Dancing with the Stars Latin Cardio Dance: A Review

Dancing With the Stars: Latin Cardio Dance is a dance DVD that's broken up into four 10 minute dances, along with a warm-up and a toning workout. As the "cardio" in the title suggests, this DVD combines dancing and exercising, so you get a cardio workout while also learning some real Latin dance moves. Also, none of the dances on the DVD involve a partner, so you can do it by yourself in your living room. And as an added bonus, you can choose any mixture of the dances/warm-up/toning workout in any order from the DVD menu, which is always a nice feature.

I have done two other Dancing With the Stars dance DVDs in addition to this one--Dance Body Tone and Cardio Dance--and I think this one is by far the best. I like the 10 minute dances format, and the two instructors that alternate teaching on this DVD give clear, simple instructions which makes it a lot easier to learn the dances. Also, a lot of the dances utilize some of the same steps so practicing one of the dances will help you get better at the others. And the toning workout at the end of the disc is great for those who feel like they want something more than just dancing to round out their workout. So overall, it's a fairly good DVD. It is not, however, without its flaws.

One issue I had with this DVD is that it gets quite repetitive rather quickly. While in a way it's helpful how the dances utilize the same steps, that factor leads to a lack of variety among the dances. They all end up running together a bit and start to feel quite homogeneous. Part of the problem is that neither of the instructors ever add specific arm/upper body movements to any of the dances. Mostly it's just a "let your arms move free" kind of thing, which can be nice for adding your own style, but can also get a little boring after a while. Some different arm movements could really help set the dances apart and add more variety. Instead, when I try to do all four dances in a row, I'm definitely feeling kind of bored by the last dance.

Another problem is that at times the dances are almost too simple. You can get a workout doing them, but neither learning the dances nor practicing them is incredibly challenging. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's the simplicity and easiness of the dances that make this a good DVD for beginners.

So let me go through the disc part-by-part. As I said earlier, it begins with a warm-up. The warm-up is 5 minutes long and nothing special, just a few simple exercises like hip rolls and torso isolations, but it's better than nothing. My main issue with the warm-up is it doesn't include any hamstring or quad stretches. Then again, if you want to stretch out your hamstrings before, you can always just do a forward bend.

Then comes the first dance on the DVD, the Merengue. The Merengue is taught by Cheryl, who, while mostly informative and clear in her instructions, tends to say the same things over and over again in an unhelpful manner. I guess she's just trying to remind you of the form, but the things she repeats--for instance, "bend and straighten your legs" "let your hips move"--are just not all that helpful (most people will automatically bend and straighten their legs when walking in place, after all) and hearing these things said again and again gets kind of annoying. She also kind of has a flat affect here, so she's not terribly motivating. But don't get me wrong--I don't find her unlikable, just not the most exciting dance teacher ever. The Merengue is actually a lot of fun though, once you get past those few things. It's kind of sassy with a lot of hip movements and some twisting of the torso.

After the Merengue is the Cha-Cha, which is taught by Maksim. I really like Maksim's teaching style: he's clear, upbeat without being over-the-top, gives helpful instructions, and overall is quite likable. The Cha-Cha is my favorite dance on this disc. Again, like the Merengue, the Cha-Cha has a lot of hip movements. You also get to pick up the pace a little during the Cha-Cha with some fun, quick moves.

Following the Cha-Cha is the Samba, taught by Cheryl. The Samba is really bouncy, and therefore probably not the best for people with joint problems (I'd imagine it'd get uncomfortable for those with large breasts too!). This is probably my least favorite on the DVD, as I find the bouncing a little awkward to do. But I'd imagine it can be a lot of fun for people who like that sort of thing. Also, it's worth mentioning that Cheryl does some steps from the Merengue in the Samba, and since the steps were taught in the Merengue, she doesn't bother explaining them again. So at least initially, you should probably do the dances in order.

The last dance on the DVD is the Mambo, which is taught by Maksim. I think the Mambo has the least character of any of the dances but it's still fun to do (unless you're doing it after doing all three previous dances; then, as I said earlier, it gets a little tedious). There are some steps in the Mambo that a bit confusing/unclear, but the rest of the dance is quick and easy to learn, like the rest.

The toning exercise at the end is quite good. Cheryl and Maksim switch back and forth, and they cover a lot of different moves. They also add just enough flair to the moves to make them a little more interesting and fun than simply stretching. And they give you a good workout: you can really feel the burn as you do these strengthening moves. The moves work on your flexibility some too, making the toning workout a good cool-down--especially since there's no technical cool-down on the DVD.

Overall, this DVD can be pretty enjoyable. I really enjoy Latin dance and think it can be fun for just about anyone, especially those who really like to move their hips when dancing, so that's a big plus. I like the way the simplicity of the dances allows you to add your own style to them, even though the simplicity is sometimes too much. I would give this DVD 3.75 stars, and recommend it to people who are just getting into dance DVDs and who want something somewhat simple and gentle. However, I don't think I would recommend this DVD to advanced dancers, as the lack of challenge and repetitiveness may leave them bored and dissatisfied with their workout.