The Ballet Workout
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Movie Reviews of The Ballet Workout
Movie Review: Solid ballet instruction for beginners
Summary: 3 Stars
I think other reviewers have already summed up this tape so I'll keep it short and just add my two cents. If you aren't used to ballet, these exercises will make you s-o-o-o-r-e the next day for a little while! :) My only qualm is that I find this a bit dull, from Melissa's instruction, to the sets and music. Good workout, though.Movie Review: Old, Old, Old...and time to be retired
Summary: 2 Stars
I've done this tape/dvd about 120x from 1999-2006 -- only because there wasn't anything better at the time. It's what you'd call an 'old stand-by'. Nothing outstanding to recommend itself by todays standards in production or intellectual 'snap', but not the worst thing you will ever own as far as a ballet dvd goes.
It's stand-out points include: an overcrowded class, ancient hyper-extended stretches, ugly costumes, an akward piano score, uninspiring stressful undertones, and a forced and failed attempt at grace - but all that said, it IS a ballet class! There is no getting away from that. It might be a ballet class from 1981, and you'd probably assume there'd be some redeeming nostalgia about that, but, no, it must have been a bad filming day.
Back when I used to first do it, I never liked it but, it was the best there was, and I was bloody grateful and probably would have given it a much more glowing review 8 years ago. Now, tho? It's not worth the money in my opinion. Get Dmitri Roudnev's Ballet Class with Dmitri Roudnev (Demonstration of exercises for music of Best of Ballet Class Vol V) and be truly inspired by a worthy ballet class. (see my unabashed, miles-long, glowing review of Dmitri's DVD.)
I've seen a lot, a lot, a lot of good reviews for this tape/dvd, The Ballet Workout. I believe they stem from the same gratitude my only positive feelings about it do, as well. Honestly, back in the day, there was this ballet class to buy - and that's it. And because it covers 'basic ballet' the gratitude for this even existing for home use was, understandably, overwhelming when it was reviewed in the past. But it doesn't hold up any more for that singular reason, and thankfully, others have come along to replace this stiff class that always made me feel like the tention in it would make it blow apart at the seams.
Is it the worst ballet dvd you could by? Is it a waste of money? No. It really isn't. You do ballet exercises in it. It's a hard class. If it was the only ballet class left in the world, I'd again, be thrilled to have it. It takes itself very seriously. It's akward, stiff, static, and tense. There's almost zero joy in it. It reminds me of what taking ballet in prison would be like, except that's an insult to anyone studying ballet in prision.
Is the Ballet Workout a treasure? Beautiful? Uplifting? Inspiring? No. It's just an old tired, ballet class now, and not wonderfully 'old' in that you can learn marvellous timeless things from it. Just old. Tired. Done. And not what my ballet class dreams are made of.
Movie Review: as a workout, no
Summary: 2 Stars
PROS: I have no ballet training but I thought this would be an interesting way to increase flexibility and muscle tone. The exercises here will do both. I have quite a bit of flexibility already from martial arts but it is a serious challenge trying to do some of the intermediate poses and stretches they have. There is mat work, bar work, and floor routines which varies it up and should appeal to real ballet practitioners, I should think. The instructor is not too peppy or annoying to listen to and the piano music is tinkly soothing.
CONS: Overall, the relaxed atmosphere is too relaxed and quiet and it makes me feel rather sleepy and does not inspire exerting effort. While the moves are difficult, I still don't really break a sweat since the difficulty isn't sustained long enough to do so. There's a lot of switching positions and pointing your toes inbetween difficult moves that let you rest a lot rather than, say, holding a difficult pose. The whole floor routine section just isn't really helpful for anyone learning the moves to get a workout, so a con for me. They do not emphasize going up on their toes for this one but they do emphasize turning the toes out for good form and possibly to avoid injuring yourself with some of the moves. I am not particularly interested in gaining this flexibility and it is a strain trying to not use your knees and train your hips, legs, and feet instead which means your focus is there but not on getting a workout.
Movie Review: Not what I had hoped it would be...
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this DVD (and the second one from the series too) to add to my ballet DVD collection. I just installed a ballet room in my house and I wanted to mix things up a bit, since I was only using the NYC Ballet Workouts I and II before. To preface this, I will say that I took ballet as a small child but quit before I was 10. I started up again when I was 19 and took actual classes for three years before stopping again because of the expense. So I have a decent amount of experience, and figured I could handle these DVDs.
The main problem with this particular DVD is that she tells you what's coming up next (develope, tendu, etc) and when I start doing that, she throws in all these other moves that she never told you to prepare for in the first place. So while I'm doing my original moves, I'm trying to catch on to what she's doing in between those moves - it turns out to be kind of a mess. I like the fact that it's run more like an actual class, but a little more information on the upcoming routines would have been helpful (plie, releve, plie, tendu, plie, or whatever, instead of saying "plie!" and adding all the other stuff unannounced). I guess I will probably keep using this and hope that I can memorize the routines. And if I can't, I'll probably stick with the NYC Ballet Workouts as my first and second choices.
Movie Review: just o.k.
Summary: 2 Stars
I own several ballet videos. I have taken ballet for many years and use videos when there are no classes available. This would be the last one I would grab. It's doable but the explanations are poor and the video is frustrating to watch. The camera person zooms in too much and makes it hard to follow along. The sequences are poorly put together. I much prefer David Howard or Dimitri R. ballet videos. They are wonderful if you know ballet. I hope I will find more challenging tapes out there.