Island Girl: Dance Fitness Workout for Beginners: Tahitian Cardio

The breakdown of this DVD is as follows:

3:00 2 Intros

24:00 Warm Up, workout

3:00 routine (puts all the steps together)

6:00 cool down (ami's)

there is no bonus workout.

about me: when i took hula lessons in 2nd grade, we learned tahitian.

Kili combines traditional tahitian moves with athletic moves. the first reviewer, PeakFitness, outlined the tahitian moves pretty well. the athletic moves that Kili uses include lunges, squats, hops.

if you really elongate and stretch the moves, you will get a very good workout. i wouldn't call it intense, just nice and smooth. i found that i could do tahitian and hula better than belly dancing! the routine flows together and is well-designed.

Kili's form is excellent and diliberate. a first-timer might have difficulty since she doesn't always cue ahead, but the moves are easy enough, and she does several repetitions so that you will get it.

the music reminds me of Gilad's "island drums" and is pleasant to work out to.

This is Tahitian style, so the focus is on hip movements, although there are some arm movements added for style. In this workout, Kili and 2 background exercisers start out by demonstrating a Tahitian style routine. During the workout, you do drills of the various moves from the routine, so you learn how to do big hip circles, figure 8's with the hips, hip bumps side to side, etc. She also teaches you the Tahitian name for each move, like the 'ami - so eventually she just says "Do the 'ami" and you know what to do. By the end, you have learned each of the moves from the routine, and Kili cues you through the routine to end the workout.

This has a beautiful outdoor setting. I really enjoyed this workout. Fun and different.