Rating: Summary: If You're A Dancer--It's Worth It Review: A friend of mine gave me this video because everywhere I went, I was dancing, with or without music. When I started teaching Funk aerobics, I needed new moves and pulled out this video to try it out. I have to admit, I found myself liking it, but if it weren't for the wonderful invention of the rewind button, I would probably be lost on the video. The camera angles are terrible and it is extremely fast paced. Darrin isn't the most engaging talker in the world either. However, when you get the hang of the moves (after rewinding and rewinding and rewinding some more), it's pretty fun to just break it out. If you love to dance and want something to just do, it's worth getting, but be ready for some tedious rewinding in order to learn the moves.
Rating: Summary: It was ok. Review: When I watched this video, I tried to follow along with the dance moves but he goes too fast. Some of the dance moves he doen't even explain!! He expects you to do it all at once without stoping. It is very confusing. I don't reccomend this movie.
Rating: Summary: Too fast paced for a beginner Review: I was disappointed that many times the camera angle would shift and not show Darrin's feet. I found this to be very distracting when I'm trying hard to watch his every move and then all of a sudden I don't see how his feet are moving anymore! One of the moves being shown showed him spinning around one time a full circle, but no emphasis was given to show the correct way to spin so that your feet end up in the correct position at the end of the spin. I wouldn't recommend this for a beginner.
Rating: Summary: Not So Bad Review: This video is not so bad.The only problem is that you have to rewind it alot till you have the dance movrd memorized.I would recommand this video or DVD to dancers who have some experience. In my opinion,the vidoe of DVD should be a little slower with the choregraphy and have longer minutes and more dance moves.
Rating: Summary: AWESOME VIDEO Review: This video is great! I got it for my 15th birthday and at my party me and my friends all learned the dance moves! It really wows people when you can dance like the celebrities! It starts with a warm up, and there are 5 routines he teaches you that are in order of difficulty rate. He even shows you a new routine that he created to demondstrate the "pop and lock" technique. I definately recommend this!!!
Rating: Summary: Great dance, superb teacher, lame production work. Review: I have very few complaints about this video. Overall it's excellent. What complaints I do have are almost all production issues; they didn't take enough advantage of the DVD format, and the camerawork is weak. The interview is interesting if you're planning to try to get professional gigs as a dancer or choreographer. I would have preferred if they'd fixed the DVD where I could avoid it. The seminar highlights are lame--too fast and too promotional to be of any pedagogical value. Darrin Henson has that intangible quality of movement that separates gifted artists from merely technically proficient dancers. As a result, he's a LOT better than his backing dancers, and they end up being kind of distracting. Especially since the dancers always stand in the same positions relative to Darrin, so we end up seeing the same cheerleader-ish girl up close through the whole video and rarely seeing any of the other 7 dancers. It would have been nice if they'd mixed it up a bit. The film work on this video is flashy, but doesn't really add anything to the pedagogy. There are a number of times where the camera focuses on the same upper body movement during subsequent cycles and never lets you see Darrin's legs. It seemed careless. Again, I would have preferred Darrin alone and more camera angles. You never see any of the movements from behind or the side except when the dancers themselves turn. All that said, the choreography is terrific and Darrin's teaching style is polished and professional. It's basically a master class for a really terrific price. If you're a moderately experienced dancer, you'll easily be able to fill in the gaps where the camera angles fail. The first three routines focus mostly on upper body work with relatively simple footwork. The steps are easy to do but very hard to do fast or with anything resembling proper style. If you're not at all familiar with poppin' and lockin' you should practice isolation independently before starting--this does not cover beginning technique. There are some fancy steps in the last couple of routines--still simple for anyone with a jazz background but to do them with polish and panache will take lots of practice. Kudos to Darrin overall though; I'm waiting for the sequel.
Rating: Summary: Very Disappointing! Review: I received the video yesterday and I am very unhappy with it. Where do I begin? Okay, the only place I've seen this video advertised is on Nickelodeon, which, for anyone who doesn't know is a kids station. It is marketted in such a way that one would think you wouldn't already have to know how to dance to get started with this video. It says easy, slow and step by step. I did not find it to be true. The video is loaded with junk that has nothing to do with the dance steps, it is mostly clips of music videos, a biography on Darrin (who cares!) and other people blabbing, unnecessary, long, drawn out, boring, seems like they do it just to waste time. Rip off! Then you get to the dance moves. It is NOT slow enough for a beginner! It moves very fast and I found it very hard to follow. I bought this video for two 11 year olds, and while their not ready to give up, we all were under the impression that we would be able to follow some simple steps to get the idea, it just isn't so. If your thinking about buying this video for a child, you might want to reconsider!
Rating: Summary: NOT AS GOOD AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE Review: Well, no doubt about it that Darrin has the right moves and the ability to teach and dance like no other. He is an outstanding dancer and teacher. Nice insight on how some of the videos are shown and danced. However this instructional dance video is not what i thought. Althought he teaches at "half time speed", the way the video is laid out, the viewer must constantly rewind and rewind. I have viewed many other dancing videos for hip/hop. I have seen videos that actualy go in slow motion, ect. I am going to stick to watching music and break dance videos. This video has the hype of "hip hop", however all I seem to see is a lot of talk, and dancing that looks ok... at the speed of light. I love the pop/lock section at the end, but that alas is short and short. I have a hunch that he will release many more video's. I would not reccomend the buying of this video. I might buy other future video's that actually are subject oriented; that shows "hip hop", breaking, locking, ect. I think the outline and presentation of this video is poor. I would rather go and rent it, download it or whatevers. Last words, too short, too fast, too little of techniques. He needs to slow down the rythm, and relax. But nice back ground dancers. Too much talking, needs more dancing!!!!!
Rating: Summary: Great Dancing, But My Rewind Button Fell Off Review: i must say i love choreography. since the Spice Girls, i've been trying to learn dance moves from the TV and memorizing them. so far, im doing an ok job, until i realized some of the moves i did was sloppy. so i decided get help from the professional. so i bought the DVD, and he's just like my Colorguard instructor, teaches too fast and makes no sense. i mean, yea, if he went slower, i wouldnt have spent so much time getting it to the right moment on the DVD player. too much rewinding, and it's only 55 minutes. what about some more artists?
Rating: Summary: really good, but lots of rewinding Review: This is a really good video and I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to keep trying until they get it. I have been dancing for eight years and this tape taught me a lot. I had never had this kind of dance before. I only had like 3 complaints. One thing is the camera angle. Sometimes it only shows from the waist up but generally when he repeats it you can catch the feet so it's not that bad. The second thing is that he only shows a section 2 or 3 times and then moves on which means you have to rewind it a lot. The third thing which really messed me up was that I got through a lot of it before I found out that you have to reverse everything he does. If you can put up with these things, it is an awesome video and I would really recommend it.
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