Dance with Me (Bailar ConMigo)

Update: 1/26/12. Since this original blog post was published in 8/2011 I've corrected the name of the instructor who taught this class to Rae Toledo.

I recently took a class called "Dance With Me" at the 24 Hour Fitness in Sherman Oaks, CA. I really enjoyed this class and thought I would blog about it. Someone once told me that when it comes to fitness you should find something you love doing and can stick with. I guess for me that would be dance hands down. Dance is great cardio that also works different muscle groups and gets my heart rate up but I'm usually having so much fun, I don't think of it as a workout or "a chore."

I took the Thursday class offered at 6:30 PM by Rae Toledo and she was AMAZING, very motivating and so much fun, but it's also taught on Monday and Wednesday mornings by Billy Blanks Jr.  If his name sounds familiar, yes he's the son of the Tae-bo King, Billy Blanks. I will check out Billy's class as well for comparison and may blog about it. One woman I chatted with in class gave me the death stare and said that Billy's class is "Dance With Me" on steroids. Well alrighty then. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.  :)

From week to week, the class covers various styles of dance in a high energy format. I think that's what I love about it. There's so much variety and you never get bored. There's also a choreographed dance which the divided up class performs at the end of the session. More on that later.

After welcoming all the newbies and veterans to class, Rae had us warm up to some music and then took us on a whirlwind trip from the U.S. to India to Latin America and back to the mainland.  We did a fun and fast-paced Bollywood routine to traditional Bollywood music I had never danced Bollywood and always wanted to learn. I must say it is no joke. It's deceptively fun but requires a lot of energy, with it's rapid hand, arm and leg movements.

What really kicked my heart muscle into overdrive was the Footloose Jive routine we danced to Kenny Loggins' "Footloose" soundtrack. I'm an 80's girl at heart so this was a nostalgic moment. I stuck with the high impact version of the dance which challenged me sufficiently, but Rae was thoughtful enough to offer a low impact modification to those who needed it. By this time we were all sweating profusely and sipping from our water bottles whenever we had an opportunity.

Rae really encouraged individual participation.  In the middle of doing plie lunges she'd walk around the room and if she saw you were getting low with it she'd yell out "Yes! That's it!!"

In the middle of class she had us make a huge circle. Whoever she selected would enter the middle of the circle and freestyle dance. Everyone else was supposed to imitate their dance. Then she'd pick someone else to do it. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.  The energy of this class was great. There was no judgment, people were warm and friendly, and there were literally dancers there at all levels from ages 18 to 80.

Towards the end of class we learned a Hip-Hop Paso Doble routine to Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust Your Windows." This dance involved some acting as we were portraying women who smashed out our lover's car windows after finding out we'd been cheated on. Ha ha ha. So much fun. At the end of class Rae selected about 7 participants she thought did the best job and had them perform the routine one final time. 

To my surprise, I was the 1st one she picked, congratulated, and "high-fived." It felt really good because I have been to more advanced, "professional" level dance classes where I felt like a lost sheep.

All in all, this was an awesome class and I haven't had this much fun working out in a long time. I will definitely be back for some more "Dance With Me" action.

Calorie Burn: 450 calories (1 hour)