(Oldies But Goodies, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's)
Instructor: Lori Sunderman for Oldies; Molly Fox
for the rest
Music: decade pop vocals (each tape contains a list of
the songs on the back cover)
Length: 30 minutes. 3 minute aerobic warmup, 2 minute
stretch, 20 minute aerobics including a cooldown routine,
2 minute final stretches
Energy Level: high
Choreography: generally easy
Production: low
If you don't like the music, don't get the tapes. I
have favorites on each tape, as well as a couple "I
wish I didn't have to listen to this". Each tape
begins with a motion warmup followed by a static stretch,
aerobic dances, cooldown aerobic dance, and static
stretch. Some of the steps are a little complex (I
especially had trouble with the "sideways"
mirror-image routines, like the H steps where the steps
were easy but the direction of movement wasn't.) There
are some jumps, especially in the Oldies, that are hard
on the knees and for which there aren't any obvious
alternatives. You can vary your intensity level to some
extent, but these are hard to do "slow". Most
of the stretches are the same from tape to tape and some
basic steps (the Pony, the Twist) turn up in multiple
tapes, but the variations are such that I've never felt I
was repeating the same routines to different music. It's
a short workout; you can do a different tape each day. If
you like the music, don't need fancy choreography, and
don't mind poor video quality, these are good tapes to
get.
Diane Danielle
Dance Away - Get Fit with the Hits
(Beginner/Intermediate-Floor Aerobics)
This series
features music from various decades; I have the 60's and
the 80's tapes. Choreographer Molly Fox is the
instructor, and while she comes up with some interesting
combos, her cueing is not very good, especially annoying
because you have your back to the TV sometimes. The
(low-budget) sets, outfits and dance steps reflect their
theme decades; the 60's tape has ponies and twists, the
80's features funky, breakdance-inspired moves. What
stands out are the songs, the Original Hits by the
Original Artists - the Monkees' "I'm A
Believer", Aretha Franklin's "Who's Zoomin
Who", etc. If you're really fed up with generic
workout music, you might like these, as a friend of mine
did. Otherwise, not much bang for the buck. Fuzzy EP
recordings. Grade: C
Sue Bryant
