Diversity Dance Fitness Fusion DVD review – Dream Believe Achieve… in a better work out

A review for Diversity: Dance Fitness Fusion could not come at a more timely moment: Ashley Banjo is on TV for Got to Dance every week, and people are working off their Christmas pounds. Why not dream, believe and achieve your dream body with a street dance work out?

The concept of Dance Fitness Fusion is to take inspiration from street dance and fuse it with a workout in three different sections: Funky Fusion, Break Down and Fast and Slow. Wondered where Diversity was in Streetdance: Learn The Moves? Now you know.

It operates as a step by step routine DVD where you play through a section of choreography, with the option to rewind and mark over that section again before dancing along on screen. Each section even uses the clever subtlety of having the dancers dressed in one particular colour for each how-to or work out in case you get lost.

The Diversity boys have a way with words: a lack of description and context. If you watch this DVD with the approach someone that’s not a dancer it’s foreign confusing.  For example, a twist o flex and a neck o flex are taught as part of Funky Fusion, then casually referenced as ‘twist o’ and ‘neck o’ later on as though dance language or context is part of everyone’s vernacular.

The same goes for “get your groove on” and “get funky” – how do I groove? Define groove! If there’s any grooving going on it’s not here, just stiff bounces and awkward limb flailing.

How is Dance Fitness Fusion it for a workout?

The soundtrack Diversity uses is the same for the easy and hard variations of routines,  using Diversity style dubstep tracks. The speed of the songs is certainly good for the experienced dancer, but those doing the easy routines it’s just too hard. The speed also means any attention to hitting choreographical shapes is wasted.

Video: Diversity: Dance Fitness Fusion DVD trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8MJ5La4nY0

Technically, a LOT of moves Ashley and the guys demonstrate are rushed through, both technically incorrect or badly executed. When dancing anything full out, dancing them properly is where you get the work out, but you only dance as well as you’re taught. If I went to a Zumba class I’d want to dance Zumba; here it’s lazy street.

It shows that without their costumes and staging, Diversity don’t have a lot to offer in terms of skill, technicality or refinement. It might explain why it was titled Dance Fitness Fusion or Trading Standards might have had to investigate it for misleading people.

The best alternative to buying this DVD is to enrol at your nearest dance school and ask your teacher to do an extended cardiovascular workout, or if dance classes aren’t your thing play Just Dance 2 on sweat mode to work out.