Product Description: Get ready to dance! It's a toe-tapping, finger-snapping good time when Paula Abdul gives Zoe her very first dance lesson! Soon Sesame Street's favorite ballerina is learning how to step with pep in a ballet warm-up, get the beat in her feet from an African drum, be grand with her hands in an Asian dance, and just have fun with Zoe's own Silly Willy Nilly dance. And, that's not all! When Zoe's best friend Elmo joins in, everyone moves and grooves to a hip-hop, feel-good finale that will get you up and dancing along! Special DVD Bonus Feature: Paula Abdul's view on Dance, kids and growing up with Sesame Street! DVD includes free bonus CD sampler! Features 3 songs from Seasame Street's Hot Hot Hot Dance Songs!
nice video Bought this for my two year old after she loved watching the preview for it on another Elmo video. She seems to like it, includes footage on other cultural dances, mostly includes only Zoe, Elmo 'forgets his dance shoes' and doesn't return until the end.
My granddaughter loves it! My granddaughter is three years old, and she almost has this video memorized. She loves to dress like Zoe and Paula (with clip-on earrings and all). I think this would be a great video for even smaller children, because they love Elmo and Zoe so much.
It's just amazing to see how many of the dance moves a just-turned-three-year-old can follow!
Has some good points This is a mixed bag; Paula Abdul is a lovely dancer, and is good at talking to the puppet rather than sneaking looks at the puppeteer (a common problem with celebrities talking with muppets.)
She is, however, no expert on child development, and choreographed moves way out of the preschooler range of motor skills. Heck, no dance teacher worthy of the name would give steps that complicated even to adults with no dance experience! (She is listed on the credits as one of the choreographers, not just a performer.)
As other reviewers have noted, the hip roll/grind is not something you want your 3 year old to master. The producers tried to get around its inappropriateness by calling it Zoe's Hip roll, and having Paula grunt, "This is for YOU, Zoe!" when demonstrating it. Really icky. (I do have to wonder if any of the advisors noted that perps of child abuse commonly tell the kids that what they are doing is their special little secret.)
Kids with enough motor skills to really get the dance steps don't want to watch Zoe anymore, so I don't much worry that my little girl will "get" it. And it will get the younger kids moving, even though they won't master the steps. Additionally, the clips of dances from other cultures are quite good, although grouping all "Asian" and "African" dances together seems a bit odd. Why not call it by a more specific cultural name? Or call ballet "European" just to be fair?
It's fun, it gets the kids moving, but it's not the way I would have wanted it done.
Paula Abdul is soooooo ANNOYING! PAULA Abdul ruins the whole video, this woman is absolutely repulsive, from the snotty attitude to the crappy coordination. this video is for little kids, so it boggles me why they didn't include dance moves for little kids, she makes it very hard for a little kid to follow, heck even i couldn't understand her moves. they should have had her do something simple that a kid under 5 can follow.
Zoe is a cutie, but it's hard to bare to watch this while P. Abdul pierces through your scull with her annoying voice and attitude.
Really cute! This is adorable. Paula Abdul, though I am not a fan, is even cute in this video. The dance moves are easy. They, being Paula and Zoe, take it very slow and even an 18 month old could learn and follow (after watching the video a few times). Anyway, the mix of children, muppets, music, dances and Paula are perfect and worth the money. Buy it!
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