Element: Ballet Conditioning
Product Description
Ballet Dancers always have slender bodies that are both strong and lean with lovely proportion and gorgeous body lines. One of the greatest secrets to a dancer’s body is ballet conditioning which focuses on all muscle groups. In this unique program your muscles will work smoothly in unison to create a long streamlined silhouette with flat abs a lean lower body and beautifully defined curves. Moving gracefully and fluidly through this series of exercises you will str… More >>
February 9th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
First of all I didn’t like the production quality of this video. The instructions are in voice over, the setting is nothing special and the music is awful.
I don’t usually like voice over instructions because I find it harder to get involved into the practice and I feel too much distance between the people in the video and myself. The setting (Elise performs on a wooden surface in the garden of a villa by the ocean) although beautiful, also added to the feeling of distance and coldness of this practice. Last but not least the music is totally uninspiring, not the classical music you would expect from a ballet-inspired workout.
The first part of the workout is traditional barre exercises where you use a chair as your support. Those movements are extremely boring if not performed at tempo with music. Elise does not instruct at all about posture and the right way to perform the movements. This will make this part of the video pretty useless if you don’t have a solid background in barre work. In fact, the right muscles will only be engaged if the movements are performed with extreme precision. I know this because I used to take ballet classes 2 times a week and it took me one year of constant reminders by my teacher before I was able to engage the right muscles and feel the work.
You then put your chair aside and start a session of jumps. Again, useless if you don’t have the right technique and Elise is not there to give you any hint. The last part is a series of pilates abdominal work of around 10 minutes which is ok.
I purchased this dvd hoping to add some variety and a change of pace to my workouts (I used to enjoy my ballet class years back), but this is so boring and uninspiring that I will seldom reach for it.
If you’re after the myth of a dancer’s long, lean body (which is in fact a myth, the important thing is to be healthy and feel good about oneself) I think you can achieve better results by alternating some light cardio, pilates, light weight training and occasionally dancing to real music!
On a side note – the comment about the production company doing mostly softcore porn, although made me lol, might be on spot. The production quality of this video is very cheap indeed.
Rating: 2 / 5
February 9th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
I was really excited about this one but it’s not that great. I stopped after about 10 minutes because I was pretty bored with the routine. I also agree with the other people that it hurts your knees!
Rating: 2 / 5
February 10th, 2010 at 12:33 am
This is not a conditioning class; it’s simply a beginning ballet class taught by a very average ballet dancer. I wouldn’t even recommend it to a beginner ballet student because you’re liable to pick up some bad habits like sticking out your thumbs, and not working through your feet, both of which the teacher does routinely. And she doesn’t have any business talking about how to develop the long, lean look of a dancer — which she does ad nauseum — since that’s not the type of body she has. She has a nice figure, but it’s definitely not a ballet dancer’s body. If she has primarily been using dance as her means of exercise (as she implies) then she’s been using her quadriceps to lift her legs into developpe, which is a definite no-no. If she comes out with an actual conditioning DVD, that might be good, but this one has no redeeming value to me.
Rating: 1 / 5
February 10th, 2010 at 2:12 am
This was a fun-to-do video that was a great addition to my collection of home work-out videos. Now I have Yoga, Pilates, Cardio Kick-boxing, and Ballet. A well-rounded collection.
Rating: 5 / 5
February 10th, 2010 at 4:38 am
Im a very fit person I have completed the P90X DVD series which are very difficult, I wanted to challenge other muscles and so i thought i would try ballet. I LOVE this 50 min. workout. Its challenging and the girl who instructs it isn’t annoying she’s very pleasant and all the moves are clean with good timing to it. The music doesn’t bother me either and I like the setting. This is my new favorate workout I do it twice a week and after the first time I noticed results and a bit sore the next day. it hits all those trouble areas around your butt and thighs and loweer abs too. and even my arms were fatigued. This was definitly worth every penny! I love it!
Rating: 5 / 5