New York City Ballet Workout (DVD)

...my first viewing of 'The New York City Ballet Workshop'.

Now, I don't know about you but when I think of a ballet dancers physique I think slender beauty. Grace and lightness are essentials too, but it's the thin aspect that appealed to me. What springs to my mind are the elegant lines of a Tamara Toumanova or a Dame Antoinette Sibley. I do not think of body-builders with muscles bulging so much that it looks as though their skin is ...
...doctor before embarking on a new fitness regime and should always seek professional advice to help rectify problems ( I assume this refers to posture, injuries and the like). From this the video moves swiftly on to Section 1: Warm Up One. The four dancers (more of whom later) stand prepared, even spaced, feet parallel with their arms in position (port de bras) ready, against a blue backdrop. Martin's soft, warm voice begins to talk us through the ... more

Have you ever seen an advertisement for a product and thought, 'What a fantastic concept!' only to search it out and be immensely disappointed? Well, if you have then you'll know how I felt when I had finished my first viewing of 'The New York City Ballet Workshop'.

Now, I don't know about you but when I think of a ballet dancers physique I think slender beauty. Grace and lightness are essentials too, but it's the thin aspect that appealed to me. What springs to my mind are the elegant lines of a Tamara Toumanova or a Dame Antoinette Sibley. I do not think of body-builders with muscles bulging so much that it looks as though their skin is stretched to the limit and close to bursting. As you can probably tell from the tone of this op my image is hopelessly out of date.

Just to be sure I hadn't over romanticised my memory of ballet, I watched 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes' the other night to see the guest appearance of Toumanova. Sure enough there was an ethereally graceful dancer, so light on her feet she appeared almost to fly. I contrasted that with the NYCB dancing in the performance/rehearsal clips. What makes the change so remarkable is that the dancer I so admire began at the same company when she was just 13 and worked with the same mentor, George Balanchine, that has so heavily influenced the techniques developed and demonstrated here on the video.

But enough of my rant, back to the video. A quick look on the back of the robust packaging told me that it would last for 90 minutes. So with a great sense of anticipation I popped it in my vcr intent on viewing the whole thing first. The inside of the case had shown me a brief explanation of what was to come but I wanted to see for myself and get an idea of the arc of the workout, where the peaks were and what sort of level I would need to be in order to be able to execute the moves. The first thing that greeted me was US actress Sarah-Jessica Parker, of 'Sex and the City' fame, evidently a devotee, extolling the virtues, and difficulties, of ballet as an art and exercise form.

Narrated by Peter Martins, Ballet Master in Cheif with the NYCB, the wrokout begins with a word of warning to those intending to have a go. You should be in good health (having seen this I believe this to be an understatement), consult a doctor before embarking on a new fitness regime and should always seek professional advice to help rectify problems ( I assume this refers to posture, injuries and the like). From this the video moves swiftly on to Section 1: Warm Up One. The four dancers (more of whom later) stand prepared, even spaced, feet parallel with their arms in position (port de bras) ready, against a blue backdrop. Martin's soft, warm voice begins to talk us through the exercises as the classical music begins. The first problem becomes instantly apparent: the technical ballet terms are not always explained. It is left to the person watching to figure it out for themselves if the do not already know. If you're coordinated and can follow what somebody else does easily then you'll work out pretty quickly that plie means knee bend. This part of the exercise involves mainly the upper body and an awful lot of bending sideways. My own word of warning: watch your neck as you straighten up. If you can bend to one side to nearly a right angle then you'll be fine, otherwise be careful and build up to it.
Ouch Factor: 1

This is followed by Section 2: Warm Up Two and begins with the two girls stepping from side to side. I enjoyed this part the most. It revolves around much more footwork than the last section and, once the arms have been added in, more clearly resembles dancing. I also discovered that my body found these movements more natural than those that proceeded it. An added bonus was that it was a lot shorter, consisting of only a few repitions.
Ouch Factor: 0

Section3: Warm Up Three is the boy's turn and finished off the warm ups. This one involves a lot more leg work. Lots of bending of the knees, or should I say plies?, and standing on tip toes. It is quite clear how this exercise builds up the thigh muscles of those executing it. The circular motions of the arms added to it, while moving at double time, should also get your heart pumping. If you are looking to increase your leg muscles then this is a good part for you; if, like me, you only want to trim your legs then it's perhaps not one that I'd suggest.
Ouch Factor: 1

We then move on to the main part of the exercise video and the simplicity ends here. Section 4 is mainly floor work. This is probably the most difficult and painful part. To give you an idea of the level of flexibility expected I will describe a couple of the harder, although fairly typical, moves. One of the dancers lies on the floor with his knees bent and his arms stretched out to the sides, he thens rolls his knees to the right until they touch the floor. He turns his head to the left and slightly lifts his rights hand; he then moves his left leg up, straightens it and grips it in his waiting right hand. Eeeek! Barely ten minutes in and I already felt inadequate. Still, I thought optimistically, it's bound to change.

By the time the video had moves on to my next example, my heart was well and truly in my boots. This time the dancer lies on her back with her legs raise at a right angle to her body; she then her hands on her inner thighs and, using then to help, moves her legs out sideways, toes pointing towards the ever nearing floor, until she has lowered them into the splits! Quite frankly I would be grateful to be able to raise my legs so easily in the first place let alone do that. Even in my dancing days I would have found that tough, so to give it to beginners is beyond my comprehension

You may well by now have come to the same conclusion that I had: this vhs is not for everyone, despite the claim on the packaging. And by this stage it was also apparent that there was another fundamental flaw: the music is so loud and intrusive that it is frequently hard to hear Martin's soft voice. This presents obvious difficulties. How do you know if you're doing the right thing if you can't hear the commentary? For experienced dancers this would not pose too much of a problem but for mere mortals such as you and I ... well, I'd certainly have liked to have caught what he said without having to rewind constantly, as I'm sure you would too. The though of being stuck on the floor, not knowing what comes next, missing the commentary and having to find the remote control while you have a leg near you ear, does not fill me with pleasure.

That said, when the commentary is audible it proves to be invaluable. Informing the humble beginner how to move from one position to another safely and also warning of the dangers of various moves. The main message during the central section seems to be: don't push it. Doing Section 2: Abdominals and Leg Darts, which involves a lot of crunching; Sections 6, 7 and are all Floor Barre (which means performed on the floor for support) and aim to strengthen abs, buttocks and thighs while generally helping posture all contain sporadic warnings but the last of the Floor Barre's has ot be the most hazardous: it is basically a reverse crunch, ie laying on your stomach you lift your legs and head and neck forming a curve.
Ouch Factor: 5

From the black Floor Barre with a single spotlight we move back to the blue set and more specific leg work. The plies begin as basic steps and increase into combinations; Tendu and Degage are both forms of leg lifts and my interest perked up here for a bit again. We're back on the dancing. They are all pretty easy and you can feel your muscles working as you go. It is easy to see how frequent repitions couold build substantial strength and muscles should you so desire. For me, I'll stick to doing these in moderation. Then we move on to the dance moves that require a bit more balance. Passe is lifting toes to knees, Front Attitudes and Grand Battement are basically variations on the high kick and all of these are designed to increase develop the thighs and increase your sense of balance, although even the dancers wobbled a bit through this, which was encouraging. The Arabesque raise, leg lifts behind, were much tougher than they looked. The jumps that followed, I have to disagree with. If you dance this in your living room then it is un liked that you have a sprung floor and hopping up and down on a normal one won't do your knees any good.
Ouch Factor: 3 1/2

Finally, nearly 55 minutes into the video, we arrive at Section 17: Reverence, in other words, the cool down. Don't be tempted to skp it just because it looks easier, the cool down helps consolidate everything you have done and lets your body return to normal. This was the other part I really enjoyed, for not only was it easier, it was more dance-y. The stretches shown in this section can also be widely transferred to other forms of exercise and easily built into your everyday life, if you want to of course.
Ouch Factor: 1

The second part of the video takes the form of 5 minute profiles of each of the dancers. Beginning with what is perhaps the most inspiriational story, that of Deanna McBrearty, a young dancer from Pennsylvania who was diagnosed with Scoliosis when she was 13 and told that she would never be a dancer. We follow her through her day as a member of the NYCB and she talks about her life in the profession she never thought she's make. How's that for an advert for Ballet. Next we are introduced to Albert Evans of Georgia. One of the principles with the company we are shown his typical day which seems to involve dancing and more dancing, oh and a little painting. Prima Ballerina Helene Alexopoulpos is next for the documentary treatment and we see what life is like for a mother and a dancer. Finally we have Edwaard Liang, born in Taiwan. His weight training and love of food is featured. One myth this does dispell is that dancers don't eat. The all eat ... lots! The last five minutes of the vhs are taken up with 'Dance and the City'; a montage of clips aout the ways in which dance fits into and is part of New York life.

Don't be put off by the fact this video is listed under a 'Dance' category, there's very little actual dance involved. However it is a strenuous exercise video and one that I would never recommend for a beginner. Don't be put off by the name of New York City Ballet, these moves may well be based on ballet, but in practice there is very little resemblance to the dance I was expecting. At £11.99 pm vhs it's not cheap and I'm not sure I'd buy it again though it's definately not a complete waste of time, there are certain buts I will pull out of this and use again and I think that's the way to get the most out of this, pick and choose what you can do, build up as much as you can or want to, but don't bogged down in the thought that you have to work through methodically and perfect each move before you do the next. You could be there for decades, but as they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating and in the past two months of doing certain exercises taken from this video I've lost an inch from my waist. It may not be what I was expecting, it may not be easy but, inspite of it's flaws, I have to admit it works.

Prices: Amazon.co.uk VHS £11.99
DVD £18.99
Book £13.59
 

...less