Customer Reviews

Visual Dictionary of Ballet For Children / Rosemary Boross

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

 

 

I found this video very useful in terms of showing how dance steps should be executed. The children used were all very intense in their performances. Some of them didn't dance perfectly, but they made honest efforts to strive for the perfection required by ballet. For students who need to see how dance terminology should look, this is a good reference. It starts from learning how to stand to actually dancing in groups in center combinations of pirouettes, jetes, developpes, and so on, with some groups being more advanced than others to illustrate how the basics must be learned before more advanced and more lengthly dance combinations are tried. The film is slow enough to watch the dancers as they cambre, point their toes, do their port de bras and generally move around proportionately in groups, which is important in terms of dancing together with other students. I especially thought the 2-disk set was very comprehensive and easy to navigate, in order to study various aspects of the process of learning to dance. Although it only shows young children, and rightly so, because it is necessary to start this type of training from the beginning and young children especially would gain much from these serious examples, I would recommend this video to students of any level and any age who want to improve their knowledge ballet technique in order to dance better.

I'm an adult ballet dancer, and I loved it. This DVD is perfect for children and adults.

The contents in this visual dictionary are no doubt extremely practical and useful for an adult Ballerina like me. The narrator's voice is soothing and the DVD menu is clear and straight-forward. It serves as great reference tool when I have any doubt of executing certain moves properly.

As a teacher it is a welcome to have such an outstanding visual display of correct ballet technique. I highly recommend this product

Although I gleaned one or two nuggets from this DVD... As a dancer and ballet teacher, I was offended by the flawed technique of the demonstration dancers. I was appalled by the exaggerated head positions, turn-out, arms, etc. I was bothered by the tense shoulders which should be relaxed and held so the neck is long and the body line is uninterrupted. At the very least, an instructor should have been present to correct the problems and explain to the viewer the correct way to execute these exercises. I would not recommend this DVD series to my students or anyone wishing to learn proper classical ballet technique.