Great Moves Funky Blend

This is another fun Michelle LeMay floor aerobics funk workout showcasing her lively, trendy choreography and perky personality. It’s about 45 minutes long with the warm-up and cooldown just slower exerpts or modifications of the main routine with a little bit of stretching thrown in. As with most funk workouts, this one presents a breakdown of the steps in half-time alternated with tempo executions building the entire routine by adding steps and then repeating the entire combination from the beginning. Of course, the slowing down brings the overall intensity way down to an advanced beginner level. The choreography is mid-intermediate complexity by funk standards and is lots of fun with the exception of a silly section towards the end which incorporates various stylized geometric arm movements; these further diminish the cardio intensity of the workout. Perhaps the arm movements are the latest thing in "street dance." Michelle occasionally counts the beats in either Spanish or Japanese (I understand the hip-hop dance style is very big in Japan). Throughout the entire tape, Michelle is energetic and encouraging. Some might find her personality a bit too vivacious but I find her love of dance and movement, which I share, to be infectious. I previewed the tape once before trying it and expected a longer learning curve than I actually experienced thanks to her good cueing and clear instruction. The music is a standard funk style, fitting but unmemorable. Michelle leads two other pleasant, young, female dancers who have a low key style. The set is a bit contrived: it looks like they tried to create a "garage sale" atmosphere by putting things like tires and a basketball hoop and other junk inside a plain dance studio. It’s a little goofy looking. Despite this tape’s drawbacks, there is something about Michelle’s unaffected warmth and inspired choreographic talent that makes her funk workouts upbeat and way hip. I don’t like this tape as well as "Funky Bizness" or "Jamaica Me Sweat" but I’d still give a solid B+.