dance aerobics

[Crazyaboutdogs]

Okay, so this week I started a lunch time dance aerobics class (one of the fitness classes offered to staff). Two classes/week, Tuesday and Thursday. We are learning basic steps to dances like the salsa, samba, meringue, swing, cha cha etc. but it is for the purposes of an aerobic workout. I now know why I was never good at dancing...my feet get confused!! It is done at such a fast pace that I lose focus on which direction my feet need to go...and then she tells us to move our hands too...forget it...I can't focus on my feet and my hands at the same time...ever try the old trick of patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time? Two different things going on and you start getting the movements confused! The plus is that I am getting a good cardiovascular workout as well as muscle workout. The minus...I look like an idiot.. completely lacking coordination! Anybody else ever have trouble following these types of group exercise classes?

[ghost69]

it's not just dance. it's about learning moves and being in tune with your body. same for skateboarding. you can't just hop on one and do an ollie. you have to learn your balance to just stand still. that involves your whole body. practice practice. it's the only way. stick with it. i know salsa and samba and similar dances are great for your hip region as well as the cardio aspect. i'd say keep at it.

[lilypadgirl]

Yes! The more you do it, the easier it becomes!

 

But don't concentrate too hard. Latin dances are as much "feel" as it is learning. It's okay to feel silly, but just move as you want to! It looks a lot sexier than you think you look!

[Crazyaboutdogs]

Yes! The more you do it, the easier it becomes!

 

But don't concentrate too hard. Latin dances are as much "feel" as it is learning. It's okay to feel silly, but just move as you want to! It looks a lot sexier than you think you look!

 

LOL I am wearing baggy shorts and a baggy T-shirt...and my legs are fumbling....somehow that doesn't quite exude sexiness.

 

Thanks everyone for the responses and the encouragement. I will continue to go and hopefully I will get the hang of it.

[Crazyaboutdogs]

Hi Crazy...I do the cha cha and merengue as well - you just have to concentrate really hard and listen like crazy, not missing a word and focusing all your thoughts upon the dancing.

Also sometimes helps to copy other people's steps in my case!

 

The more you do it the easier it becomes as well...

Love Lady D x

 

Well, I station myself at the front of the gym right behind the instructor so that I can watch her feet. I start off okay but then I end up getting mixed up with where my feet are supposed to go...and these are actually very basic steps! I did notice another person in the class getting hopelessly confused so at least I am not alone! It really is a nice way to break up the day...especially when you are sitting at a computer all day...it is good to get the body moving around. I am sorry I will have to miss the class this Tuesday because I will be in an all day meeting...hmm, maybe during the lunch we can all get up and salsa around the room LOL.

[tiredofvampires]

Oh jeez, can I ever relate to this!! I'm not sure I'm going to be much inspiration to you, but at least you'll know that no, it's not just you.

 

I LOVE to dance, and when I was in high school, my sister and I started going to a jazz dance class together. She is tall and lanky, built like a ballerina, and I am somewhat short (well, at least compared to her) with soft, curvy lines. Class would start with these floor exercises, then progress to routines to songs we'd be learning -- and if it wasn't one debacle, it was another, for me! The group would be doing a kick ball-chain to the left, and I'd be somehow headed right. I'd do a turn and end up stumbling to face forward again, whereas others would spin delicately to a stop. I am not dyslexic, but watching me, you'd certainly think I was (no offense to anyone who is dyslexic, by the way -- I really feel for your challenge after this experience!). Not to mention, I seemed to keep forgetting which step came next. Meanwhile, my sister would land perfectly, end smack on the beat in the right pose. And she would get the sequence of steps memorized after one or two tries, and then it would be cemented in her brain, whereas I was blanking out even after many repetitions. I would go home and try the steps, but without music I was lost.

 

I don't think it's any coincidence that she got a drumset (that was a miracle, given my parents' strictness up until that time in our lives) and within a few months, was crossing her arms in a blur, each foot doing it's own thing -- well, she let me sit down to give it a whirl and once she started giving me some basic instructions, for a moment I swear to you I thought my left foot was my right hand. I couldn't seem to disentangle my arms, either and got about as far as slamming the bass drum with a dreadful arrhythmia and simply just giving up on the upper body part altogether.

 

Needless to say, I think I had to conclude that some of this is probably inborn, this type of coordination. As another poster said, you have to FEEL the steps and much of it I think comes from a more instinctual place. So those of us who tend to be more cerebral may be wired differently (though I've known a couple of men who were great dancers AND brilliant. I knew they were great dancers because I saw them or took their word for it [one was my ex, who was part Hispanic and had that Latin blood], not because I danced next to them!) It's something I have always wanted to be good at, and do believe as other posters said that you can improve -- but just don't pressure yourself, make sure your goal is to have fun, and let the rest just fall into place as it will. Good for you for having the chutzpah to stick with it!

 

(Incidentally, my sister is now a dance professor and in her spare time, musician. Some things were just meant to be -- and in my case, not be! Lol. Doesn't stop me from dancing my fool head off to music at a concert or even around my living room though!)

[Crazyaboutdogs]

Hey TOV, thanks for the post! Your description of what happened in Jazz Dance had me laughing because that is EXACTLY what is happening to me LOL.

I was talking to a colleague at work. She is from Brazil and her and her husband took a Latin dance class. The rest of the couples were from North America or Europe...they were the only Latin Americans and everyone in the class expected them to be the best...it turns out they were the worst!!! She said it was so embarrassing because people had this expectation that coming from Latin America EVERYONE knows how to dance!

[JadedStar]

TOV that post did paint quite a picture. Thanks for the chuckle with my morning coffee ROFL.

 

CAD i never could get into any kind of formal dance routine. I love to dance but i abhor line dances or dances where they are telling you what to do or how to move...my body knows how it wants and should move to music. When i used dance as a form of exercise i avoided the groups and did my own thing. I'd buy a video of good dance songs and just move for an hour or so. The key is to just move your body, work up a sweat and get the heart rate going. Dance is cardio not really resistance training, so save the kicks and muscle work out for the weights or something similar.

 

Put on a song like Lil John's "get low" and that will have your body moving in ways you never thought possible.....get low get low....LMAO. Of course the lyrics are raw, you can't have a weak stomach. LOL

[Crazyaboutdogs]

I just checked out those lyrics...wow...they are very raw! I have tried to do some dancing/low impact aerobics at home...I find the song "pump it up" by Elvis Costello, really gets me going. The problem with doing it at home is that my dog bothers me (he looks at me like I am a fruitcake and then tries to get in the way) and my floors are pretty creaky so I don't think the tenants downstairs are too thrilled if I am bouncing on their heads!

[JadedStar]

Yeah they are raw but good beat. LMAO. Sorry i put you through that, i didn't know you were giong to google the lyrics.

 

If you just listened to the song tho its not as obvious what is being said. lol

 

But you get the idea - a song that pumps you up like the one you mentioned. Everyone likes a differnet genre, i happen to like some rap but you might not so your pump you up songs will be different.

[Crazyaboutdogs]

I am always curious about lyrics to songs. Good thing we have the internet because I was always stumped by the CCR songs...never could understand the lyrics while the song was playing (Looking out my back door by CCR was one song I could never figure out on my own!).

[lilypadgirl]

Oh, you know what's another great thing? Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease series! Haha! Nothing to make you feel more sexy (or at least have a good laugh at yourself) when you're home trying to striptease to a tv!

[tiredofvampires]

.they were the only Latin Americans and everyone in the class expected them to be the best...it turns out they were the worst!!! She said it was so embarrassing because people had this expectation that coming from Latin America EVERYONE knows how to dance!

 

And, another useless stereotype bites the dust!

 

I thought about that after posting, hmmm.

[tiredofvampires]

CAD i never could get into any kind of formal dance routine. I love to dance but i abhor line dances or dances where they are telling you what to do or how to move...my body knows how it wants and should move to music. When i used dance as a form of exercise i avoided the groups and did my own thing. I'd buy a video of good dance songs and just move for an hour or so. The key is to just move your body, work up a sweat and get the heart rate going. Dance is cardio not really resistance training, so save the kicks and muscle work out for the weights or something similar.

 

Well said -- I came to the exact same conclusion!! While I was not crazy about the idea that I couldn't stay within a prescribed set of steps, I realized it's not a "cop-out" to just move the way I want to move, lol! Of course, if you're in a class, it won't work to be off doing your own thing, but that's one reason I wouldn't take a class anymore, lol. Which is why I hand it to you, CAD!

 

I even found the same thing happening with T'ai Chi. It's very popular here, as many martial arts are in vogue now, and I thought (and still think) it'd be great for my stress levels and energy. I went for a couple of free sessions with a friend of mine, who goes regularly, thinking "This is really gradual and slow, so it'll be much easier to catch on" -- but NOPE! Same ol' problem!! Even moving slowly, if the instructor had us facing with our back to him and pivoting slowly to face forward, the entire time I had my neck craned around to see what he was doing with him limbs, and it was very distracting -- and stressful, lol! I decided that if I wanted to de-stress, I'd go to the park and be a poser, ha ha.

 

So that's what I love to do -- I go and combine the graceful movements and turn slowly in a manner that I would say is heavily influenced by T'ai Chi, and I throw in whatever else my bodies wants to do on its own, which to the trained eyes of some old Chinese people walking their dogs who do this every morning and have done so for 40 years, must look absolutely preposterous. I've had a couple of younger boys come up and ask me what "style" I train in, and I give them a big grin and say, "It's sort of from a more obscure lineage."

[tiredofvampires]

I am always curious about lyrics to songs. Good thing we have the internet because I was always stumped by the CCR songs...never could understand the lyrics while the song was playing (Looking out my back door by CCR was one song I could never figure out on my own!).

 

I LOVE CCR, and always had that problem! But then again, I do with some of my favorite artists. Nothing worse than telling people you love this or that band, and they bust out some lyrics in your face so you can join along singing, and you're going....uh....(where's my google!!)

[Crazyaboutdogs]

Priceless!! I once tried Tai Chi and really couldn't get into it...I can't stand the slow pace and I felt so foolish with all the slow motion movements (this was back in the late 80's before Tai Chi became all the rage). I felt like I was in some Hollywood movie where they put the scene in slow motion to make a point!