At Your Beat offers dance and fitness classes that don’t feel like exercise at all. I’ve been to ‘dancercise’ type classes before and with the bright lights and step boards, they haven’t felt much different to regular exercise classes. AYB is totally different, with smoke machines, pumping music and trained dancers teaching music-video-style dance routines, you leave feeling fit and uplifted, like how I imagine dancers feel!
There are lots of different classes on offer; Ariana Grande vs Britney, Cardi B vs Niki Minaj among others but of course, it was the Beyonce class that I ploughed into! It feels like walking into a club when you enter the studio at White Space in Leicester Square, all hazy and funky, you can wear sports clothes or something flashier for the class and heels are always welcome! I could feel an instant energy lift and excitement in anticipation of the class (this is NOT the way I usually feel before an exercise class!) and then we are greeted with our dance teacher, Joelle. It needs to be said, Joelle is amazing!! He is exactly the sort of teacher I would wish for in a class like this; enthusiastic (very), considerate, funny and overall an amazing dancer who has the ability to pull out all the dancing skills you possess!
We start with some dance stretches before moving on to the routine – to Beyonce’s ‘Turn The Lights Out’. I was a bit surprised, I felt sure we’d be putting a ring on it or booty popping to Crazy In Love but I soon realised that these classes are not gimmicky by any means, we were there to learn actual choreography whilst getting fit. With the club lights and fogginess of the room, there was no feeling of embarrassment, and for me personally, having done no dance training ever, I didn’t feel at all exposed (I was gutted I didn’t bring my heels though).
2 hours after we’d entered the class, we had all learnt an actual Beyonce dance routine! We were in sync, we knew the routine off by heart from start to finish and we were actually good! We all left the class on such a high!
The next day, I was aching in places I didn’t know could ache – I love that feeling! This is the feeling of pushing your body and of waking up areas that have been forgotten. Whether it be for appearance (let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to look like a dancer?), fitness or just for fun, I cannot recommend these classes more highly – I will certainly be signing up ahead of the January rush, and this time I’ll be in heels….
www.atyourbeat.com introductory classes start from £30 for 3 classes