Fun & Funky Freestyle Dancing; Jazz Dance Level 1--Beginning

Instructress Christy Lane hosts both of these tapes designed to get couch potatoes off their duffs and on to the dance floor. Fun & Funky Freestyle Dancing is the more polished of the two presentations. Divided into segments for kids, teens, and adults, the video begins with basic rhythm moves, adds a few turns and flourishes, and then advances to a variety of combinations. The key here is that everything moves: head, shoulders, hips, feet, Adam's apple--you name it, it boogies. The kids segment is especially impressive, with the tykes strutting their stuff like miniature Michael Jackson's. The teens segment builds on the same principles of the kids', only with more complicated moves, and the adults section, led by Lane, is as sophisticated as the teens', but a tad less wild. Jazz Dance Level 1--Beginning is the first title in a four-tape series devoted to teaching jazz dance. After a brief introduction in which Lane explains the basic principles, she demonstrates a variety of body positions, steps, kicks, turns, leaps and jumps, and combinations, which draw heavily on classical ballet moves, but have been "jazzed" up into the "Vegas Walk," the "L.A. Walk," or the "Jazz Square." Both titles are recommended, the first especially so. (Available from: Let's Do It Productions, P.O. Box 5483, Spokane, WA 99205.)