Sleek Technique - Ballet Body Box Set (3 Dvd's)

I am no ballerina, but I am a ballet barre enthusiast and love ballet inspired workouts.I workout every day 1 or 2h. Coming from MHB, Kari Anderson, Jennifer Galardi, Bernadette Giorgi, Burr Leonard and Ellen Barret's DVDs, it took me some time to get into Sleek. This is much more balletic than ballet toning / ballet inspired gym DVDs. True MHB did some balletic DVDs, but I didn't get to tune in with them. Instead, with Sleek Technique it took me a couple of weeks to tune in and love bloomed :)With these three DVDs, you sweat, elongate, develop deep muscle without getting bored, grow balance, grace, improve posture. Music is great and even if I am no fan of voice over, it makes sense that when the instructors perform certain series, they cannot have enough breathe to properly comment and guide. It's much cleaner and precise with voice over.I rotate my ballet toning DVDs during the week and practice on Sleek on Fri, Sat and Sunday. I still feel some of the other DVDs I practice are a useful complement to these three (e.g. MHB does an outstanding job on ballet body muscle toning and shaping, though the amount of reps is numbing. I practice w/ her for the results and thumbs up on her for that, though enjoy Sleek much better).After a few consistent months of practice, I still feel excited to hit these DVDs, as the more I get into the moves, the better I enjoy them!It is true that certain sections are fast and you may lose precision in the moves if you want to stick to the pace if you are not trained st certain moves, but I realized that with focus and practice my muscles and posture are really getting to understand the moves and catch up with the pace without compromising the alignment. It's a progressive improvement, so if you feel the same, just stick to your practice! It'll come! I'll keep on practicing to improve (especially the arabesques sequences on Bootcamp).Pro: instruction is clear, instructors are professional and so inspirational! Music is great, sequences also. These DVDs do deliver results and cuts while enjoying. From a non ballerina, but a rather a ballet-lover point of view, after some good practice, they do make you feel closer to ballet than you may imagine.Con: as other reviewers already mentioned, the DVDs are split into sections which cannot be played in sequence. It'd be nice to have the option to press on play for the entire workout. I'd also find it great if the DVDs had a music-only option to see if without instruction I am able to keep the pace. Last, warm up and cool down is the same in each DVD. I like both sections, though it'd be good to vary.I have to say that these cons are small details to me, as I do enjoy these workouts. They are different from what you may find on the market, there are enough ballet elements to make you feel you are dancing, yet they are accessible to non-ballet dancers.If I had a good connection I would love to stream or join Victoria's and Flik's live classes. Hope I will one day!Thanks Victoria and Flik to deliver results with such enjoyable workouts! My body and spirit are so greatful to both of you and it's a pleasure to give you 5 stars!

These workouts are absolutely amazing. I highly recommend them. The production quality is excellent and the design of the sequences is wonderful. Flik and Victoria, the creators of the technique and instructors on the DVDs, are professional dancers and it is clear just from looking at them that they know their stuff when it comes to getting into excellent physical shape. Not only that, but they really seem to understand what it takes to make not only a fantastic workout but a fun one to boot. I can't really say what it is, but these two ladies have a charm and appeal that comes across through the screen, making you want to work harder and do their workouts every day. What I love the most about these DVDs is that they truly use ballet-based sequences that are incredibly effective at sculpting a long, lean body while being very enjoyable to do. I really feel like I am gracefully dancing more than just plodding through a pseudo-ballet cardio routine in a tutu.The first DVD is 3 "bootcamp"-style workouts, each lasting approximately 20 minutes. I hesitate to use the term "bootcamp: because these fun and dance-like segments do not have much in common with the grueling and boring bootcamp workouts I have done in the past except for the fact that they get your heart rate up, make you sweat and get your muscles strengthening and stretching. The second DVD is all barre workouts and is equally as excellent. You don't sweat and work as hard in terms of cardio, but your strength and flexibility are definitely challenged. The third DVD is a series of 10 minute workouts for various problem areas (legs, abs, arms) and is also very effective and fun to do. I love the variety of exercises that these workouts offer and the fact that I can easily mix and match the three DVDs to keep my body guessing. Some have mentioned that the warm up and cool down are the same for all three DVDs and that they would have preferred each DVD to have its own. However, I actually find it helpful since it allowed me to quickly learn the sequences of exercises and stretches.The only problem I could see with these DVDs is that the workouts may be too difficult for someone just beginning to exercise or who is very overweight. In those cases I think that the Miranda Esmonde-White's Classical Stretch workouts (particularly Season 9 or 11) would be an excellent place to begin. I started out last year (in my attempt to lose my last 10 pounds of baby weight after my fourth child) with Classical Stretch/Essentrics and am happy to say that thanks to CS/Essentrics my transition to the Sleek workout was challenging but achievable. Had I started out with the Sleek workout, I might have felt a little too challenged. My only other complaint is that the lovely Flik and Victoria have not put out any other DVDs. They do offer live classes and streaming on their website (and I hope to definitely try those options in the near future), so I don't imagine that they will be producing any other DVDs unfortunately. I do thank them immensely though for for producing this stellar DVD collection. Please make another one so I can buy it straight away!