THE PROGRAM:

I'm not an aerobics kind of person. I do exercise, but I use an exercise bike. I throw on a DVD and pedal my way to the final credits four or five times a week.

So, I approached The Bollywood Dance Workout as an absolute beginner. To help me, I enlisted my friend, Joëlle Jones, an artist who I collaborated with on the graphic novel 12 Reasons Why I Love Her. She's more of a pilates person, and would classify herself as a beginner when it comes to aerobics, as well. The box for The Bollywood Dance Workout, however, indicates that it's for "ALL fitness and experience levels" (emphasis theirs, not mine), so we expected it would be something we could handle. We were curious about the style of the workout. Given that we like Bollywood musical numbers, exercising in a vein inspired by them sounded like fun, and so we decided to try it out.

The disc opens with a short video introduction by the instructor, fitness expert Hemalayaa. This plays separately from the main show. In it, Hemalayaa reinforces that the program is designed for all range of participants, be they seasoned aerobics aficionados or the potato that just stepped up off the couch. She also tells us that even though the Bollywood tradition is rooted in dance, no prior dance skill is required, either. Thus, I started the actual workout very confident. Little did I know I would end it slightly humbled.

The workout program is about fifty minutes long, and it is broken into seven separate segments that range in time from five to nine minutes. It begins naturally enough with "Warming," and goes through various stages, including an emphasis on leg movements, exercises low and on the ground, and a five minute "Playful Dance" near the end. The longest segment is the nine-minute cool down.

Hemalayaa wants to make the workout fun, and so she emphasizes that a lot. (Her instruction is done as a voiceover, not spoken on screen.) She reminds participants to be loose, smile, and tries to keep us having a good time. I liked that she wasn't so serious about everything because it made me feel better when I couldn't keep up. For most of the program, she works out with two other women, and they illustrate the steps together. The movements are choreographed to the steady rhythm of bhangra music, and the set and the outfits worn by the women are very colorful. Overall, it is really fun, but you will also be winded by the time the fifty minutes are up.

I have to admit, I'm a little surprised by what was expected of me as a beginner. I was already starting to feel a little tired by the end of the six-minute warm-up, and as we got deeper into the workout, I had a hard time when the pace would quicken during any given routine. I had the most trouble with the various footwork moves. There were some three-step exercises that tripped me up, and while I realize that a teacher can't really slow down the pace for a single student, I wouldn't have minded if somewhere there was an option to have some of the moves explained in greater detail. Joëlle did a bit better, but even she found it kind of tough to stick with. She had watched the DVD the night before, and I think that helped her follow what Hemalayaa was doing. You might want to try the same thing.

Naturally, as with any routine, it's going to get easier the more you do it. The DVD even includes an option for watching the workout with the music only and none of Hemalayaa's instruction, assuming you get confident enough to follow along without being told what to do. I suppose if I wanted, I could probably focus on specific sections on their own and get a better grip on what is expected of me. Joëlle is more interested in this kind of exercise than I am, so I asked her if it was something she would continue to do, and she said yes. A big factor is the music and the gimmick of borrowing its style from Bollywood. Hemalayaa designed the regimen to be a good time, and she definitely succeeded at that. I don't think the approach is likely to get old too fast.

Another factor is that it really is a good workout. We were starting to feel wiped out by the end of it, sure, but we definitely felt like we got our exercise in. The Bollywood Dance Workout is likely something you could do a few times a week and end up feeling good about yourself for it.

THE DVD

Video:
The picture quality is bright and colorful, and it's shown in a 16:9 widescreen format.

Sound:
A stereo mix with good levels so that you can hear all the instruction while still following the beat of the music. As I noted in the review, you can also choose a music-only audio option.

Extras:
The Bollywood Dance Workout has two extra dance sequences that you can tack on to the workout. These are largely free-play dances and don't have any extra instruction. I guess you can just follow along and mimic the moves.

There are four previews for other workout DVDs from the Acacia line of exercise DVDs.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
The Bollywood Dance Workout is a well-done exercise program using the style of Indian film musicals as its inspiration. This makes for a fun fifty-minute routine that is a little hard to do, but that will give you a good workout. The host is genial, and the presentation colorful. Recommended.

Jamie S. Rich is a novelist and comic book writer. He is best known for his collaborations with Joelle Jones, including the hardboiled crime comic book You Have Killed Me, the challenging romance 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, and the 2007 prose novel Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?, for which Jones did the cover. All three were published by Oni Press. His most recent projects include the futuristic romance A Boy and a Girl with Natalie Nourigat; Archer Coe and the Thousand Natural Shocks, a loopy crime tale drawn by Dan Christensen; and the horror miniseries Madame Frankenstein, a collaboration with Megan Levens. Follow Rich's blog at Confessions123.com.