In the instructional portion of this video, instructor Joby 'Brava' teaches four categories of Latin dance: bachata, salsa, merengue, and cha-cha-cha. She spends about 10 minutes on each segment, and they all follow the same pattern. First, you briefly watch Joby and a partner perform the dance while her voiceover describes the origins of that dance. Next, Joby alone teaches the variety of different moves that make up that dance. She starts by demonstrating the move with music, and then without the music, she breaks the move down, teaching it very slowly from both the front and the back. Finally, the music returns, at she encourages you to practice the moves several times with her at tempo. Although Joby's instructions were clear and precise, there were several things I didn't like. First of all, viewing the move from the back seemed unnecessary, as this made the video move along extremely slowly and caused left-right confusion. Secondly, Joby explains how each move is counted, so you need to remember this and be able to follow along--no easy task for those new to dance! I was also surprised by the complexity of some of the moves which Joby selected for this video; the salsa section in particular includes quite complicated foot movements that I found very difficult to replicate. The entire instructional portion is about 45 minutes long.

The second part of this DVD is the Havana Heat workout. Like the instruction, the workout is broken down into separate chapters for the bachata, salsa, merengue, and cha-cha-cha, plus there is also a warm-up and cool-down. The 5-minute warm is a combination of moving and static stretches, and then Joby begins the workout with the bachata. Surprisingly, I found this 5-minute segment to be quite boring: the music was very low-key, and the routine seemed to be very low-energy. The Salsa segment (6 minutes) was a bit more upbeat, yet the footwork was quite complicated and the moves repetitive. The merengue section was probably the most enjoyable, as the moves were easier to follow yet still fun; this segment lasted 6 minutes. But then Joby finishes with a short (4 minutes) cha-cha-cha, which I also found to be too complex for my liking. A very brief (1.5 minutes) stretch brings the workout in at just over 20 minutes.

The DVD includes several bonus features: a couples and group performances (Joby is obviously an excellent dancer), a workout without narration option, trailers of three other Natural Journeys videos, and a photo gallery of Joby (I can't understand why Natural Journeys always includes these). Overall, I was disappointed with this video, especially given that I had difficulties following the workout and did not find it to be at all fun. I think that this DVD might be more suited to someone who is looking to learn Latin dance moves for use on the dance floor rather than someone who is looking to use dance for fitness.

Instructor Comments:
Joby's voice and personality were not as rich or strong as I had expected. I found her instruction to be both too slow and inadequate at the same time, if that's possible. During the workout, she cues by saying the name of the move only, and I was frequently confused about left-right issues. On the plus side, she is quite fit and clearly (at least to my untrained eye) an excellent dancer; ditto for the background exercisers.

Beth C (aka toaster)