Moving to Mozart with Ann Smith

Ann Smith's innovative exercise system has won her thousands of fans through sold-out classes, lectures, and bestselling videos. Based on the stretches dancers use to stay limber and set to beautiful music, her exercises are safe and effective for all ages. Here she combines stretching routines set to Mozart masterworks with demonstrations and information about how to exercise according to your personal movement style.

Moving to Mozart? As fitness concepts go, it certainly sounds more appealing than, say, "Moshing to Metallica," and instructor Ann Smith's program succeeds admirably on its own terms. Herself a former dancer, Smith touts the physical health (including flexibility, range of motion, and breathing techniques) and long lives of dancers, and the two approximately 30-minute routines seen here draw liberally on dance moves such as plies, turns, and arm movements. Part 1, entitled "Relaxation, Alignment, Breathing, Flexibility," focuses on sitting and standing exercises, including various bends and side and forward stretches, while Part 2, "Better Stretching, Strengthening, Proportioning, Body Style" is a bit more dynamic.

In neither case will Moving to Mozart supply the kind of hard-core, sweaty aerobic workout that many users look for in an exercise video. On the contrary, what you'll find is very much in tune, so to speak, with the timeless Mozart sonatas, arias, and concerti that accompany the routines--i.e., gentle, graceful movements designed for those who are out of shape, recovering from injuries or illness, or merely in the mood for something different. Smith's demonstrations and explanations of every series should prove more than adequate for anyone using this delightful program for the first time. --Sam Graham