[.ca] A Fantasy Garden Ballet Class (1992)

From Amazon.com:
Ballet instructor Rosemary Boross combines imagination and ballet in this innovative dance program for preschoolers. Boross and a class of preschoolers warm up, perform stretching and strengthening exercises, progress to center work, and end with révérence. Boross does not give specific instruction or attempt to include viewers in her class. She does associate many fundamental ballet steps like plié, tendu, and bourreé with garden flowers and animals by utilizing original compositions by Bruce Foster. While the video's cover art suggests animated segments, there is no animation in the presentation, just crayon drawings and studio dancing set to music with clever lyrics. Convincing young students dance with Boross throughout the video, then improvise with scarves in a brief creative-movement segment. The instruction is minimal in this 38-minute video, but young viewers will learn many ballet fundamentals by imitating Boross and may even remember some ballet terms thanks to the garden imagery. (Ages 3 to 5) --Tami Horiuchi

The Kids Love It!!!:
When we put this video in all 4 of my kids (5,4 and 3 year old twins)stopped what they were doing and began following along! They even clapped for themselves between songs and begged me to let them watch it all the way through to the end! That's proof enough if a good video for me!

disappointed:
I was very disappointed in this video. She teaches all the steps turned in and not turned out. Ballet is turning the feet out, Even a three year old can do it if taught. However, I thought the concept was great and the music very cute for the younger children.

Most excellent for a budding ballet dancer!:
The instruction? Excellent! Technique? Perfect level for a young child! To an experienced professional it may appear to be lacking, however it is important to remember what the audience is for this tape. It's fun and educational without being overwhelming... helping to prepare young children for formal dance lessons in the future years. As for the person who reviewed Ms. Boross' teaching to be "turned in," it makes me wonder what they were watching because it certainly was not this video. I'm glad I did not let the opinion of that particular view disuade my purchase. My children love the video, and to echo someone else, my daughters all want "Miss Rosemary" to teach them in real life!

Disappointing:
It is a bit disappointing. I am looking for a more technically oriented video. The exercise being done in the video is fun and interesting and my 2 year old like it a lot. However, the "models" are not quite up to standard. My daughter asked me "why don't they point their toes and jump properly?" Kids like to copy, a good model is very important.

Cheaply-Made, Poorly-Executed:
I was very disappointed in this DVD. Aside from being lit and directed poorly, there was little to no variation in the camera angles, the sound was mastered poorly, the teacher was nearly impossible to hear over the mildly-grating music, and the moves were not well-taught. The little routines were cute enough, but they weren't really something that could be followed and imitated easily. It just wasn't very engaging. My daughter really enjoyed Yoga Kids (by Gaiam/Living Arts), which I thought was a far better example of a well-made educational/exercise kids' video.