Dance your way to fitness! Foreverfit tells you about four kinds of dance exercise routines you can choose from.
Sure, we all need regular exercise to stay healthy. But why suffer a gym workout when you can get fit on the dance floor instead! It’s hardly surprising that dance studios are bursting with those keen to have a good time while they sweat.
Builds strength and flexibility
Dance workouts improve cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, and flexibility. You can dance to videos at home, together with friends or attend classes. Learning a specific form of dance has the advantages of improving your balance and co-ordination, and helping your focus sharpen.
Choose between different routines
Some dance styles include Zumba, Salsa, and Jazz, as well as Bollywood and Bhangra based routines. Before you sign up for sessions, do make sure your instructor is well-qualified.
#1 Salsa
Influenced by the various dances of the Caribbean and Latin America such as Cha Cha and Mambo, this exciting, exotic dance form came into its own in the 1970s. With catchy music, this is a social dance where one partner leads the other. Salsa consists of small, quick steps and constant shifting of weight from one foot to another.
Upper body movements are restricted to arms and shoulders. Practice is essential to master this quirky combination of rhythmic and fluid movement, but salsa dancers swear by its benefits.
#2 Zumba
Popular in dance studios globally, Zumba is a dance fitness or “dancercise” program created by Colombian choreographer Alberto Perez. Influenced by Latin dance forms and fitness programmes such as aerobics, Zumba focuses on speed and movement rather than technique.
The dancercise is offered across many levels of difficulty. The sessions involve fast and slow intervals and may incorporate weight training. It is a great routine if you are a high-energy individual looking for a challenging form of exercise.
#3 Jazz
Elegant and energetic, this dance form resembles ballet at some levels. While jazz dance is influenced by ballet, it differs in being a modern dance form. Often taught with contemporary dance – which it borrows from and lends to – Jazz is strong on technique.
The complex choreography, with its graceful, sweeping movements is evocative of the music and lyrics, and demands dedication.
#4 Bollywood and Bhangra
A traditional harvest dance from the evergreen state of Punjab, the joyous Bhangra is now one of India’s favourite dance forms. Bollywood dance needs no introduction and has its cousins in almost every Indian film-making state.
All film-based dances borrow heavily from local folk and classical forms along with global forms of dance, to create a unique blend that is guaranteed to keep your spirits up. Bollywood dance is often taught in an integrated manner with other techniques such as aerobics, Zumba, and Jazz. Bhangra is sometimes teamed with aerobic exercise too.