Play along: African dancing disguises workout

By Laura Clark

Published: July 2, 2008

Drumbeats filled the classroom as our group of six formed a circle, lightly marching to the lead of AFRI-CArdio instructor Christine Davis.

We shrugged our shoulders, stepping forward and back, and then swung our arms as if we were banging one massive drum together.

As we spread out from the circle, Davis told us to listen to the music more than her directions.

‘I really just encourage people to listen to their bodies.’
- Christine Davis, AFRI-CArdio instructor

AFRI-CArdio
- Mondays 6:30-7:30 p.m.
- Rockfish Valley Community Center
- (434) 831-1111
- The first class is free.

“If you think you’re lost, you’re not,” she said. “You don’t have to carbon-copy me.”

Wearing pink and green floral pants, Davis started with small steps, maybe to the right, then the left. She built in speed and movement, adding wider steps and flowing arms. We tried to mimic her hip-popping and high-knee stepping.

Before I knew it, my bare feet were stepping in time on the wood floor, and the breeze from the open windows cooled my sweaty face. With each step I felt less stiff, less shy.

Everyone moved together, but in our own dancing world.

I could see what Davis meant when she said dancing was her calling, her art. A dancer since childhood, Davis created AFRI-CArdio, a fusion of West African dance and cardio workouts. Davis went to Africa five years ago to study dance, and brings the main elements of West African dancing to the class, including moving together as a group, moving to the downbeats of the music, moving from a low center of gravity (like our hips), and moving in polyrhythm.

Polyrhythm is the complicated part, as it means you move your feet different from your shoulders, or add a head bob to whole thing. But Davis emphasized moving your feet first, then doing whatever movement felt comfortable. All the different movements blended in an interval.

“I’ll take as step to a really full expression, and then people get winded and I’ll back down,” she said.

Sometimes I got so caught up in the dancing, I wouldn’t notice when Davis slowed down. Stepping high and wide, arms flying, we moved with controlled chaos. The more bold the movements, the more exhilarated I felt. And when I did lose Davis or the music’s beat, or both, I just laughed and went back to the simple steps.

Our hour-long class ended too soon. As we cooled down with stretches, Davis led us in a few crunches, which was the only thing that felt like work.

I left the classroom with a new sense of freedom, my mind calm and my body energized.

Veteran student Lisa Lefferts was right: this was so much more than exercise.