5 Dance Cardio Moves That Will Give You A Peach Emoji Butt

Photographed by Sacha Maric, styled by Sophie Pera

This article originally appeared in the May 2016 issue of SELF.

From one-off classes on the daily schedules at national chains like Equinox, to entire studios that revolve around the workout (see: Tracy Anderson Method, AKT, Body By Simone, and dozens of others), dance cardio is more popular than ever and shows no signs of slowing down. In January 2015, ClassPass worked with 275 dance studios; by January 2016, that number had risen to 1,311. During that time the company also saw a 118 percent increase in enrollment in dance-cardio classes.

With numbers like those, it’s clear that a lot of women are having fun twirling and twerking, but serious body benefits are another big part of the appeal. All of those bouncy grapevines, hops, and high knees escalate a dancer’s heart rate to an average of 79 percent of its max while burning around 10 calories per minute, according to new research from the University of Brighton in England.

“If you want to be fit for life, you’d better enjoy your workout,” says Katia Pryce, founder of DanceBody, an ultra-popular Manhattan program. “When you’re dancing  and rocking out to great music, there’s not doubt you’ll stick with it.” 

Ready to channel your inner pop star while logging a tough training session? Get started with these five dance-cardio moves from Pryce, then shake it to your favorite tracks. Need a little help on how to perform each exercise? See demos of each move here.

Photographed by Sacha Maric, styled by Sophie Pera

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