BalletBootCamp, the title's first impression to me was a workout that was rigorous but also elegant, what I saw was not quite what the title suggested. I expected a bit more of a fusion between the current BootCamp workouts and Ballet training. The tape itself is 60 minutes long, and broken up into distinct sections. The tape overall is really a toning tape using the body's weight for resistance with a little bit of "dance" work. It can be rigorous in some sections but overall I would say that was due to the 32 repetitions on each side that overloaded the muscles. Also, beware the camera work tends to focus on the "art" of making a scene look good than showing the moves well. I constantly felt like screaming - "BACK UP WILL YA!" When the instructor say now do this with your feet, SHOW HER FEET! You know that simple stuff that you think is obvious, but you get the feeling that the camera-person has never done or watched a workout tape before in their life.

The workout consists of:

Warm-up/ Standing Stretch- basically forward bends, side bends, range of motion arm sweeps, lunges, plies and hamstring stretches.

Warm-Up Aerobic Dance- a series of moves are previewed then linked together. These are pretty basic moves and they are called out first in layman terms then ballet terms. (this section lasts about 4 minutes)

Abdominals- 32 reps of crunches with arms at sides, then hands behind the head, then bicycle crunches, then arms at sides and then legs up doing full crunches.

Plies/Scissors- You lie on your back and the first section is keeping your heals together and do plie moves. Then you do inner thigh work by opening and closing your thighs (like scissors)

Push-Ups- 32 push ups from a knee position

Hip Rotations- On hands and knees you lift your leg up, heal to ceiling then holding that there you rotate your leg so your knee faces outward. This is the starting position. You rotate in knee down then out, and lower your leg and tap your foot on the other foot and raise it. This sequence 32 times on each leg.

Floor Exercises- Laying on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor near your butt, is the starting position. You do a number of bringing your foot up to your other ankle, pressing out 2 inches above the floor and bringing it back. Then you do a series of straight leg raises then flexing the leg straight and bent then, raising the leg toward your chest and then lower to 2 inches above the floor.

Arm Rotations- Holding your arms in "second" position which is basically like a lateral raise with bent arms. You rotate your arms from your shoulders, bringing the elbows down then horizontal again.

Centre Barre- There's no barre used, this is standing plies and leg work done in first and second position. Also a number of full leg lifts and pulses. You need lots of balance to do this section, probably one of the hardest sections of the tape (for me.)

Choreography- For about 8 minutes you preview and do the five sections of choreography then in the last 3 ½ minutes you do the routine about one and 2/3rds through. Then the workout ends.

My overall impression of the tape was that is was very uneven in layout. The stretching beginning I found a bit archaic because it would much more beneficial to have had the dance warm up precede this. Then toning sections were not particularly new and then only section that really had a ballet feel to it was the arm rotations and the centre barre work. The choreography at the end was really disappointing. I can't believe that such a long time was spent reviewing all these moves and then you only did them once and a bit through!!! Then the tape ends…no cooldown at all. What a strange tape.

Overall- I enjoy doing some of the toning work, but still get very frustrated with the dance work at the end, due to the lack of cueing as well as the run through getting cut off. I find that I have done the tape all the way up to the choreography section and then stopped and gone on and done something else. So, I don't know what to say specifically in terms of recommending the tape. It may appeal to a number of people who like to do "toning" work vs. strength training. The dance section, I think would be a big draw for many but there is just a dash of that… So, I am a bit disappointed in the workout overall, I truly wished for something a bit more "fun" and "dramatic". I have a feeling that an instructor like Michelle Dozois could pick up this idea and create a workout that would be much more in keeping with what I was hoping for.
Instructor Comments- It seems that Jessica Sherwood is new to being on film. She's nervous and doesn't look at the camera throughout most of the workout. She doesn't cue well verbally or by body gesture… I also found that she didn't really explain the form of a number of exercises throughout the workout. I think she explained a bit of form during the abdominal section, which many people have done, but practically none on the center barre section. I felt like I needed to take her aside and give her a few coaching lessons on how to lead a workout on tape. I don't expect absolute perfection from instructors. But I do expect enthusiasm and an ability to draw a person into a workout and explain how to begin and progress. These qualities did not shine through on the video.

Lisa Kucharski