Wouldn’t it be great if we could lose our weight, trim the waistlines and improve our body’s muscular tone in fun ways? If you say yes, let your hair down, swivel those hips trapped behind the desks in front of those monstrous computers, shake your arms and chests and shoulders enticingly to the beats of bollywood music. There is a craze for this kind of exercise workout, but it’s certainly not a flash-in-the-pan fad; though of course, it’s rising demand has been contributed in no small measure by the success of ‘The Slumdog Millionaire’. In India, the ever-proliferating dance channels and dance shows on the television have trumped up the demand for dance. So the craze is going to be around for a long time and evolve in accordance with the needs and dictates of the fitness market.

An important pioneer in introducing bhangra beats to the Western audience is Sarina Jain. Bhangra is a folk dance from Punjab in Western India. It’s a highly energetic, joyful, foot-tapping, hand-clapping dance form, highly suitable for adapting to exercise. As a certified fitness instructor teaching kickboxing, aerobics, and salsa, Sarina saw in Bhangra all the elements of body movements present in these exercise forms. Utilizing her knowledge of bhangra, Indian classical dance, salsa and hip-hop, she has developed cardiovascular and muscle strengthening workout. The movements require a strong ‘core’ and can tone the entire body – the abdominals, glutes, thighs, lower back and calves. You’ll need good coordination and a sense of rhythm as well. Take a look at Sarina Jain’s workout below:

Here, a group of people dance to the beats of drum:

Aren’t the group of children in the next video (WGN studios) having fun?

Many dance studios across the United States have incorporated these dances set to American pop songs.

I had fun watching this video; the song featured here is a popular dance number from the movie ‘Dil Se’.

I love ‘Dabbanguthu’, a street dance form of Tamil Nadu in South India as well. Many rural communities use this dance form during a funeral procession. Who says a funeral procession has to be sombre? It’s a matter of time somebody designs a workout routine around this. When the leading newspaper of India, Times of India, launched a special edition of its daily from Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, they made use of this dance form to tell a story of the rise of an an actor-turned-politician (a common true-to-life scenario) who falls from grace when he ditches his party and joins the ruling party. A cut out character has been used to depict the dirty party-hopping that politicians employ every day. The song has been felicitated this year with ‘Best Use of Music’ during International Advertising Festival at Cannes.

Your feet itching to dance? Join the boogie-woogie crowd now.

Filed under: Fitness

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