Product Details

• Actors: SalsaCrazy.com
• Directors: SalsaCrazy.com
• Format: Full Screen, NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: SalsaCrazy.com
• DVD Release Date: April 24, 2007
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000P2XNJI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,043 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dance instruction of rare and outstanding quality!, June 26, 2009

By 

Dance Day and Night (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learn To Dance Bachata, Beginners Volume 1: A Step-By-Step Guide To Bachata Dancing (DVD)

To offer some context for this review, I study approximately 30 types of partnered dancing, focusing on lead-and-follow social dancing rather than choreographies. My library now includes a large collection of dance training videos, many of which I've worked-through. I am particularly interested in the teaching/learning process or pedagogy of dance instruction. I've studied partnered dances with dozens of dance teachers. Sadly, my assessment is that the majority of dance teachers may be excellent dancers, but are exceedingly poor teachers. This assessment also extends to dance training videos. The instructors who recorded this video stand as a refreshing contrast; this is a training video of outstanding quality. What makes this training video outstanding?
1 Both instructors teach! In most training videos, only one instructor teaches (usually the male) and the other partner is mute.
2 In this video, the instructors teach both to the men and the women. In most other training videos, instructors teach nearly only to the male and neglect or even ignore teaching women the dance skills which they need.
3 Both of these instructors teach outstandingly well. By "well", I mean that all of the little technical details of how to actually successfully dance together with a partner are explained, including dance floor etiquette, how to lead the partner to move, how to follow the lead's (man's) moves, where the muscular tensions must be applied, how to hold the partner and much more. I have never seen another dance training video containing so many of these details. In contrast, most dance training videos teach a much larger number of "moves", but don't provide beginner dancers with enough information for them to be able to actually lead these moves on the dance floor - a discouraging and frustrating experience. In contrast, these instructors are truly aware of what beginner social dancers need to know for their dancing to work. Many of the details presented in this training video took me years to figure out because so few dance instructors ever mentioned them.
4 Presentation of each dance "move" (a "figure") includes a demonstration of what the move looks like, then separate detailed breakdown of the man's part, the woman's part, technical pointers ("tips") and a demonstration to music.
5 Being a good dancer isn't about doing many complicated figures badly; that just ends up looking and feeling like a wrestling match and doesn't impress anybody. Good dancing is being able to dance fluidly and move as one body with your partner. This requires understanding how to move in a particular kind of dance to look and feel beautiful. These instructors presented an outstanding breakdown of how to do the basic movements ("basic step") of Bachata and greatly improved my understanding of how do dance Bachata despite the fact that I've been dancing it for years.
Some (mild) critiques:
1 These instructors make the same mistake most others make, in explaining figures facing the camera instead of with their backs turned to the camera, forcing the confused student to try to dance the mirror image of what they are doing. I can't believe that any dance instructors still use such lousy pedagogy, but most do. This is especially confusing to beginner dancers.
2 Since this tape is targeted at beginner dancers, the fact that the basic step is taught left foot first for the follow (the woman), even though they state that the follow always starts on her right, makes this doubly confusing.
3 There are only five figures taught on this video. I don't believe that this should be objectionable, because it is better for a beginner to learn five moves which they can actually pull off on the dance floor than to learn 15 moves of amateur wrestling disguised as dancing. If you think that this is too few moves, I'd recommend working through this video and then purchasing other Bachata training videos by the same teachers or other teachers. Working with different dance instructors will make you a better and more versatile dancer.
These dance instructors are among the top 10 instructors (for a beginner video) I've learned from over the years.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars like it! like it! like it!, April 14, 2008

By 

Lanette Roi - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learn To Dance Bachata, Beginners Volume 1: A Step-By-Step Guide To Bachata Dancing (DVD)

Being a Latina, I've always watched different ones in my family try to "do" the bachata, but I wanted to "really" learn it. This video is a wonderful start. The instruction is very simple. I'm not a natural born dancer, but after this video I got a little more confidence and an appreciation for the actual techniques. I would recommend this video to anyone that wants to learn it the right way, and not just bits and pieces of it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Foundational Video, May 18, 2007

By 

Jen Rovas (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learn To Dance Bachata, Beginners Volume 1: A Step-By-Step Guide To Bachata Dancing (DVD)

I have now seen this complete series for bachata, and I must say I am thoroughly impressed. If you have not dance bachata before, this video is a must. It teaches you 3 different ways to dance the basic step, and continues to break up each move in this fashion. After watching this video, my partner and I had a strong feel for the music, and the tips the dance instructors gave were very helpful in showing us exactly how we need to be positioned and moving. Once you learn the basic steps, this really becomes fun. My husband and I have been practicing, and it is a good chance to be close, and at the same time laugh and support each other as the dance gets more tricky.