Bollywood Dance Workout

Instructor - Hemalayaa Behl

Type - Aerobic dance workout

Impact - Mixed, but mostly high

Choreography - Basic

Duration - 45 minutes

Equipment - Bare feet!

This is a bollywood dance inspired aerobic workout featuring the lovely Hemalayaa Behl. She is accompanied by two other exercisers. Their bodies are not ultra toned, but curvy and in shape. I like that they look like real people. The set is breathtaking, with lots of colorful scarves and Indian looking artwork.

As for the workout, you start with a warm up that includes bouncing around and moving your head from side to side. Hemalayaa instructs via voiceover the entire time. She previews each move then picks it up when you've mastered it. The workout moves fairly quickly from one move to the next, but since each move is well explained you don't get lost. There are many moves involving squatting, pulses, kicks, and just shimmying to the music. Most of the moves have a hip hop and bellydance flair to them.

Hemalayaa approaches the workout as a time to just have fun. She laughs a lot and reminds you that it is for enjoyment, not just exercise. She even has funny names for the exercises, like feed the chickens.

This DVD would be great for someone that is just starting out to exercise, but for anyone that is advanced beginner or above, I don't think this would be the one to go to. I am an self proclaimed intermediate exerciser, and this workout did not raise my heart rate very much. I may have burned 120 calories during the workout. The real meat of the workout was only about 20 minutes, not including the stretches, toning segment, dance demonstration, warm up, or cooldown.

PROS - lovely set, engaging instructor, nice moves and music

CONS - the actual workout portion wasn't long enough, so I didn't really break a sweat or burn enough calories. Also, you need strong knees for this DVD. Lots of pulsing and hopping about.

GRADE - A. It is a great workout, just not for my needs.