LET’S DANCE

250 To 450 Calories Per

Linda Bitterly, of The Villages, formerly taught a beginning ballet class at The Villages Lifelong Learning College, now closed, and currently teaches two tap classes. Dancing is a wonderful way to keep your body moving without feeling restricted to an exercise program, she says.

“If you’ve never taken ballet, you need to start with a beginning ballet class. It gives you correct posture and correct movement, like bending the knees,” Linda says. “It’s a wonderful way of stretching your body and doing movement to slow music as opposed to the fast music used in aerobics.”

Ballet lessons begin with students at the barre with one hand on it.

“Eventually, you move away from the barre, and that’s when you really learn balance. You use all your joints, and you’re able to look in the mirror and see if you’re doing it correctly,” Linda says. “It’s actually good movement if you’re recovering from some orthopedic surgeries.”

Linda says the tap classes are much harder on the body. “You must have no problems with the discs in your back or in your hips or knees, because you’re pounding with the tap dancing and that’s hard on the joints.”

Marci Palmer teaches Zumba classes in Wildwood. However, the community center there is being renovated, so the class currently meets at 5:30pm Tuesdays at the Oxford Community Building.

“Zumba is a Latin-based dance fitness class, and people love to dance,” Marci says. “The music inspires the movement, and they enjoy moving to the music so much they forget they’re exercising for an hour.”

Cindy Duncan, who lives in The Villages, kept receiving videos from a friend in Michigan about cardio drumming. Eventually, she was convinced it was worth a try. The first class had seven people. “Once we got into a recreation center, our biggest class was 58,” Cindy says. “You drum to the music and exercise while you’re doing it. One of my friends calls it ‘stealth exercise,’ but I really work up a sweat.” To make your drum, you need a big plastic tub with rope handles. An exercise ball is placed inside it, and you drum away the calories.