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Special Features
21 Different Exercises
Classical and Contemporary Soundtrack Options
Narration Options
Volume 1 contains interactive DVD-Rom with Video Glossary, Photo Gallery, Trailer and Weblinks
Video Diaries of New York City Ballet Dancers
Quick Fix Target Exercises
Behind the Scenes
Editorial Reviews
A deluxe edition DVD set comprised of the best-selling fitness videos New York City Ballet Workout Volume 1 and 2. The videos are designed to help you develop the strength, grace and poise of a dancer. An excellent alternative to fast paced, high-energy workout routines, this unique exercise program balances art, life and fitness into the perfect workout for any age or fitness level. Whether you love ballet or are simply searching for an alternative workout regimen designed to produce a strong, graceful body, this program will deliver exceptional results.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
300 of 313 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Workout 1
Ballet improves your posture and gives you a sense of grace even when you are not working out. The New York City Ballet workout presents exercises in a formal ballet style setting. Your body becomes a paintbrush, sweeping along walls and floors in beautiful choreography like an artist painting on black art paper.
For minutes at a time you forget you are not a ballerina as you work through the warm-up with first and second position. Fluid movements follow as you move from side to side and then put a spring in your step. A floor routine follows with leg stretches and then you work your abs in every possible way, although each movement is so precise you are getting double the workout in half the time.
The unique and challenging postures and dance steps are explained as you are doing them, although at times the choreography takes center stage as the narration lessens and you focus more on the dancers instead of following the cueing.
This is a well structured, intermediate to advanced workout that requires a sense of determination, some experience with Pilates and possibly Yoga. The jumps are the most challenging and the entire workout fine tunes your balance. There are 17 exercise sessions and bonus programs including video diaries, behind the scenes footage and interviews.
Back exercises appear during the floor workout, but you are using your entire body at all times because most of the workout requires you to be super focused and keep your balance so you may feel this the most in your back after the workout. Throughout the exercises classical music guides you into a peaceful space where you feel relaxed even though you are working out at a fairly high level that requires patience and endurance.
Workout 2
With frequent pacing changes, you are working out slow one minute and fast the next. The rapid movements get your heart beating faster, but the graceful flowing movements make you feel more relaxed.
The narration made me feel very relaxed, so the entire first two-thirds of the second workout seemed more relaxing and centering than invigorating. The exercises begin with a warm-up and progress to dance steps, floor exercises for the abs, legs and arms. During the exercises you do have to count for yourself and there are bonus exercises later in the program that you can add in to your own routine.
While I found it much easier to follow the first DVD, the second DVD has much more complex moves and you need a much higher degree of intense concentration and precise balance to enjoy the exercises. Having some split-sole sneakers might help with the jumping, but you can do most of the workout in bare feet or with ballet slippers.
The booklet in the second DVD shows more of the exercises and has a glossary for Turnout, Demi Plié, Grand Plié, Releve, Tendu, Dégagé, Passé, Fondu, Grand Battement, Changement de pieds, Pas de Basque and Piqué Arabesque. On the DVD, all of these are shown in detail in a section in the special features.
After trying the workout a few times, you may also want to personalize it and there is a way to select specific exercises and then play them all at once for your own personalized routine. The sections you can choose from include:
Upper Body
Lower Body
Comgined Movement
Stretches
Abdominal Strengthening
Floor Barre Supine
Floor Barre Side Lying
Floor Barre Prone
Plié & Tendu
Dégagé
Passé & Fondu
Grand Battement & Little Jumps
Reverence
An inspirational "Born to Dance" segment features all the dancers in their daily life and there is also a behind-the-scenes bonus feature as well as a number of promos for fitness studios in New York. What do dancers do after exercising? The first DVD gives a more detailed look into the dancers' lives, but this DVD has a combined section that briefly explores the dancers' interests when not dancing. Overall, the second workout is more complex and progresses into real dance steps so you can feel like a real dancer.
~ The Rebecca Review
Ballet improves your posture and gives you a sense of grace even when you are not working out. The New York City Ballet workout presents exercises in a formal ballet style setting. Your body becomes a paintbrush, sweeping along walls and floors in beautiful choreography like an artist painting on black art paper.
For minutes at a time you forget you are not a ballerina as you work through the warm-up with first and second position. Fluid movements follow as you move from side to side and then put a spring in your step. A floor routine follows with leg stretches and then you work your abs in every possible way, although each movement is so precise you are getting double the workout in half the time.
The unique and challenging postures and dance steps are explained as you are doing them, although at times the choreography takes center stage as the narration lessens and you focus more on the dancers instead of following the cueing.
This is a well structured, intermediate to advanced workout that requires a sense of determination, some experience with Pilates and possibly Yoga. The jumps are the most challenging and the entire workout fine tunes your balance. There are 17 exercise sessions and bonus programs including video diaries, behind the scenes footage and interviews.
Back exercises appear during the floor workout, but you are using your entire body at all times because most of the workout requires you to be super focused and keep your balance so you may feel this the most in your back after the workout. Throughout the exercises classical music guides you into a peaceful space where you feel relaxed even though you are working out at a fairly high level that requires patience and endurance.
Workout 2
With frequent pacing changes, you are working out slow one minute and fast the next. The rapid movements get your heart beating faster, but the graceful flowing movements make you feel more relaxed.
The narration made me feel very relaxed, so the entire first two-thirds of the second workout seemed more relaxing and centering than invigorating. The exercises begin with a warm-up and progress to dance steps, floor exercises for the abs, legs and arms. During the exercises you do have to count for yourself and there are bonus exercises later in the program that you can add in to your own routine.
While I found it much easier to follow the first DVD, the second DVD has much more complex moves and you need a much higher degree of intense concentration and precise balance to enjoy the exercises. Having some split-sole sneakers might help with the jumping, but you can do most of the workout in bare feet or with ballet slippers.
The booklet in the second DVD shows more of the exercises and has a glossary for Turnout, Demi Plié, Grand Plié, Releve, Tendu, Dégagé, Passé, Fondu, Grand Battement, Changement de pieds, Pas de Basque and Piqué Arabesque. On the DVD, all of these are shown in detail in a section in the special features.
After trying the workout a few times, you may also want to personalize it and there is a way to select specific exercises and then play them all at once for your own personalized routine. The sections you can choose from include:
Upper Body
Lower Body
Comgined Movement
Stretches
Abdominal Strengthening
Floor Barre Supine
Floor Barre Side Lying
Floor Barre Prone
Plié & Tendu
Dégagé
Passé & Fondu
Grand Battement & Little Jumps
Reverence
An inspirational "Born to Dance" segment features all the dancers in their daily life and there is also a behind-the-scenes bonus feature as well as a number of promos for fitness studios in New York. What do dancers do after exercising? The first DVD gives a more detailed look into the dancers' lives, but this DVD has a combined section that briefly explores the dancers' interests when not dancing. Overall, the second workout is more complex and progresses into real dance steps so you can feel like a real dancer.
~ The Rebecca Review
52 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
First, you need to know this DVD was released in 1998 or so and isn't a super-fancy disc. There aren't any subtitles and it's difficult to skip around. There are 17 sections in the workout, and I've read where some people complain that you have to watch everything and can't skip.
You can't skip chapters, but you can fast-forward through a chapter by hitting >> a few times (2x - 30x) and it will skip to the end of each section and stop at the next section's title. So you really don't have to watch Sarah Jessica Parker's intro every time. You can also do individual exercises by going to the Exercises section.
Second, I've found after 6 weeks of consistent use that it's better to do as much of the workout every day as you can. I've made the mistake of skipping the ab work, and it is harder to balance if you do that. The ab conditioning reminds you where your muscles are and helps you pull up correctly.
For anyone who has never had ballet (or like me, last had it around 4th grade), try Classical Stretch on PBS for a couple weeks before you do this. You'll get a good foundation in some ballet concepts without having to know much, the stretches will be familiar, and you'll have an easier time standing on one leg. I had trouble following the warmups too, so I did them every day regardless of whatever workout I did till I got better. I still mess them up but the point is warming up. You aren't being judged.
If you're just jumping in for the first time ever in ballet, just try to follow along and remember that your entire body needs to be engaged for the center and leg work (chapters 9-16). If you slouch or let your abs go or don't hold your bum just right, you won't be able to balance as well. Part of the work of doing the workout is learning this stuff and it doesn't all happen at once or even after a few months. If you need pointers on this try checking out this page: [...]- it won't all make sense, but just try to keep your body pulled up while you're working. This will also help you to avoid getting injured. You want to use your muscles rather than momentum. You'll be able to think less about what you're doing and relax into the workout more.
I am completely in love with this workout. My balance, coordination, strength and posture have improved dramatically. I've lost inches and my clothes are looser and I sit and stand straighter with less effort. I love that it's divided into sections so you get a small break in between the work. The work is efficient and thorough and you feel relaxed and strong after.
You don't have to be interested in dancing to do this workout - I'm not, particularly. But if you do it regularly and work on the details of doing each move correctly, you'll be stronger, leaner, and feel great. Just don't push too hard and be careful to do the moves as correctly as you can. It's better to be correct and not turned out than to force a turnout and put torsion on your knees.
Anyway. This workout gets my vote.
You can't skip chapters, but you can fast-forward through a chapter by hitting >> a few times (2x - 30x) and it will skip to the end of each section and stop at the next section's title. So you really don't have to watch Sarah Jessica Parker's intro every time. You can also do individual exercises by going to the Exercises section.
Second, I've found after 6 weeks of consistent use that it's better to do as much of the workout every day as you can. I've made the mistake of skipping the ab work, and it is harder to balance if you do that. The ab conditioning reminds you where your muscles are and helps you pull up correctly.
For anyone who has never had ballet (or like me, last had it around 4th grade), try Classical Stretch on PBS for a couple weeks before you do this. You'll get a good foundation in some ballet concepts without having to know much, the stretches will be familiar, and you'll have an easier time standing on one leg. I had trouble following the warmups too, so I did them every day regardless of whatever workout I did till I got better. I still mess them up but the point is warming up. You aren't being judged.
If you're just jumping in for the first time ever in ballet, just try to follow along and remember that your entire body needs to be engaged for the center and leg work (chapters 9-16). If you slouch or let your abs go or don't hold your bum just right, you won't be able to balance as well. Part of the work of doing the workout is learning this stuff and it doesn't all happen at once or even after a few months. If you need pointers on this try checking out this page: [...]- it won't all make sense, but just try to keep your body pulled up while you're working. This will also help you to avoid getting injured. You want to use your muscles rather than momentum. You'll be able to think less about what you're doing and relax into the workout more.
I am completely in love with this workout. My balance, coordination, strength and posture have improved dramatically. I've lost inches and my clothes are looser and I sit and stand straighter with less effort. I love that it's divided into sections so you get a small break in between the work. The work is efficient and thorough and you feel relaxed and strong after.
You don't have to be interested in dancing to do this workout - I'm not, particularly. But if you do it regularly and work on the details of doing each move correctly, you'll be stronger, leaner, and feel great. Just don't push too hard and be careful to do the moves as correctly as you can. It's better to be correct and not turned out than to force a turnout and put torsion on your knees.
Anyway. This workout gets my vote.
107 of 113 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I enjoy the challenge of learning ballet moves while strengthening my muscles. I can feel a big improvement after just one week of completion. The proof is in the visible results of my legs and arms, and the way my pants are looser than the week before I began. I strongly recommend this series for anyone interested in toning, burning excess fat, and improving your posture.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good workout if ....
Good workout if you are looking for just an exercise routine. I had ballet when I was a child, but now in my 50s needed it as a refresher and workout without hurting myself. Read more
Published 10 days ago by LYDIA LEE
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strong and intense ballet
The workout #1 had long pauses between exercises, wasted space. Workout #2 provided a healthy workout based on ballet routines that got the heart rate moving. Read more
Published 26 days ago by happy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely great workout for all levels of ballet or fitness...
This 2 set DVD is great for any one wanting to stretch, lengthen, tone, firm, their body. It uses basic ballet moves, easy and simple enough for any level of fitness or ballet... Read more
Published 2 months ago by pen
4.0 out of 5 stars
ballerinas only
This workout is amazing. I love it immensely. It has helped get my post-postpartum body back in shape. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Melanie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love this Workout
I enjoy doing this workout so much. It is presented so beautifully. The exercises are easy to perform if you've had any level of dance training. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Tara Perillo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big Believer
OK so I got these and got my space all set up. Rigged a ballet barre in my space and began the process of getting back to the process. Barre work is like meditation for me. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Rachel Reed
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hmmm....this could be better!
I found the workout hard to follow, wasn't sure where to start and I reckon the filming is way to dark. I felt as if I was working out in a miserable, dark room.
Published 4 months ago by Merrienne Holt
4.0 out of 5 stars
Will strengthen and align, might help you shed some pounds
I just started using this. I've taken dance (including ballet) over the years. I'm female and a young adult. Read more
Published 4 months ago by msk
5.0 out of 5 stars
ballerinas
My daughter and my grand-daughter are members of the Royal Ballet Co. of London and are great ballerina enthusiasts. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Anita Friedeberg
4.0 out of 5 stars
For the ballet lover
This is a great workout that is different from anything around now! I took ballet as a child and it bring me right back to it. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lola Cava
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