This is another video from the Yoga Booty Ballet Live series; each workout in this series contains dancey cardio, a toning segment, and some yoga-inspired stretches/breathing/meditation. Instructors Gillian and Teigh teach live in front of a large studio class, leading in a tag team style, and Ravi the live drummer is ever-present. The entire workout clocks in at about 34 minutes.

As with the other YBB Live videos, Bollywood begins in a seated position for some breathing work and setting your intention for the practice. I particularly liked that you start the warm-ups in this position, using flowing arm movements to loosen your chest and shoulders. You then do a little stylized turn to move to a standing position and continue with the same types of flowing movements; you'll also preview some of the moves featured in the cardio portion.

As the name of the video implies, the cardio here is bellydance-inspired, although I didn't recognize much from the bellydance videos I have used. In general, I found the movements to be nicely flowing and fun to do, but the choreography was more difficult for me to follow than in the other YBBs I've tried (Hip Hop Abs, Go Go). Gillian and Teigh do perform extra repetitions to help you learn the movements, but there are some tricky, quick transitions that just make the routine a bit hard to follow. Another issue I had is that several of the movements have a left-side focus (eg, the stomp and hip drop), and they are repeatedly performed on that side of the body only, which left me feeling uneven. Despite these issues, I did actually enjoy the cardio routine, but I was disappointed that my heart rate never got into my target zone even though I felt I was putting a lot of effort into the workout.

Gillian and Teigh have a habit of stopping the cardio portion abruptly mid-way through the routine (about 15 minutes total), and Bollywood is no exception. They then tell you to get a band and a yoga mat (you don't really need the latter though) for the sculpting portion, which consists of about 6 minutes of standing work. They use the band to add upper body work to lower body exercises such as squats and lunges and also to isolate muscles such as the biceps and tricpes; this section was okay, but I'm not sure how much I got out of it. The final 4 minutes of the workout feature stretches performed on the floor, first with the band and then without, which provided a nice little end to the workout.

Although I found this video to be somewhat enjoyable, I didn't feel very worked out by the end, so I'm not sure how much use I will get out of it. It could be that there is a "learning curve" to the routine, so I will give it another try; I could see keeping this in reserve for when I don't feel like doing anything else. If you like the YBB Live series and are looking for a fun, light workout, this may be for you.

Instructor Comments:
Teigh and Gillian work well together and offer mirrored cueing; they're not afraid to laugh at themselves when they screw up.

Beth C (aka toaster)