This video is part of a series by Romana Kryzanowska a student of Pilates founder Joseph Pilates and in fact the heir to his original teachings. Now in her 80s, Romana is simply amazing--a guru, a diva, and an inspiration all rolled into one. This DVD offers documentary footage (including "History of Pilates" and "Romana: Keeper of the Flame and Force of Nature"), and it is incredible to watch both Romana and "Uncle Joe" at work.

Of course, this is also an exercise DVD, and to me, the workout did not disappoint. In the main practice, "One on One with Romana," Romana leads a female student, Petie, through a Pilates mat series. This is a flowing segment which I would rate at a low intermediate level, with the most challenging exercises being the neck pull and the jack knife (oddly enough, though, the rollover is admitted). Romana sticks mainly to the classical Pilates sequencing, going from the hundred, roll up, leg circles, and rolling like a ball to the single leg stretch, although she skips the rest of the series of five to move into the spine stretch forward, open leg rocker, corkscrew, saw, swan dive, single and double leg kicks, neck pull, jack knife, an abbreviated side series, teaser series, hip circles, swimming (which she makes a point of saying that she does not like!), the rarely-seen leg pull (face down and face up), kneeling side kicks, mermaid, seal, and final stretch. Romana is quite humorous in her instruction, and I loved the little tips she provide here and there (although her comments sometimes resulted in an uneven number of reps being performed from one side to the other). Overall, I thought the workout had a very similar feel to Winsor Advanced Body Slimming; Mari Winsor, one of the many Pilates instructors interviewed for this video, was clearly influenced by Romana. In addition to Romana's coaching, there is also occasional voiceover commentary providing additional information, and a graphic comes on screen announcing each upcoming exercise (I thought that both of these techniques served to break up the flow of the workout a bit; I would have preferred listening to Romana only). The entire sequence is about 20 minutes long.

A second workout option is "Workout with Petie." Here, student Petie repeats the above mat series on her own to voiceover instruction only. The transitions between exercises flow more quickly here, and the workout time is a bit shorter, about 16 minutes total. Although the reps are even here and it is a well-designed workout overall, I definitely missed Romana's presence, and so I will turn to this version only when I am short on time. Finally, the DVD offers a few bonus exercise segments, including "Wall Alignment Warm Up," which has three students demonstrating some simple stretches at the wall, and "Around the Clock with Kathi," in which student Kathi performs the double leg stretch while revolving in a circle (ie, the outline of a clock).

I'm not sure that I'd want to collect all the DVDs in this series (this is the only one I've tried so far), but I'm definitely happy to have acquired this one. Although the workout itself probably only rates 4 stars, working out with Romana is definitely a 5-star experience.

Instructor Comments:
I agree with Jane that Romana is a diva--in a good way, of course! I can see her influence on Mari Winsor in particular, but she exudes more warmth and humor than Mari. I just loved seeing her in action!

Beth C (aka toaster)