured with A Chorus Line, and choreographed routines for MTV) & she uses this experience in her 53-minute workout. I love her, she's fun, vivacious, enthusiastic, really reminds you to let go "shake your booty" & is a great teacher. She breaks down all the moves, going 1/2-3/4 speed lower body only, then upper body only then both, then full tempo (her normal is 50% faster then when you see those moves done on tv. This makes it easy to pick up even the first time almost, some moves more complex & take a few viewings to get it perfect, but it will be fun. She even gives great body cues & even tells you which muscles are being used. Even though you go half speed, your heart rate never has a chance to go back to normal, she keeps you moving.
The set is a club, with lights everywhere, a live dj in the back & always playing REAL songs w/real singing WOW!. There are 4 girls & 2 guys in great shape behind Debra, "I can't hear you!!!" all dancing. The camera moves well, is professional & with effects to make everything look even more stylish but overall keeps on Debra as good or better then most fitness dvds.
Intro - 2 min - telling you to enjoy yourself, let go, etc.
Warm-up - 9 min - This alone is wroth it.. it's fun, she gets all the good spots with the large arm movements, head turns, hip swivels, etc.
Combo #1 - 10 min - She teaches as I said above & after doing the "routine" once after being taught, she goes through it again slow 1x & then fast for each move again.
Combo #2 - 10 min - same thing, this one has 2 heart rate checks
Combo #3 - 13 min - slow then fast practice of the # 1 & #2 combos you learned a couple of times
Cool Down - 7 min - slower, relaxed pace stretching of hips, torso, arms, a lot of plies w/haunting female singing of a song playing that's beautiful

She calls the slow speed downtown & fast uptown, but her uptown is like 50% faster then most dancers you see even on tv, so it's a little hard to keep up & doesn't feel right to go THAT fast but she's still a lot of fun. I hope other dance instructors take a cue from her lively, in the moment, letting go style, breakdown of moves & detailed cuing.

Theres another review on videofitness com