DVD Review: Strictly Come Dancing: Dance School

Strictly Come Dancing: Dance School is a new instructional DVD.

The DVD begins with a stretching section, led by Katya. This is designed to loosen your muscles ready to dance.

Each dance is divided into two sections - Dance School and Dancefloor.

The Dance School section is the instruction part. Katya leads you through a few basics of salsa, Atrem introduces some cha cha and Aliona teaches the rumba. The instruction is clear, and at a pace that new dancers should find about right. Not so slow it's boring, not so fast that you cannot follow. Gradually, the steps are built up into a routine.

The Dancefloor section allows you to practice the full routine up to speed. This is much faster, and has little prompting, so it's worth practicing the Dance School sections to build up to this, especially if you are new to dancing.

What I liked about the DVD is that you don't need a partner to enjoy it. The dances are taught for the individual, so are perfect if you want to have a go at dancing at home and don't have a partner. In the rumba section, Aliona explains how you could dance with a partner if you wish.

I would recommend this DVD for the beginner. You do not require any dance experience to follow along. Dancers with some experience will probably only need to do the Dance School section through once or twice, but will enjoy the faster paced Dancefloor section. And any fans of Strictly Come Dancing will enjoy watching the pros do their stuff in their costumes in this section.

The DVD also has a fashion and make-up section as extras, although this is not intended to be instructional, just food for thought.

This DVD would make a good Christmas present for anyone inspired by Strictly, who wants to take their first steps into dance.

Still deciding? Watch the trailer...

Strictly Come Dancing: Dance School is available now (big thanks to the nice folks at DNA PR).