I’m noticing that her cues don’t match what she’s doing. She calls for a “hop” “over a puddle” when she means leap. [hop: go up in the air from one foot and land on same foot. leap: go up in the air from one foot and land on other foot] So unless she expects us to be Olympic hoppers…no she’s doing a leap but calling it a hop. Oh Tracy it’s a good thing I loved your Mat Workout so much. I won’t file divorce papers yet.

Then poor Tracy calls for a hop again for a bouncy step when we’re not even air borne. She says the left foot will lead and after saying that, the right foot initiates the next step. Errrrr.

I’m wondering if she knows better or dumbed it down? I suspect that she doesn’t know the difference. I’ve seen many dance teachers who are clueless until someone straightens them out.

Perhaps if you don’t have a formal dance background this would be easier. Not dissin’ on the non-trained dancers, just telling you like it is. For me, I’m frustrated as I have to give myself a lobotomy not to react to verbal cues that don’t mean what they should. Rewinding again.

Okay I’ve gone over it many times. The problem is that what is part of the choreography in the slow instructional mode almost disappears when she does it in the slightly up to tempo instructional mode which is FAST.

I’m curious. I stopped the DVD and jumped to the section where you actually do the first routine just to see what that will be like and how many times we’ll be doing it etc.

Uh-oh. Tracy’s hair is suddenly in a ponytail. She looks tough. There’s dramatic music. I suspect that if she has put her hair in a ponytail, this is going to kill.

I am right.

Skipping through the warm-up (which is similar to the Mat Workout’s warm-up but slightly longer AND WHOSE BRAIN WOULD IT HAVE CHALLENGED TO PUT IN CHAPTERS FOR THE WARMUP AND EACH DANCE SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO FAST FORWARD!!!!) I’m watching and see that this first dance routine I’ve been struggling to learn is going to be done roughly 10,000 times. Okay, a slight exaggeration. But not by much.

It is DEFINITELY HIGH HIGH impact for those wondering.