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| Ballet Class for Beginners | 
| Director: Lee Kraft
Actor: David Howard
Studio: Kultur Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.99
Buy New: $7.65
You Save: $7.34 (49%)
Buy New/Used from $7.55
Avg. Customer Rating:  (31 reviews)
Sales Rank: 7472
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 40 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: D1133D
ISBN: 0769711332
UPC: 032031113398
EAN: 9780769711331
ASIN: B0002HOD8G
Release Date: August 31, 2004
Theatrical Release Date: 1986
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Description
David Howard's Ballet Class for Beginners is an excellent learning and teaching tool especially designed by America's foremost ballet master to introduce the beginning dance student to the technique and vocabulary of classical ballet with the emphasis on posture, placement, and movement potential. Featuring Allison Potter with music by Whit Kellog.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 Is He Really Serious? April 17, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am an adult ballet student with about five years under my belt. I have heard and read much about the legendary David Howard and his ground-breaking technical ballet training. I ordered this DVD hoping to improve my understanding about fundamentals like posture and the impetus of movement, for which he is known. After watching this DVD, I can not believe that he even bothered to put this out. This is only the most basic of reviews of steps that anyone with a year of ballet training will already know. He spends less than a minute talking about posture and really doesn't say anything all that helpful. The only section where he gives any technical information at all is the plie section. The rest of the video is "this is a tendu", "this is a ronde de jambe". Honestly, what an embarrassment. To top it off, the student dancer doesn't even display good technique. She doesn't push her foot into the floor at all on tendus, and it looks like she's about to fall over when executing pirouettes (only singles). She's no better than a dancer you would find at any common ballet school (not necessarily a very good school, either). In my opinion, the only type of person that might get some value from this is a parent who has just started their child at a studio and wants to know what kinds of things the child will be doing, or perhaps an absolute beginner. I see that other commenters have seemed to get something from this, but for the life of me I don't know what. If this is all David Howard really has to offer dancers, he should just give it up now. Yes, this is for beginners, but this is the level where the critical building blocks of proper ballet technique are formed. He could have done way more with this. Incidentally, this DVD is only 40 minutes long. I guess I should be grateful that I didn't have to watch any more.
 beginner review March 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am a true beginner in need of very thorough instruction at a slower pace than this dvd provided. If you have no experience at all with ballet than this dvd may move too quickly and not provide enough detail of each exercise to follow along with the movements. It may be better suited for active beginner's who are already familiar with proper form. I agree with other comments about feeling frustrated when I had to rewind for every movement to do the other side of the body.
 Awkward to use while watching November 13, 2007
Because the exercises are not shown for both legs, I found the DVD too awkward to use. One has to stop the DVD, return to the beginning of the section and replay in order to exercise both legs. The sections are quite short, which makes the process really tedious. I wish I'd ordered something else.
 As promised November 6, 2007
product was on time, perfect condition, and reasonably priced. The material is a very good technical introduction to the basic building blocks of ballet.
Professional instructions and superb demonstration September 3, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This video is definitely not for absolute beginners. While the barre exercises are basic enough, the center work is introduced at a very quick pace, which could make it rather hard to follow for those who have not already learned the basic steps.
However, I think it is perfect for ballet students who have taken lessons for at least a few months and need additional training in between classes. As such, it is a great video. The girl who demonstrates in the video does the movements almost perfectly - and in a relaxed manner - definitely someone to emulate.
Although most of the steps are done for only one side, it is pretty easy to go back to do the other side using the remote control.
I really appreciates how David Howard explains all the details of the movements with clarity. He talks about how you should hold your body and move your heads, shoulders and arms while doing the different leg movements. He even talks about breathing and how the muscles should feel, and most importantly, what to pay attention to in order not to get injured, such as turning out from the upper leg instead of from the knees or feet. I find this type of instructions extremely useful, especially since not all teachers talk about this kind of thing.
I would recommend this video to any serious ballet students who want to have some extra practice of ballet techniques at home.
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