Dancing the pounds away
Whether it's the rumba, tango or waltz, participants say the time flies
Instructor Sonya Monk leads the group during a Zumba class at Tone in Santa Rosa.
Beth Schlanker / PDPublished: Friday, January 21, 2011 at 11:21 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, January 21, 2011 at 11:21 a.m.
When Annika Arreguin signed up for a hip-hop class at Tone Fitness in Santa Rosa in early 2010, she was looking only to improve her rhythm on the dance floor.
A year and many dance classes later, the 31-year-old Kenwood woman is 20 pounds lighter and finds her slumbers far deeper and more refreshing.
“You do feel like you've had a workout,” she said of the invigorating evening classes in hip-hop and Zumba that get her heart pumping and her muscles stretched.
For Arreguin, who didn't sign up with any expectation of losing weight, improved fitness was an unexpected fringe benefit of simply having fun.
By now, people hurtling into the new year with resolutions to get fit may already be burning out on the gym with its endless machine repetitions and runs to nowhere. There's a reason why life at its most mundane is referred to as “being on the treadmill.”
But some, like Arreguin, are discovering they can waltz and tango and rumba their way into shape.
One of the biggest impediments in any fitness regimen is mustering the discipline to stick with it. When you're dancing, say those who do it, you're too immersed in the movement and the music to watch the clock.
Turning to dance for exercise just “makes sense,” says Monica Anderson, co-owner of Tone Fitness. The studio has variously offered, in addition to ongoing hip-hop and Zumba (a form of dance fitness that incorporates easy-to-follow dance moves set to a fusion of Latin and world rhythms), classes in jazz, belly dancing and flamenco. Many other fitness clubs also are offering Zumba and other forms of dance.
“If it's not fun enough for people to become, as we say, repeat offenders,” Anderson says, “then we can't help them get into shape.”
A new survey by the online dating service Match.com found the Santa Rosa/Petaluma area to be one of the fittest in the country, ranking No. 12 among the top 15 fittest metro areas. And among the top three physical activities singles engage in is dancing, just behind walking and swimming.
The other advantage of turning to dance for fitness, advocates say, is that there are so many choices of style and music. You can go for more conventional, performance-based classes like jazz, ballet or tap, or do group dancing such as country western or folk.
And with the huge popularity of the steamy ABC series, “Dancing With the Stars,” in which viewers watch non-professionals waltz off the pounds, ballroom is hotter than ever. “Dancesport” promoters would like to see competitive ballroom recognized as an Olympic sport.
John Ross, owner of the The Ballroom studio in Rohnert Park, said he's seen an increase in students of some 25 to 30 percent since “Dancing With the Stars” hit the airwaves in 2005.
“What people are saying first is that they didn't realize how fun it can be and second, they're talking about how it improved their health and how they're in great shape again,” said Ross, who has been teaching for some 30 years.
The respected Mayo Clinic Health Letter encouraged readers to try ballroom dancing as a way to burn calories and improve cardiovascular health. California State University at Long Beach has conducted studies on the benefits of ballroom dance and found that beginning students can get their heart rates up to near-maximum training rates with a five minute warm-up and 20 minutes of cha-cha or swing dancing. Moderate ballroom dancing can burn up to 300 calories an hour.
Studies also suggest dancing, with its demands for learning complex steps and staying in rhythm, may be good for the brain. A study of seniors over age 75, done by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed a decreased risk for dementia among elders who engaged in social dancing.
Ross said he did his own studies over a 30-day period and found, as a teacher, he was traveling 8½ miles across the dance floor in a day and burning 600 calories an hour.
It can be aerobic, he stressed, without the percussive effect on the skeletal system that comes with jumping or running.
“Ballroom has this beautiful rise and fall and the rise is done through the foot and through the body,” he said.
Social dance itself can run the gamut, from elegant foxtrots and waltzes to fast jitterbugs and swing jive to sultry Latin moves like merengue, samba and cha-cha.
“It's really good for core strength,” says Chris Pasadis, 42, who started going to The Ballroom and loved it so much she now manages it. Her teen-age daughters have also gotten into ballroom dancing, not uncommon for a dance form that seems to appeal to all generations.
“Yes, you do get exercise in your legs and arms because you're holding your stance and moving your feet. But its also really good for core strength,” she said. “A lot of your movement comes from the core and from balance, your core being your abdominal area and your torso.”
Instructors say the key to success in dance fitness is making classes accessible and non-judgmental.
Anderson, 57, who has been teaching since the old aerobic Jazzercize days of the '80s, said she starts with a warmup and tries to keep the movements fairly simple so people can master them and feel success.
“My philosophy is if you make the movements fun and simple and repeat them with transitions, toward the end of a song they can start playing with it,” she said. “And when play happens is when they want to repeat it and hear that song again.”
And that means they're more likely to come back — again and again.
You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204.
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This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
CORRECTION: January 26, 2011
The co-owner of Tone Pilates, Dance and Yoga Studio in Santa Rosa is Monica Anderson. She was incorrectly identified in a story that ran on Page G1 of Sunday's Healthy Living section.
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