Yoga Booty Ballet Live: Latin Flavor

The workout starts out with a lotus flower mudra and intention setting, before moving into an active warmup with moving stretches, some twists, and brief ab work. The cardio comes next. I always enjoy the YBB Live cardio work, and this routine is no exception - there are samba steps, cha-cha rhythems, shimmying, stomp-turns, a few kicking moves, and lots of using the hips. There's really no authentic Latin dance here, but the imitation is fun and uninhibited.

After cardio, we go down to the mat for some ballet floor barre work. We do a few crunches, criss-crossing of the legs, lowering and moving the legs while keeping our back pressed in, and then flip over for some frogs. All in all, I enjoy this section, but the exercises switch frequently and the whole thing is a little scattered, so it's hard to work up any real intensity. We close the practice by going back to the lotus flower mudra and repeating an intention.

I always enjoy the YBB Lives, and this workout is no exception. I wish the toning part of the workout was more intense, but overall this workout leaves me feeling loose, revived, and in a good mood.

Workout time: 40:30

Set: Swerve studio, hardwood floors, everyone in colorful clothes, a few with a Latin theme.

Cast: All shapes, sizes, colors, one guy (the ever present Randy), as well as Heather and Jody

Music: Ravi's version of Latin music, with Ravi on drums.

Warm-up: Begins with breathing and intention setting as they all do. Includes: Rolling "booty", spider walk, twists, leg stretches done in a bouncing fashion, short ab work, bettle squats, lunge stretching done in a bouncing fashion,

*I am not a big fan of bouncing in stretches, so this isn't my favorite warm-up.

cardio includes: Samba, cross-over with a cha cha rhythm, Merengue, a step they call "Ms. ChiChi", stomp turn, shimmy forward, step kicks, slither, sweep front kick, prance kick (they call it Mr. Eddie), fan kick, pas de bourree, then with a turn, something they call "PePe" (which is similiar to the move they call "Zig Zag" in Bollywood) and hip circles.

They do not teach the pas de bourree that well, so it can be pretty frustrating. They normally teach things so well (sometimes overteach things), so I was surprised. I had to have someone on the board teach me how to do it. It is a good portion of the last part of the workout, so you really need to be able to do it.

This one is really fun! I anticipate liking it a lot if I can just get the pas de bourree down! There is lots of fun variety, so you won't get bored. It goes by really quickly for me and I look forward to doing it!

Ending section: They call this Ballet Floor Barre. There is "booty", leg, and ab work.