Review and Giveaway – Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake DVD
August 7, 2008 by Deb
Filed under DVD/Video/Television, Giveaways, Recent Reviews
There’s something about little girls and dancing that seem to go hand-in-hand. I know that my mom put me in dance classes about as soon as I started elementary school, and I loved twirling, kicking and stepping to the music. And my own girls are no exception.
When I received the opportunity to review the Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake DVD, I knew that my girls would love it. What I didn’t expect was how much they would LOVE it.
What it is:
This DVD is the project of two stay-at-home moms who, inspired by their children’s love of dance, teamed up (despite no prior movie-making experience) to produce it. It’s described as, “a hip new twist on learning about ballet, featuring the Paris Opera Ballet and Students from School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center, Official Academy of New York City Ballet”, and as “a cool, fun, beautiful show with a brain”.
The 40-minute DVD features an animated fairy ballerina who takes viewers on a journey to see the Paris Opera Ballet perform select segments of Swan Lake. In between acts, basic ballet steps are shown and there’s an opportunity for kids to get up and dance along to the colorful montages of toys, animals, children and dancers from the School of American ballet.
Here’s my our take on it:
My daughters and I were enchanted by this DVD from the very first moment. The ‘Prima Princessa’ character is fun, cute and engaging – and does a very good job of narrating the ballet scenes for viewers who aren’t familiar with the story of Swan Lake. I haven’t seen the ballet myself – and and the narration really helped to bring the story to life. I also think that my daughters would probably have grown bored of just ballet scenes (as lovely as they are) after a while – but the narration, and the breaks between acts where they could get up and dance themselves, make a huge difference in keeping them interested and excited to watch.
We had to pause the DVD for a few minutes to allow my older girls to change into their ‘ballerina’ outfits. Although we don’t have tutus like the children in the movie, we do have one dance outfit – and my older daughter improvised to create one for herself as well. Then they twirled, leapt, and kicked their way around the living room throughout the rest of the DVD:
Even my 2-year-old wanted to join in and dance with her sisters.
And they’ve asked to watch it again. And again. So far their only disappointment has been when their ‘dance clothes’ aren’t clean for them to wear while watching and dancing. 
The bottom line:
So many movies and videos nowadays just involve passive participation or don’t necessarily do a good job of inspiring kids to actually get up and move. This one not only successfully gets kids moving, but it also introduces them to the world of ballet and educates them on a few simple ballet terms and steps as well. The ballet scenes tell the story of Swan Lake, and also show kids what ballet is really all about – telling a story through dance. I can see children of all ages enjoying this – and although it’s geared more toward girls, there are boy dancers featured in the School of American Ballet segments, and in Swan Lake itself, of course. I can see boys dancing along right with the girls as well.
Where can you find it?:
The DVD is available in specialty stores nationwide and on Amazon
Would you like to try it?:
I have a copy of the Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake DVD available to give away to a lucky reader! If you would like to enter, here are the rules:
- Enter by leaving a comment on this post and tell me who in your family would love to watch and dance to this DVD. Please don’t just say ‘choose me’, or your entry will be discarded.
- The contest will run until Saturday, August 16th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be selected through random drawing, contacted by e-mail, listed on this post and also submitted to PRIZEY.Fetch.
- Please leave a valid e-mail address or other way to contact you! If you don’t wish to leave your e-mail address, please make sure that you leave a unique name and check back with PRIZEYWinners to see if you won. If the winner hasn’t responded within 3 days, an alternate winner will be chosen by random drawing.
- If you’d like an extra entry or two, you can either subscribe to my RSS feed (click on the orange icon in the upper right sidebar), or mention this contest on your blog with a link back to this post – or both. Please leave an extra comment on this post for each of the extra entry options that you choose, letting me know – for a total of 3 comments if you do both extra entry options.
Good luck!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – the random number generator has chosen comment #14 as the winner:
Congratulations to Anne (no blog) who said, “I would love to give this to my neice, Katy! She is just the right age and would love this DVD. All of my girls loved taking “ballet” lessons when they were young! Thanks so much!“. I will be e-mailing you soon to work out the details.
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My daughter Miranda would love this
My daughter would love this.
My daughter would love to twirl and dance to this movie. She loves music and dancing. She is in gymnastics right now and I’m thinking about putting her into dance as well. Thanks for the contest.
Great giveaway!
My 6 year old niece who lives with us would love this! She has down cheerleading and is now interested in taking dance classes!
Would be a great christmas present for her!
Thanks so much!
Kelsey
rawrissexy@gmail.com
this is a great prize count me in
My niece would love this! She loves to dance and thinks she’s a princess!
Our little Princess would love this!
My granddaughter, enter me please.
My cousin has a danicng school he youngest princesses would love it…
I’d love to win this and give it to my little sister. Thanks so much.
My granddaughter loves to dance. She would love this DVD.
My daughter would love this!
My daugter would love this. She is five and want to be a ballerina.
my daughter would love this
My niece would simply love this!
[...] off, don’t forget to enter my giveaway over on my other site for a Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake DVD – it ends tonight! And other new [...]
ty 4 the great contest!
My princess niece would love this! I can see her dancing for all of us at Christmas. Thanks!
jkrisken(at)gmail(dot)com
My adorable 3 year old niece has just gotten into dance and would love this DVD. She already thinks she is a prima ballerina, constantly showing off her moves!!!!
sherri419 at gmail dot com
My goddaughter will love this. She loves to move with the music.
I have 2 dancers in my house who would love this
Without a doubt, my step-daughter Veronica!
My nearly-2-year-old would adore this video. She loves to dance while my husband plays the piano, so I know she’d have a fun time dancing to Swan Lake along with the other children and professional ballerinas in the video.
my grand daughters and their friends would love to dance to this!!!!
I would love this DVD. I may be 54 but have always dreamed of being a ballerina.
Definitely my dancing daughter!
As we affectionately call them, #1 and #3 would really be into this video. Number 1, Erika, is up for the part of Tiger Lily in her school’s play Peter Pan. And #3, Ryanne, just goes in her room, turns the boombox all the way up and just dances for hours.
lorrainejohnsis(at)yahoo(dot)com
This would be perfect for my granddaughter–please add my name. Thank you for the contest!
My little girl would love to watch and dance to this DVD. She loves to dress up like a princess and dance like a ballerina. Thanks for the fun giveaway!
My daughter would love it.
Actually, my best friend’s little girl would love this and I would love to give it to her!
I don’t know who would enjoy this – perhaps a cousin.
an interesting gift for my neighbor or my neice….
My friend’s child would love this DVD!
[...] in August, I reviewed the Prima Princessa Presents Swan Lake DVD – which was a huge hit with my girls. In fact, they still watch (and dance along with) it [...]
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