Kukuwa Dance Workout: Kirango

Kukuwa Nuamah
Year Released: 2005

Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance


This workout is led by Kukuwa Nuamah, and dancer from Ghana who teaches LAC dance: Latino, Africano, and Caribbeano. She designed this workout for those who are short on time, as it comes in under 28 minutes. In that short amount of time, however, you will still get a great workout. The workout begins with a 4 1/2 minute warm-up of simple dance moves such as shaking the hips. I found the moves to be a little repetitive--there are several "take it from the top" rounds--but otherwise okay. The workout itself is broken into five separate dance segments which range from about 3-5 minutes long. Each segment contains a different song and different moves, and because the segments are so short, it's easy to follow along, and the time goes by very quickly. Kukuwa uses some familiar Latin moves such as the merengue and cha-cha-cha plus a variety of African and Caribbean moves.

I think that one of the best things about this workout is that you don't need to be following Kukuwa's movements exactly; everyone in the class makes the moves their own, and Kukuwa encourages the viewer to do the same. However, I found most of the moves fairly simple to execute, so I didn't really have much trouble following along. One thing I didn't like about the workout was that Kukuwa and her class frequently perform the moves facing away from you, which I found unnecessary and confusing (I just stayed facing forward). I also didn't like her use of some hops/jumps in what is billed as a low-impact workout, but these were easy enough to modify. Finally, I didn't feel that this workout was quite as fun as some of the other dance videos I've tried, but despite this, I did enjoy it and felt great afterwards. Overall, I definitely would recommend this workout and would rate it 4 1/2 stars.

Instructor Comments:
Kukuwa's enthusiasm is infectious; she definitely seems to be having a great time. She doesn't always explain the moves well, but it doesn't seem to matter, as there doesn't seem to be the need to follow her exactly.

Beth C (aka toaster)

07/30/2005