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61 of 61 found the following review helpful:
 Must buy for all Afro dancersSep 20, 2001
By Salsavideoreviews.org
This is a Master level workout of beginners to advanced Afro &
Afro-Caribbean steps. This is very similar to the way I was trained. I have been training in these dances for over 45 years as a performer & instructor.
The instructor has missed all the boring steps & has given you the most enjoyable movements. The instructor is one of the best at explaining this form of dancing I have seen. She is also one of the best dancers I have seen.
This is a must for all Afro, Conga, Guaguanco, Arara, Gaga, Bodu, Tajona, Yoruba dancers.
This will not be an easy video for most of you to follow but any of you who want to become Master level Salsa dancers should at least understand the beginners steps from the Afro dances. You can just use the first basic step Wyoma teaches you until you get the feeling for the other more advanced steps.
54 of 54 found the following review helpful:
inspiringNov 03, 2001
By Susan Hinojoza
"It's a full life."
This is an outstanding video. The teacher, Wyoma, has a warm and inspiring personality. The video starts with some connection exercises, designed to get your spirit into the dance forms and connecting with the elements and animals. Then, there is a warm up section with isolations which uses the movements from the connections section. What follows are instructions for five traditional dances from various Afric nations. What I liked most is how Wyoma explains what each movement means. This really gets you into the spirit of the dance. The video ends with an improvisational dance.All is accompanied by live drumming on Djembe, Conga and other instruments. Highly recommended.
47 of 47 found the following review helpful:
for a healthy spirit as well as a healthy bodyJul 02, 1999
This video is excellent for those who want to get in better shape, but hate the monotony of the average aerobics tape. If you love to dance--really set your body free, not concerning yourself with whether you're supposed to spin or dip--then this is for you. You'll be sweating after a half hour, but you'll be doing it with a smile on your face. There's plenty for beginners as well as more advanced steps. The rhythms are intoxicating and invigorating.
34 of 35 found the following review helpful:
 freestyle exercise and mental focus, then it gets hardAug 20, 2000
The thing I really liked about this video was the whole first segment, which is a workout in itself especially for beginners. In that segment, Wyoma encourages you to discover your body and make it into an art. By devoting your spirit to trying to emulate an elephant or different kinds of fire, you are willing to devote more time and energy to working out. There is a spiritual door you can pass through as well and this dance can help you find peace with yourself and your body and your ancestors and the outside world, too. Just when I thought it was all over, I realized that was just the beginning. The peace kind of dissipated in the *actual* dances. I'm not the most coordinated person out there, and I spent a lot of time tripping over my feet and cussing at the screen. With a lot more effort I might learn the steps and learn how to move my body in ways it's never moved before. And I would like to, but it will probably take a long time.
23 of 23 found the following review helpful:
 Spontaneous dance, great instruction, somewhat poor structureFeb 24, 2006
By Heather Kenyon-Haff
"VermontGal"
I will warn everyone that this is workout is not typical aerobic-style workouts, where there is a strict structure and pattern of dance. Wyoma imparts the spontaneity of African dance into the class, and while she guides you on the dances, she does not give you counts or very many transitions. Wyoma is a dancer, and is not approaching this from an aerobic exercise perspective. This workout is going to be different from your Crunch or Tae-Bo workouts.
If you flip out if you miss a transition step or if the instructor doesn't let you know a new move is coming up, this might not be for you. But if you like the feeling of not being told what to do, or how you *must* do it, this is great!
Another few criticsms: Wyoma (like Billy Blanks in Tae Bo) fails to realize that after the 25th time of watching the tape, what's appropriate chatter in a live class can be annoying and distracting. Also, some of the steps practiced during the instructional part never come into play during the African and African-Carribean dances later on. It's a bit unclear how the two fully go together in my mind.
And, like so many workouts, there's often a useless shot of a dancer's head and torso when I really need to see legs and feet.
Another, with the DVD menu: You have to figure out when the African dances start and the instructional sections end, rather than having a clear sections on the menu.
Despite these criticsms, the truth is, I'm getting a great and fun workout. I really love the encouragement to try out your own thing, and since you're doing that, you challenge your mind, creativity, and even spirit in a new way every time.
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