Calorie Blasting Party is a fun, 42-minute dance workout which is made up of the following segments: a 4-minute warm up, four choreographed dance sequences (each consisting of about 4-5 individual dance patterns), and a 3-minute cool down. Instructor Julianne "Julz" Arney teaches the dances using a unique, 3-tempo format. First, she will introduce the steps at the slowest tempo, Tempo 1. Then, once you have the basic idea, she will speed it up a little to Tempo 2, giving you some additional time to practice. Finally, you'll perform the dance at full tempo, Tempo 3.

As mentioned above, the dance sequences (about 8 minutes each) consist of 4-5 individual dance patterns which Julz teaches one-by-one. I have trouble with complex choreography, but I generally found the steps here to be simple, easy-to-learn, and fun as well; there were a few times during the workout that I struggled to follow along, but that didn't seem to matter much as long as I was moving. I do think that doing the steps at the slowest tempo sometimes made them actually HARDER to replicate; I would have preferred moving more quickly Tempo 2. Furthermore, it would have been great to have a Tempo 3 only option on the DVD for once you are already familiar with the workout.

The DVD is well-chaptered, which is nice because you could easily do only a couple of the dances if you're looking for a shorter workout. In addition, a t-minute bonus "Dance Off" combines some of the moves previously learned in an all Tempo 3 segment; it would have been great if this were longer, but it's still nice to have. The first time I tried this workout, I had trouble keeping my heart rate in my target zone, but the second time (which was following a weights workout), my HR definitely stayed elevated; I expect that it will be even easier to keep my HR up once I become more familiar with the moves.

Overall, I am happy with this workout and believe that I will get a lot of use out of it.

Instructor Comments:
Julz is friendly, enthusiastic, and a little goofy. She cues well; there were a few points where I struggled to follow at first, but the moves are pretty easy to do and eventually I was able catch up.

Beth C (aka toaster)