Did you know that Dallas Dance Fitness has more than 200 videos on its YouTube channel?
Our follow-along dance fitness videos feature choreography by our instructors, sometimes in collaboration with each other and outside choreographers. Start watching and you’ll enter a whole new world of dance choreography, music video suggestions and innovative ways to dance and move.
You’ll notice that we are inspired by the dancers in concerts and events (think Super Bowl, VMAs and Grammy Awards) and performances on film including movies, music videos, television specials and so much more.
A typical DDF class features current Top 40 music including pop and hip-hop paired with choreography that blends jazz, hip-hop and even ballet. The good news is that you don’t need to know first position from fifth position or any “port de bras” (aka, moving your arms) to enjoy Corinne’s ballet-inspired routines, and you can channel your inner Beyonce and Britney as you like.
Where else do we look for inspiration to dance? We asked our teachers and students three questions to discover their favorite artists and dance dreams:
Who are your favorite dancers or performers?
If you could dance like anyone, who would it be?
If you could dance with anyone, who would it be?
And we love their answers! At the top of the list of favorite dancers is the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. “Growing up I wanted to be a Michael Jackson backup dancer,” one member confided. “And have a role on Days of Our Lives.”
“I love Michael Jackson’s videos, and he was and still is my inspiration when I dance so I love his videos,” says another. “I watched his videos and tried to learn every single step and never stopped until I got them all and learned all the choreography. And Madonna, too.”
Jennifer Lopez also topped the list of favorite dancers and performers alongside Madonna and Paula Abdul.
Our DDF member Giovanna, a retired dancer and performer who opened concerts for South American music pop stars in front of 70,000 people, also named flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortes as one of her inspirations. Adam Lambert is also a favorite. But if she could dance like anyone, one member said definitely J. Lo. “J. Lo can just rock it.” (Throwback to 2016 anyone? Here’s our J. Lo “Ain’t Your Mama” choreo.)
Before music videos premiered on MTV, dancing on television was a big part of variety shows with stars like Dean Martin. “This is a secret,” one member confided. “The girls dancing in the back in Dean Martin’s shows, I just loved it. I knew one day I was going to be one of those girls.” (See some of The Original Golddiggers videos on Facebook.)
TV shows like World of Dance and So You Think You Can Dance, Broadway musicals and concerts combined with YouTube and its gazillion hours of dance videos mean today’s movers can watch and learn dance moves from every decade of the last hundred years. And our students and teachers at Dallas Dance Fitness are inspired by all of it.
If you ever wanted to be a backup dancer on tour with J. Lo or Janet, a zombie in Thriller, or a character in A Chorus Line, you’ll find a community of inspired dancers and movers at Dallas Dance Fitness.
So who inspires you to dance? Share your comments on our Facebook page, and when you join Dallas Dance Fitness, you’ll also join our members-only Facebook group where we find and share gems like this Dirty Dancing-inspired remake.