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List Price: $19.99
Our Price: $14.99
Your Save: $ 5.00 ( 25% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Standing Room Only
Starring: Melissa Lowe
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780769712307
Format: Color
ISBN: 0769712304
Label: Standing Room Only
Manufacturer: Standing Room Only
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Standing Room Only
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2004-10-26
Running Time: 83
Studio: Standing Room Only
Theatrical Release Date: 1987
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Editorial Reviews:
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The title is somewhat a misnomer: this 83-minute video isn't a "workout" so much as a ballet class. If you've taken ballet in the past--or if you've always wanted to--pull on your tights and leg warmers and enjoy this video. Melissa Lowe, a former soloist and principal dancer with several ballet companies, leads two levels of workout. Level 1 is for those with little or no ballet training; ballet experience is helpful for level 2. Each level has three segments: floor work (stretches to warm up the muscles), barre work (standing exercises and positions done holding onto a barre or chair), and center work (more intense conditioning with balance, traveling, and some jumping). If you're not already flexible, you'll find the stretches daunting, even at level 1. This is a 1984 video and doesn't have the production quality you find in more current videos, but ballet is timeless. The music is solo piano--just like in ballet class. The lithe, willowy instructor doesn't smile or try to engage the audience, but she sure knows ballet, and her flexibility and grace are awe inspiring. --Joan Price
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Best if you've had ballet
Comment: This DVD features two ballet classes. The first says it is for people with little or no ballet experience, but it is more geared toward the person who has a distant memory of ballet classes she took as a little girl. As a 36 year old who never took ballet as a child, I would have benefitted from a little more time devoted to the basic positions. Although I have watched hundreds of ballet classes, I have not participated before, and I found it difficult to maintain the positions during the simple combinations. A little more time devoted to simply coming back to first would have been a help for me.
That said, it is a much better video for beginners than the New York City Ballet Workout, which has more complicated combinations and assumes a fair amount of knowledge.
The other thing that could improve this video would be to have the teacher show the combination once before having the students follow. The first time watching the video, you're not quite sure what she is going to do next, which makes it hard to follow. Of course, this isn't a problem with repeated viewings.
In all, I think it's a good product and especially good for people with a little ballet background. It is a very simple ballet class with easily assimilated combinations, and ballet classes are always a good workout that use every muscle.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good, solid, ballet exercises
Comment: Good ballet exercises. Sound and video quality not great, as it seems like it must have been a so-so quality VHS tape converted to a DVD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I have danced with Melissa
Comment: Melissa and her husband Jory danced with us when we were just a small midwest company. I was the very lucky one to dance with both of them up close and personal and what a thrill it was.
I now have my own studio and have sent this video to my adult students that want to work out at home. She and Jory know their stuff and they are the finest/nicest dancers and teachers around.
Elizabeth C. Williams
Elizabeth Williams School of Dance
Williamston, Mich 48895
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great basic ballet workout
Comment: These ballet classes (there are two levels on this one dvd) are really clear and enjoyable. However, it is important to have a real-life instructor who can assist and correct you as you learn the basics in a regular studio environment, but if used in addition to real classes - this is very helpful. I like starting my day of with this workout to supplement my ballet classes. I recommend to anyone serious about learning ballet!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Be careful with the stretches!
Comment: The ballet portions of this DVD are great, but it is a little dated, so some of the stretches have been found to do more harm than good. What ever you do, don't bounce! It doesn't give your muscles a chance to ease into the stretch, and most defiantly doesn't help to make them more flexible. I had been hoping for something that had been made a bit more recently, but is looks like it had been taped in the 80's from the video quality and the copious amounts of leg warmers.
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