An Explosion of Mythology in Motion An Explosion of Mythology in Motion

Production: CIA set, same as the one used for her Kamikaze workout, gray background with pastel color blocks of blue and yellow. Still cant believe they didn't use the red Asian set that they had for the batch of CIA videos filmed during this time?! That set would have been a perfect backdrop for this video.

Genette is in a crushed red velvet outfit of bell bottom jazz pants and matching bra top. Her four background people represent elements of energy. Tom in a dark velour top was mental, Isabella in blue velour was water, Tracy in orange was earth, and Fred in green was wood.

Sound: The music had some vocals, a good beat but didn't jump out at me and make me scream…Great sound track!

Equipment: None needed and not a ton of space. There's some forward and lateral moves but not as much as some CIA tapes.

Intensity: Intermediate workout. Almost all low impact with focus on strong movements. Some occasional high impact but not enough to scare off people who do not like high impact. For advanced people, you might like this as a good lighter day workout but nothing more. Also good for opening the body with long sweeping movements, which I tend to forget and realize I don't do enough of until I see a workout like this one.

Workout: Different from Kamikaze because it is more true to tai chi movements and not nearly as aerobic even though you are moving to a pretty good tempo. This focuses on longer movements and control. If you were to compare to Scott Coles Tai Chi, this has more energy, is much more upbeat overall and is a little more cardio oriented. This tape also has 5 combos like Kamikaze, but she forgets to say where one ends and one starts, so I lumped a couple together. I liked this one, but enjoyed Kamikaze more. I like the quicker aerobic moves and tempo in the other. This one isn't bad for a slow day.

Warm up: Made up of Elements of Nature. Throughout this video, Genette names and explains the tie in of each move to tai chi. Starts off with marches in a wide stance. Moving into Rivers and Mountains (big inhale with arms). Woohsi(sp?) position, which is a wide stance, moving into toe taps, cross your heart move with swinging arms out across chest side to side. Awaken the chi, slapping sides of legs. Settle the chi, shake your body around. Continuing with more open swinging body movements with names like, sunrise, sunset, and pushing the waves.

Combo 1: (more active arm movements)Wide marches and adding an arm move called Yin & Yang. Hands cupped over each other in front of your belly and then you go into a moving flow with them. Your also working your legs a little in low impact moves, even sneaking in alternating leg lifts. Move clouds away which is a side to side squat movement. Dancing rainbows make you look like a tipping scale with the lateral trunk movement and how your arms follow. March….

Combo 2: ( a little more leg work) Moving to “look back at the moon.” You look as if you are holding a big barrel in front of you and you move your arms side to side as if you are trying to look behind you, this moves into a low impact lunge, might even pick up the pace a little to with small hops. Dancing tiger, arms are in a praying position and then you move them in a figure eight while lifting alternating knee..comes out looking like an oriental dance. Raising the sun, alternating arm swings with alternating leg lifts to the front. March and move on…

Combo 3/4?, they blended together in here some where: March wide(yes, she does a ton of marching with this one as well) Start by rotating the golden sphere. You look like you are molding a ball in your hands. Mambo combo that turns into a step forward with those arm movements, balance on one leg extend the other back and come down to hop hop to get to other side and repeat a few times(more fun than how it appears in print). Tiger stance-an alternating deep plie movement with long sweeping arms. Support the heavens, a challenging deep squat held for some time with hands raised and palms facing up. March, march, march and TIFTT for the first time, but only this combo…I think.

Combo 5: I'm guessing this is combo 5, she didn't say but she just TIFTTed the last one. So…(leg work, leg work) Warrior lunge move. Face right and lunge with a mambo when you come up, that turns into a run later but with both you go right back into a lunge. Squat move next. Come down into a plie squat to the side, pop up and lift right leg. Next sweep kick combo with some arm moves and the end of this combo has flying plyo jacks..here’s your little taste of high impact and a teeny tiny bit of anaerobic energy. She ends up repeating this twice, She calls it TIFTT..but it's more like, do the otherside;O).

Cool down: Very quiet soothing vocals for the music. Start with a big inhale (river and mountains) maintain wooshi position(wide stance) a little more yin and yang movements with the arms and body moves. Move the clouds away..sweeping arm/body movements. Waterfall hands, waving hands up and down in front of you. Release chi, pushing off side to side. Torso twists and finishing with more long flowing stretches and movements.

Quirks: I think both her tapes might catch some flack for all the marching. It's not as bad in this one since the intensity is meant to be a notch lower anyway, but there is even a section that her background people try to start before her and she still goes into 2 more eight counts. Genette is very talkative and with this one, most of what she says is educational but there are still times when she sings with the beat and if you aren't into that, watchout. The routine is chopped up and separated with marches; you might not get a real flowing feel from it. On the other side of that, if you find yourself on the wrong foot a lot, Genette’s style would help by giving you the chance to adjust during the marches and find the right foot.

Instructor: I like Genette, she's very refreshing and motivating and I enjoyed all her sound effects and little nuances. She is also fun to watch, her moves have character. She was very good at giving form pointers. I hope she does more…preferably with less marching and more consistent intensity;O).

Nancy C