If you can’t seem to get excited about your regular exercise regime – or any exercise for that matter – don’t give up. A few twists and turns on the dance floor could breathe new energy into your day.

Yes: It’s time to kick up your heels and swing to the music for some fun physical exercise. Your excitement might begin just when you hear names like salsa, poppin’ lockin’, hip-hop, belly dancing, waltz and Brazilian samba.

And that’s just the beginning; there are more to follow after you slide onto the floor.

“In comparison to exercise at the gym, dance is more dynamic,” says dance instructor Jessica, co-owner of Jessica Stage Dance Studio in West Jakarta. “They come in more variations so we don’t get bored.”

For many people, dancing is seen as a fun or social activity, and so quite different from other forms of physical exercise such as those done in fitness centers. Perhaps these people are unaware that dancing can give a great overall workout – for both mind and body.

“It has been a mistake [within society] not to regard dancing as part of our fitness activities,” says noted bodybuilder and healthy lifestyle advocate Ade Rai. “Most people think that doing physical exercise means only going to the gym and doing weightlifting or running on a treadmill. But that’s not true,” he adds.

According to Ade, dancing, like other physical activities, incorporates the main principles of exercise, such as stretching, balancing and jumping.

“We can call dancing an organized cardiovascular exercise,” he says. “Movements in dancing create flexibility and body balance, which in turn trains our muscles and strengthens them because the muscles resist [the dancer’s] own body weight.” And don’t forget, Ade adds, “as you follow those fun movements, you actually burn calories.”

And in saying that dancing isn’t only about wearing out the muscles and working up a good sweat, dance instructor Venyci Yefriadi points out how dancing can boost brain power by improving memory skills.

“Dancing is about coordinating movements. You have to know the beat and the rhythm,” says Venyci, the CEO of Interlude Dance Academy in Central Jakarta. “So, as you move to the beat, you’re required to remember dance steps and sequences.”

This, she says, helps delay any memory-loss problems. According to Venyci, memory loss is one of the problems faced by some of the people who come to her studio, besides the more obvious issues of body shape and posture.

“Some people come here to take dancing lessons to improve their memory, while others have hunchbacked and stooped body postures, as well as postnatal mothers who wished to restore their [ideal] body shape,” Venyci says.

Jessica shares similar experiences. She says about half of the people who take dance lessons at her studio come wishing to lose weight and reshape their body.

She points out that different types of dance benefit different areas of the body. For example, belly dancing improves posture and tones the muscles, while ballroom dancing (such as the waltz and tango) helps build stamina and shapes the body. Hip-hop, which has elements from many styles of dance, can benefit the entire body.

“Those who want to lose weight and tone their tummy muscles take belly dancing, while for body shaping, most female members here pick salsa and sexy jazz,” says Jessica.

Sexy jazz, she explains, is a modified jazz dance that takes examples from modern dances such as those performed by The Pussycat Dolls.

“It’s a really girlie dance. It requires you to keep your body posture straight with your bust lifted up,” Jessica says. “Women love it because it’s a very sexy dance.”

While belly dance, salsa and sexy jazz tend to attract women, dances such as breakdance, hip-hop and poppin’ lockin’ attract students of both genders.

“These dances are recently booming, especially among young people,” Jessica says, adding that poppin’ lockin’ is an old dance technique with robotic movements such as those performed by Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake.

And no experience or skills are necessary to learn: Jessica says almost 90 percent of her students start from zero when taking dance classes.

“So you don’t have to worry if you don’t know how to dance. You’ll learn from the very basic movements.”

Yenny Kolius, 36, travels from Bandung to Jakarta once a week just to attend her hip-hop class at Jessica Stage.

“For me, going to the gym is boring. It doesn’t challenge me with its weight lifting and so on,” says Yenny. She says she doesn’t mind battling through chaotic Jakarta streets just for her dance class, because she still can’t find dance studios in Bandung that offer classes based on levels. “They usually carry out regular classes that end after some time. But here [at Jessica Stage], we can go on to higher levels.”

Fifteen-year-old Michelle Wong says she picked hip-hop to stay in shape.

“I want to be slim … like [her dance instructor] Miss Jessi,” says the student of Nasional High in South Jakarta, laughing. “Dancing can burn this fat on my arms and thighs. I also feel fitter after practicing hip-hop.”

Michelle’s friend Felicia Lukmawijaya, on the other hand, chose hip-hop to improve her self-confidence and talent.

“I adore a Korean hip-hop group Dong Bang Shin Ki, and I want to dance like them,” she says. “And what I’ve felt after practicing dancing is that I’ve become more confident.”

And Felicia might not be the only one who finds dancing more than just a healthy activity. Dance enthusiasts everywhere tend to agree that dancing can refresh a tired soul: It can unleash your long-hidden creativity. In addition, going to dance classes can bring you new experiences as you meet and engage with more people.  

“Going to dance classes is not like going to the gym to perform individual exercises,” Jessica explains. “It carries social interaction between people.” And as interaction is an antidote to depression and loneliness, “You’ll feel happy as you meet new people across various ages.”

Just like Jessica, Venyci says that dancing is more than just mere physical exercise.

“Dancing, in many ways, is a complex activity,” she says. “It’s not just purely physical. It has to do with exercising the soul and senses.”

But of course, complex or not, the fun of dancing is there to enjoy. Now, what’s stopping you from joining in all the fun? Dancing studios are popping up everywhere, and they are waiting for you.

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