Not for the uncoordinated
K. Griffin | 05/27/2005
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I bought this dvd with the expectation that the instructor would show me how to do each move. I am uncoordinated and prone to the two left feet deal, but if I'm shown how to do a move I'll usually get it on the second or third try. Vicky couldn't be bothered. She just shouted out the move expecting you to know what she was talking about and danced along her merry way. Half the time the video only showed the upper half of the torso so I had to search rewind every five seconds. I suggest this dvd only to those who have taken dance or have perfect muscle memory."
Good if you are interested in hip hop
Klyde | Yakima, WA USA | 08/30/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If you don't mind tons of marching in place and a lot of talking, you will like this because Victoria teaches some great moves. She does them fast, but you have a lot of time to catch up and practice while she's marching and chatting. The background dancers keep up pretty well and the camera stays mostly on the expert (Victoria)."
Not enough pure dance, but GREAT FUN & inspires you to MOVE
Lena, LMT | Nassau, NY | 07/21/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I tried her "Cardio Soul" which had a great amount of dance w/great breaking down of moves.
I also tried her "Cardio Dance Party" which was only some mambos, shasses? (fast 2 step), hip twist, v-step, running man? but not broken down or taught & a lot of step touches.
Even though I LOVE, LOVE Victoria Johnson's energy & her great ability to be in the moment & really inspire you to move, not because you have to to only lose weight, but because it's FUN, it makes you feel good, you can be silly & not so serious doing it. If most of the workout or dance teachers on dvds learned from her, I think they'd all have their sales go up dramatically and more people would look foreword to working out.
Victoria can be chatty, but she does it like a girlfriend and has great advice and ALWAYS knows it's important to keep you moving. Even when she breaks down moves, she does it so you are always moving, not just watching. She has a great personality, a huge amount of infectious energy, great fluidity, body awareness, love of dance & isn't into being perfect, so her workouts are more fun. Even if there is a mistake with the backup dancers, she laughs about it & let's the camera still roll. It makes you feel like you're really there & shows how important not worrying about perfection.
This is done on a large studio as well, the usual urban wannabe simple extra stage touches. The menu has 3-4 parts: warm-up, Part 1, 2, 3 & the last part has 5 min of arm weights w/ending in simple quick stretches.
IT has all women, one an older mother who has great energy which Victoria shows it's not age that slows you down. It is mostly grapevines, step-touches running man, etc. The warm-up even has vigorous aerobic class style knee lifts, etc. There is always a dancey way of doing all the moves and at the end there is a full short routine you learn with cross steps, turns, knee swivels. I think this dvd has the least amount of dance moves of all three.
This is for people with high beginner cardio ability as the moves aren't hard, but she & all the dancers do it with such great enthusiasm, you have to give it your all and she rarely lets you take breaks.
Knock off another star is you expected all pure dance moves.
You can see a sample of her style on youtube under "Victoria's body shoppe" "Cardio DAnce Training VBS Episode #5 Cardio" & here her ideas about training women on "Cardio Training To Burn Fat"
You can see her website at victoriajohnson"