Bella Dancerella Home Ballet Studio with DVD
by Spin Master
(Click here)
Product Summary
Manufacturer: Spin MasterToys and Games Reviews of Bella Dancerella Home Ballet Studio with DVD
Customer Review: Biggest Scam of 2004
Summary: 3 Stars
Do you ever see attrociously wealthy people with absolutely no taste or class and wonder how they got rich? They come up with an idea like this.
This set should be about half the price it is, and it would still be making everyone involved rich at that price.
The children and teenaged instructor (complete with awkward braces and a "leotard" right out of a 70s latin children's show) all wear permanent, pained and forced "smiles" that look more like grimmaces of pain throughout the video, nodding their heads enthusiastically. "Barney Kids" look more convincing in their forced good cheer. I imagine the kids received a one time, small payment for their efforts in this video, and the promise that it would be their foot in the door for future acting and dancing roles on their rise to fame and fortune. I can just imagine the "instructor" showing the Bella Dancerella DVD as part of her portfolio in several years as she tries to "break through".
Be warned, the *music* is among the worst children's Ear-Worms I've heard recently. It is some acid-house beat/rave euro-club remix pseudo-style, complete with a voice-box reverb over the girl's singing, and endlessly electronically repetitive. There are breaks from this torture for unintelligble dialog, mostly between the instructor and a puppet monkey or two giant dancing stuffed teddy bears dressed as German children.
The kit itself consists of a pair of *flimsy* fake ballerina slippers, a balance bar that is basically purple and pink snap-together PVC pipe, and a vinyl "dance mat" about 2 feet across and 7 feet long that has ballet "steps" laid out on it, plus the 30 minute long DVD of ultimate parental torture (which has the look and production feel of a 30 minute Mentos commercial).
If it had included a TuTu as well, or a coupon for a TuTu (with size considerations, I suppose it wouldn't be practical to include this), it would have been a decent value. But the Tutu is extra.
The packaging is snazzy and has high production value. It is the contents that don't live up to parental expectations.
As the young reviewer above pointed out, (and this thought had already crossed my mind), what your kid learns here is pretty minimal and likely to be useless in a formal ballerina studio. They teach 7 basic moves, repeated twice, for "14" total steps. There are some things implied, like the importance of form in straight arms and legs (something which a kid is unlikely to pick up, so this isn't a baby-sitter; you should be there encouraging your kid and offering advice, and, of course, suffering with the knowledge that you PAID for this torture). This is really geared toward the 3-7 year old range, depending on how sophisticated your daughter is. If a kid can realize, "The video made me stupid and what I learned was useless when I went to real lessons", that pretty much says it all about the age-range this thing is appropriate for. If your kid is catching on about Santa and the Easter Bunny, she is too old for this.
In all fairness, my daughter loves it. It was, to my dismay, the LAST thing she wanted to see last night before bed and the FIRST thing she wanted to see this morning when she woke. That will probably continue for a few days at least. They also cover all the bases in "teaching proper moral and athletic character".
"Practice, practice, practice every day", and...
"It doesn't matter how good you are, as long as you keep trying," and...
all the other important basics. Do your warm up stretches, eat your fruits and vegetables... don't sell your kid's soul to the producer of a cheap instructional dancing video in your desperate attempts to seek fame and wealth through your child's questionable talents...
(Ok... so the LAST one isn't REALLY mentioned... it is only implied)...
It is durable, simply because there isn't anything TO it. A mat, a DVD or VHS tape, a balance bar and some slippers. It might be MORE fun for the kids, but I rated it lower because it is so NOT fun for the grown-ups. I'm giving it a generous rating on educational value, simply because they do cover all their bases. If you are talking educational value *simply* as a ballerina dancing instructional video, the rating would be lower.
Remember in the old Loony Toon cartoons, when Bugs or Porky would do something stupid, and their head would turn into a Donkey or a Sucker for a second? That is how I felt buying this, and also when my daughter opened it and I saw what was in it, and the first time I heard it playing, and every time she has watched it since. Maybe I just resent that *I* didn't come up with this perfectly legal and legitimate way to extort money from parents.
But again, my 3 year old loves it. I'd buy it again, simply for that reason.
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