Product Details

• Actors: Joby Brava
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Goldhill Home Media
• VHS Release Date: December 7, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B00067Z2QE
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #60,808 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent introduction and instruction to Latin dance styles, July 28, 2005

By	Beth Cholette "doctor_beth" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In this instructional video, instructor Joby 'Brava' teaches four categories of Latin dance: bachata, salsa, merengue, and cha-cha-cha. She spends about 10 minutes on each segment, and they all follow the same pattern. First, you briefly watch Joby and a partner perform the dance while her voiceover describes the origins of that dance. Next, Joby alone teaches the variety of different moves that make up that dance. She starts by demonstrating the move with music, and then without the music, she breaks the move down, teaching it very slowly from both the front and the back. Finally, the music returns, at she encourages you to practice the moves several times with her at tempo.

Although Joby's instructions were clear and precise, there were several things I didn't like. First of all, viewing the move from the back seemed unnecessary, as this made the video move along extremely slowly and caused left-right confusion. Secondly, Joby explains how each move is counted, so you need to remember this and be able to follow along--no easy task for those new to dance! I was also surprised by the complexity of some of the moves which Joby selected for this video; the salsa section in particular includes quite complicated foot movements that I found very difficult to replicate. One final note: this is a dance instructional video, NOT a dance workout, so if you are looking to use this video for "fitness" as the title suggests, you are likely to be disappointed. However, this video does prepare you for Joby's "Havana Heat" workout, which is a complete dance routine based on the steps used here.