Dancing With The Stars: Sizzle & Groove Latin Dance [DVD]

I like this video. It is not the best, but you do get a workout. The two ladies that give the lessons don’t present the steps in a way that really encourages you to learn them; they are taught at warped speed and without sufficient repetition. It’s still fun even though I can’t follow all of the steps. I definitely do not look as sexy as they do either when doing the routine. ☹️

If you like Dancing with the Stars, if you like to dance, this will be a perfect addition to your DVD library. I had to do it several times before I got the hang of it. It isn't a killer without, but it does allow you to feel accomplished of you're learning.

On the whole, I'm pretty happy with this one; it's basically what I had in mind. The warm-up is a good (and effective) intro to the vibe of the other workouts. For me, there was inevitably a certain amount of free-styling at various points where the steps were just too fast/complex for my skill set, but it usually didn't come until towards the end of a given workout, when the combinations were at their most difficult. Karina was certainly cheerful, and she's obviously an excellent dancer, but I preferred Kim's teaching style. She was better at building in small "walk it out" moments in between combinations so you never really felt lost while still maintaining momentum. The paso was fun, as was the salsa, though the latter was team taught by both Karina and Kim, so at times it was awkward switching back and forth between their teaching styles. The samba was, frankly, kind of a bust for me - difficult and probably better for someone with more experience and in better shape than I am at this point. I didn't love the cool down track - mostly various yoga poses, and I would've preferred some more traditional stretching rather than contortionist pretzeling. But, overall, I'd say worth the $8 I paid.

This video is taught by two professionally trained dancers and it shows.I really enjoy learning the moves.Sometimes some moves are so fast that they are hard to keep up with, but the teachers challenge you in a very positive way. It is always fun and gives you a great work out.It also works on balance and posture which is valuable too. In summary, this video is a wonderful way to get in shape and learn a few dance moves..

I really liked another Dancing with the Stars (Dance away the pounds) so thought I'd try this DVD for variety but was very disappointed by it. The instruction introduces the steps too slowly so that your heart rate drops right down, yet offers no repetition to practice before accelerating to full speed before you even fully understand the pattern. You can't follow so you're just floundering around trying to figure it out, and it slows right down again to a crawl (too slowly!) to introduce the next pattern, with the whole cycle repeating itself. It's not a workout, it's an exercise in frustration. For reference, I do a lot of dance workouts (i.e. "Dance with Julianne: Cardio Ballroom" and "Dance with Julianne:Just Dance" and pick up dance steps quickly and easily, but the instruction and pacing of this DVD, combined with the worse camera angles possible at the most crucial of times makes it a poor workout and no fun at all. Pass on it, it's a waste of your money.

No high marks here for this. They hardly take the time to teach you the steps before they are off and flying, which makes it very frustrating. Just to get used to doing the combination steps for the salsa (just the first four, mind you, as I am don't have the "muscle memory" for these steps), I had to rewind and rewind and rewind and rewind...insert infinity symbol here. This makes it quite frustrating. Then to add insult to injury, they are TOO good at what they do, with expert hip swishes that turns a normally non-hater person into a hater quickly.Really, if you want to do this and you don't already know how to do the dances, it will take a long time with lots of frustration, especially if you are a normal person. This is not beginners level, and I didn't get much aerobic exercise while trying to learn the steps. All I got was a very irritated hip from doing so many side-steps from incessant rewinds, and trying to blend the steps together without good cues.

The merengue and cha cha warm up get you started. Paso doble features authentic flamenco moves. The salsa section was the best and gives an intense aerobic work out. Kym shines as a knowledgeable, encouraging, and authentic instructor. Paul, the "Bailando Por Un Sueño" international champion, is a background dancer.

This is a really fun work out. It may be hard to follow if you have never done dance workout videos or taking any dance classes. I’ve done almost all of the different Dancing with the Stars workout videos and this is my favorite.