Firstly I’ll tell you a little bit about my ballet experience. I took one year of ballet and two years of tap when I was a kid. I hated it. My sister, however, continued right through high school. I know a little bit more about ballet from watching some of her classes and listening to her talk about it. She also did this video with me once which I’ll talk about more later.

This tape contains two complete workouts at about 40 minutes each. The second workout is slightly more advanced, although many of the exercises are the same. The second one, among other things, does most of the exercises in third position while the first workout focuses on first and second.

What I like most about this video is that it is very much like a real ballet class. Everything from the music to the studio settings is very similar to what I’ve seen of real ballet classes. The music is piano only, which is typical of ballet classes. Some people would describe this as bad music, and for any other type of video it would be. However, in this case it is perfectly appropriate because, again, it is what you’d find in a real class. The studio setting is the same. It isn’t a fancy set like you’d find on a lot of other workout videos, but it is appropriate for this one.

The workout also takes the form of a typical ballet class. You begin on the floor with some stretches and flexibility exercises, then go to the barre, and finish up with centre work. Barre exercises include plie’s in first and second and tendu, and on the floor you work on some jumps and a little curtsy at the end. In the second workout you get to work on an arabesque and some leaps across the floor. Those are fun! I wish I had a bigger workout space for that.

One of the things that bothers me about this tape is that there isn’t a whole lot of form instruction. She does give a lot of tips along the way, but they are often a few repetitions into the exercise. For this reason, it helps to have some ballet experience, although you could probably manage by following along with the video and watching it frist. You could also look for ballet sites on the web for more information.

Another difficulty is that I am not nearly as flexible or turned out as Melissa Lowe. It’s hard to know what the exercises should look like for someone who is weaker in those areas. I like to watch the background exercisers who tend to be less flexible. My sister also told me not to force the turnout, and to do the exercises at an angle that feels comfortable to me. This may mean that my leg is out on a diagonal rather than straight to the side.

Melissa’s is obviously a great dancer and a good instructor but her cue-ing needs some work. They often stop after a few repetitions and go into another movement without telling you what they’re doing. Sometimes this involves bending forward, facing away from the television so you can’t see when they’re gong to come up. I don’t find this to be a huge problem. I just muddle though, and I enjoy it anyway. These breaks do give the exercises a more dancy, more authentic feel.

I should also tell you that some of the movements are very space intensive. There are only one or two sections that have this problem, so I just fast-forward them. Same with the fast tendu’s that don’t work so well on carpet.

After those last four paragraphs you’d think that this was a bad review, but it’s not! I really enjoy doing this video. I just save it for a “rest” day and don’t take it too seriously. I do find that this video has improved my flexibility as well as my dance abilities. Choreography seems to come more naturally to me now. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in a true ballet workout.

Instructor Comments:
You can tell that Melissa is a real professional. Her turnout and flexibility is really amazing and I like her as an instructor.

Megan