I have Gay Gasper's "The Next Step:
Intermediate/Advanced." I bought it at Blockbuster,
thinking, "What a steal! Only $9.99 for two
tapes!"
The tape is incredibly short (maybe 15
minutes of working out) w/ the remaining 10 minutes
devoted to warm-up and cool-down. Gay Gasper is an
incredibly good instructor -- refreshing arm movements
(finally! All the others seem to have abandoned that)
which work in conjunction with interesting lower body
movements. It definitely has a dancy flair. Some combos
include: turn step, diagonal across the step, straddle,
two knees back, [you're on the other side of the step
now], turn step again, diagonal across the step to get to
the other side, and then do this funky dance called
"party." (use a little imagination!). That's my
favorite sequence.
By no means would I rate this workout advanced. It's
much too short for that. I'd rate it along the beginner
continuum, simply because your heart rate doesn't get the
chance to build up. I think maybe that Gay got stuck in a
bad marketing situation with this one. She's a good
teacher, with a Kari-Anderson-esque type dancy style with
a winning personality. I hear that her "The Next
Step" video is incredibly better.
Collage refused initially to sell this one, because
it didn't meet their minimal standards for workout
length. I think they caved in. I advise that only step
instructors buy this one -- it has a number of good
combos that just don't get developed.
Eulonda Skyles