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Darrin's Dance Grooves

Darrin's Dance Grooves

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $17.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not so easy!
Review: I bought this video for my 10 year old daughter who really likes N*SYNC. She was a little disappointed that Darrin only shows you how to do the "chorus" part of routines. I knew from the reviews that Darrin would be performing this facing you but didn't realize how difficult it would be to try imitate him when he's moving one way and you're suppose to be moving the other way! I think it would have been better if Darrin had been facing the camera but had his dance team doing the steps with their backs to the camera so you could follow them. And yes, you can pause and rewind the video but how do you try to dance with a remote in your hand? It's a lot harder than you think. Those who have taken dance lessons, and are used to doing the opposie of their teacher, probably won't have a problem. But not so easy for beginners or their Mom's! ;-)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Want Talent? then Get this DVD!
Review: Ok, now i know that most people have said this DVD may be a little hard. Well, it's not! I have alread been in 3 and next week will make 4 talent shows at my school. It took me 2-3 weeks to get BYE,BYE,BYE down to were i can do it on demand...i personaly think it's one of the simplest on the DVD! It's simple! anyone can do it! And it's the "EXACT!" same moves that you see on there video's and concerts! Just get this DVD so you can be another kick A** dancer like me!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nothing that I expected
Review: A friend and I got Darrin's in extreme anticipation.
Not only is Darrin sexist (he believes that women are unable to do "normal" pushups) but everything about this video is unsatisfying.
The warm up was counted too slowly and the begining of the video consisted of stars claiming "Darrin is the best", complete with his life history.
You don't see the dancers feet, therefore you are left to guess what to do. He gives you the first move of a sequence, then goes through the sequence without breaking it up first. He doesnt even tell you how fast you will do it in the "real thing"
Since Darrin is facing you, it is extremely confusing from your rights and your lefts.
However, the moves are fun and simple, but it would help a lot if they were broken down first.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WAIT... DON'T BUY IT
Review: I only feel it fair to warn you that you're paying for a movie that will teach you 4 dances... which are alright dances, but incredibly hard to learn.

Just my opinion.
Later.

~me

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: a Dance Dud.
Review: Darrin's Dance Grooves is pretty darn bad. Offensive, even.

There is very little dance instruction. Most of the DVD is taken up with what amounts to infomercial material. Britney loves Darrin, N'Snyc loves Darrin, etc.

The actual workout includes a warm up, followed by a break down of small portions of four MTV video dance routines. The warm up is horrible. Darrin doesn't count on the eight. Unwatchable, or at least - unlistenable. You have to hope they dubbed the music in afterwards, otherwise, Darrin doesn't have much of an ear.

The "dance instruction" consists of running through the routine twice - with Darrin counting left when he's showing right (i.e., not allowing for the mirror image), and not giving much in the way of description other than "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, ok, we're moving on". The camera work frequently fails to show the movement. He then jumps to the actual video, with his class spliced in. Then he informs the viewer that if we wish to perfect our groove thing, we can always rewind. The routines include turns and floor moves, i.e., fairly complex movements that aren't broken down.

It concerns me that this DVD is being marketed to a pre-teen and teen audience that could be permenantly convinced they "can't dance" because they've been victimized by Darrin's non-existent cueing and teaching syle.

If you're looking to learn beginner jazz/funk/hip hop I would suggest Madonna Grimes, Culture Shock Hip Hop, Hip Hop Body Shop, Calvin Wiley, even the MTV Grind tapes over this. They all have their problems, but they're light years ahead of Darrin Grove. He's got zero "street cred" with me.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Be careful!
Review: Unless you have a DVD player with the 'A/B repeate' feature and slow motion/frame-by-frame playback capabilities, I wouldn't even consider this video. But even if you have such equipment, I think I would still give this video a pass. I have a DVD player with the capabilities I just mentioned but even with that, the video is still frustrating and difficult to learn from, for reasons I am about to go into. I gave the video 2 stars, but it should really be 1 and a half.
The worst complaint I have about this video is the shoddy camera work. They tried to give it a flashy, 'MTV'-style presentation, but it really doesn't work here. Darrin could be showing you a move that requires you to do something with your feet, but the camera is pointed at his upper body and you can't even see his feet!!! I mean, how do they expect you to learn this way? Sometimes when the camera isn't where it is supposed to be, you can sometimes see what the background dancer's feet are doing, which is even worse because they're not always doing the same thing as Darrin!!! To its credit, Darrin will usually go over the moves more than once and the spots that had ... camera angles are usually fixed the second time around, but on the second go-around, there are all new...camera angles. This means that you are constantly going back and forth, because neither time does the camera stay steady enough so that you can watch it all the way through.
Second complaint is what so many others have mentioned - since Darrin is facing you, you have to do the exact opposite of whatever he does. I originally didn't think this would be a big deal when reading the negative comments, but it really is confusing and un-nerving. A much better approach would have been to implement multiple camera angles, so you could watch from whatever angle you needed to.
Third complaint - when Darrin is showing you the moves, he does it slower than what you normally would do it in real time. At the end, he shows you how to do the dance moves to the actual speed of the music. Only problem with that is that instead of keeping the camera focused the whole time on Darrin and his background dancers, the camera cuts between Darrin and his dancers, to the artists of the music (Britney, N'Stink, etc), to both Darrin and the artists split screen (with one on top and one on bottom). Besides this being confusing as heck, sometimes when the camera cuts in on the artists, they're not even doing the dance moves in question, so you completely miss parts of it!!!
Fourth complaint - the only thing this video shows you is how to dance to the chorus of certain songs (Bye Bye Bye, Crazy, Digital Getdown, etc). So, if you're looking for some basic dance steps, this is definitely not for you.
Overall, the whole presentation of this dance video is sloppy and unacceptable and should be avoided. I must point out that it IS possible to learn what this video has to teach, but it's not fun!! My advice to anyone who is considering making an instructional dance video is to KEEP THE DAMN CAMERA STILL!!!
The only thing I have to compare this to on DVD is Hip Hop Shop, which much better than this, but also suffers from some of the same problems (mainly the wandering camera) as this one does.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Zooger10000
Review: Nice Try.But no go.If your a advanced hip hop dancer this tape will be 7th heaven,if your not well,DO NOT BUY THIS TAPE!!...
Darren is facing TORWARD you the entire time!!He goes too quick
too fast.So take my advice:Don't waste your money!!!..

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best ever
Review: I loved it it helps u learn real well and the darrin is right!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It's not bad--not great
Review: I have danced for a few years. I can tell that this was made for the average person, not a dancer who wants to excel in dance. There is no technique. It's like, "learn this and look like you know what you're doing." Darrin's the teacher nobody likes. He's doing his best to teach you. He's nice and all, he just doesn't teach well enough. I was also disappointed to find out that you just learn the chorus part of the dance. I thought it was the whole dance.
On the plus side, it's fun and challenging. I would really recommend getting a bunch of friends together and have a dance party. Hey, make a video of the choreography, send it into TRL on MTV, and get on TV. Isn't that worth it?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Maybe I shoulda ordered Fatima's tape!
Review: I have several dancercise tapes and I Love 'em all! Can't say the same about "Darrin's Dance Grooves". Unless you're some kinda seasoned dancer, BE WARNED! I was looking for something fun and healthy. This was just plain frustrating! Darrin should have used more time breaking down the "dance grooves" and less time hyping himself.
Next time, I'll pay better attention to the other customer reviews before purchasing a product!
Before I go, I'd like to recommend Jody Watley's "Dance to Fitness" and MTV's The Grind Workout: Hip Hop Aerobics! :)


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