Bangalore City sways to the rhythm divine

Compare a cumbersome sweaty workout to graceful pirouettes performed to music that could vary from melodious to hard rock. As doing anything different and doing it in style becomes the new-age mantra, regular workouts in the gym give way to dance lessons as form of exercise and therapy. Increasingly being viewed as a one-in-all pill for frayed nerves, depression and sedentary living, a hip shake is not only fun, it’s rejuvenating as well.

A recent study by an Italian group of researchers has found that dancing improves both the functional capacity of the heart and the quality of life. Well, the discovery is certainly not lost on city slickers as Bangalore lines up for a frolicking time at institutes offering dance lessons that range from salsa, tango, jive and merengue, to fox trot, hustle, waltz, and classical shades of musical theatre!

“We offer dance classes under the two categories of professional, certified one-year courses, and non professional dances,” informs Manju of The Swingers, Indiranagar. A few among many other institutes offering dance classes for basic, intermediate and advance levels include Lourd Vijay’s Dance Studio, The i-Salsa Club, Rock Around the Clock, Studio 5678 and Vibes-The Dance Lab. You can discover your penchant for a particular dance by joining the basic course which lasts between three and four weeks and thereon follow up your interest to advanced levels.

Instructors at certain centres like Aero Fitness Centre and The Zone Fitness Studio treat these dance forms as integral part of fitness. “One hour of salsa can burn up to 600 calories, making it a choice activity for the fitness conscious,” says Arun, a fitness instructor. Moreover, if you are looking to spike up your love life, what could be more romantic than learning the steps together with your partner? “Most of these dances are performed with partners so we have many couples enrolling,” informs Manju. That said, the classes have an impressive number of participants above fifty years as well.

Taking the cue from the immense popularity of such dances with the city’s corporate set, most of these centres schedule classes specially suited to their time demands. “We organise salsa, jive and hip-hop classes after 6.30 in the evenings and many employees of top notch IT companies opt for these classes,” informs Manju. Companies like Rock Around the Clock offer salsa classes at corporate offices as well.

Well as it turns out, dancing shoes are all that it takes to put a smile on one’s face and a skip in one’s step!