African Dance Workout DVD with Debra Bono | Bayview Entertainment/Widowmaker | Fun Home Fitness & Cultural Dance Experience

This video is loads of fun. It's energetic, varied and provides a good workout about 50 minutes long. It includes a warmup followed by two dance routines that Debra teaches incrementally followed by a short cool down. If you want shorter workouts, you could easily just do one of the dances. If you need to be able to do it perfectly the first time, this video probably not for you. It's a little confusing at first. With each repetition, it gets a little easier to follow. The challenge of getting better at the dances as you go is what makes it fun for me. It's a little high impact with a lot of bouncing and hopping, but it is easily modifiable if you have foot or knee problems or are just not feeling right one day. There are three demonstrators and one or two of them are demonstrating modifications that Debra points out occasionally. There are a few times where the leader flubs the cues "left, I mean, right" or once where she calls something a "combo" and then says it's a "repeater" because it "three," but it actually is a combo. A little distracting, but not a big deal. Generally, the leaders cues and demonstrations are easy to follow. She teaches a step with lots of repetitions, and adds it to the routine so it's easy to learn. The DVD includes a short set of upper body exercises at the end that seem out of place, but easy to skip. It uses weights and a step. I do the upper body occasionally and it feels good. Her guidance on the weights seems good and safe.