To begin my second review in the YBB series, all of the workouts in Yoga Booty Ballet Live are filmed with real students of all ages, fitness levels and body types from Swerve, located in Los Angeles. Many of the YBB classes led by Gillian and Teigh were taught here before it started to become popular with celebrities and citizens across America. Eventually, the program was featured in publications such as Shape Magazine and Entertainment Weekly; my DVD copies of the YBB Live workouts were distributed by Beachbody and Anchor Bay Entertainment because I think they once had the rights to distribute Beachbody programs at the time. 

Unfortunately, Swerve Studio had closed down in 2020 due to the spread of the coronavirus and financial difficulties. Along with this, Gillian and Teigh silently announced that they wanted to end their partnership together with Yoga Booty Ballet because Teigh wanted to pursue other exciting opportunities in her life.

With that out of the way, let’s get started reviewing these workouts!

Hip Hop Abs- 

This workout shares the same title as the Shaun T program of the same name, and he is the creator of Insanity and many other Beachbody programs, which are advertised on the Slim in 6 2-disc set. Anyways, the workout begins in the same way as the other YBB/YBB Live workouts by rubbing our hands together to generate some energy, and psychic heat (tapas). The first thing that I have noticed here is that everyone is wearing shoes because they are working out on a hard surface, and Hip Hop Abs is the only YBB workout to do so even when they explicitly stated at the beginning that you can do this program with or without shoes. 

Gillian and Teigh introduces us to the universal mudra for strength and aspiration: the fist represents strength and the thumbs are facing upwards, symbolizing determination. This is followed by a crea for banishing fear, with a quick inhale-exhale (I modified this slightly) and another mudra called the bear grip, which helps strengthen your voice. 

The warm-up begins with some isolations from jazz, which is the foundation for hip hop as Gillian says. A lot of syncopation is going on here, but after that’s over, they finally start teaching the choreography. By the time the music switches, I noticed that it sounds like old-school hip hop with some techno added to it, and it was Ravi’s original composition that can be heard the entire time. For some of the moves, I enhanced them with my own personal style to embellish this hip hop routine.

Not to mention, there is a dedicated floor work section that uses the squishy ball, featuring some more variations of crunches and some Pilates-style moves that target the abs. It was interesting to see the squishy ball being used again for some of the YBB Live workouts, but it was missing an important factor that can enhance the quality of these exercises: resistance. To fullfill that requirement, a weighted medicine ball can be used in place of the squishy ball. It will not only target tone the abs, but your upper body will be engaged the entire time because you are holding on to the ball. 

Following the previous segment, the workout ends with a  yoga-based cooldown with core strengthening moves, like the plank (which was called the core strengthening pose, but they did not use the right term to describe this move), bow pose (not mentioned by Gillian and Teigh), and even pushups. This was the part that was kind of weird because the two men in the class were doing them on their toes and everyone else was doing them on their knees, but it did not really matter the position that you set them up. Finally,  It ends in the same way as the Basic and Advanced workouts, with a slight variation of the ending mantras.

Cardio Cabaret – 

This burlesque style workout is inspired by dances you might see in a typical vintage Broadway theater in the 1940s. In particular, Cardio Cabaret is described as a “sexy, campy, and even silly cardio dance workout” because of the many unique moves that GIllian and Teigh have created. Ironically, the girls get into a bit of trouble when teaching the choreography…

Likewise, Gillian and Teigh teach us a new crea with the palms facing down that will help awaken the lower chakras, involving a breath of fire while pumping the navel. Then our intention is set in miracle mudra, and I feel as if I was touching my intention rather than seeing it here. While still seated on the floor, Gillian introduces a mental mantra called “sat nam,” which means “truth is my name.” This mantra will be featured in the next YBB Live review for Light & Easy. 

Now I’m not going to go in great detail about the warm-up for this workout, but some of the moves used here are inspired by jazz to get the body ready to dance. The girls encourage the viewer not to be shy and express their unique style when doing the moves, which lets you be free from any judgement. After all, you are doing this in your living room, as mentioned in some of the YBB Live workouts. “You’re on stage, in your mind,” Gillian says. When I was dancing along with the girls, I thought that the choreography tells the story of a famous Broadway dancer getting ready for a performance, and we get to see her perform on stage! Gee, I thought I was supposed to be that dancer herself, but I am the dancer.

After the final encore of the cardio-dance section, Gillian leads us in some more ballet sculpting. Some of the moves in the ballet section were taken from the Advanced workout, with a little more femininity (or masculinity!) as Teigh points out here. They both mention that some of the ballet moves can also work the calves, which I did not notice before in both the Basic and Advanced workouts that I have previously reviewed.

Lastly, some more yoga poses are integrated into the cooldown (including a new move called the “spider walk” brought to the studio from dance teacher Heather Stephens), along with some seated spinal twists. The fan pose with a “yogi toe lock” as Gillian demonstrates is next, followed by the easy pose with a balancing mudra for the lower chakras. Shortly after that, the goddess pose (lying down) concludes the workout, and the girls encourage you to spread love out into the world as Cardio Cabaret comes to a close. 

As I reflect on my experience with Yoga Booty Ballet Live, these DVDs truly infused my workouts with an infectious flavor that I can taste. In each of the cardio-dance sections in the series, there’s a lot of TIFTing (taking it from the top) every time a new step is introduced, which can be beneficial for absolute beginners. If you are a fan of the original Classic Goddess workouts, some of the moves from the Basic and Advanced workouts are reused in the Live series, adding to the fun factor. They never get old and are excellent if you want to try out new styles of dance while still bringing the Swerve Studio experience right to your home!

Thank you for reading. Stay tuned for the next review, where I’ll focus on the Light & Easy and Latin Flavor workouts!

Rating (Part 2) –

Instructor(s): 10/10

Set: 8/10

Outfits: 10/10

Music: 8/10

Production Value: 9/10

Overall Benefits: 8/10

Exertion: 7/10

Ease of Movement: 8/10

Audio/Visual Modifications: 5/10

Special Features: N/A

Use of Equipment: 6/10

Total Score: 79

Intensity Level: Moderate Intensity

Impact: Mixed Impact