Shake it up or shake it off
There was a time when fitness and dance crazes were indistinguishable from each other. Remember Olivia Newton John and Physical? Can’t unhear it now, huh? Or the Zumba revolution that was as big as Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution?
Fitness trends are like your wardrobe from high school. They start as a good idea, but time passes, and suddenly you’re wondering, “Why did I ever think leotards and leg warmers are okay in public?” or “How could Richard Simmons have been a fitness icon?”
Dance and fitness have always been strange bedfellows, especially when fashion comes into play that could make you either the epitome of cool or of dowdiness.
Sure, each era has its “what were we thinking?” moments when it comes to staying in shape, and every generation finds a new way to make fools of themselves while burning calories. But that’s just one of the things that make life interesting.
As a member of Generation X, my perspective is colored (befogged?) by fond memories of ‘80s aerobics and the glory days of Jane Fonda’s Workout tapes, followed a decade later by Cindy Crawford’s Shape Your Body.
Today, we live in a world where TikTok rules, Gen Z dances into fitness challenges, and everything is one algorithm away from going viral.
Fitness and dance trends have certainly evolved through the years, from the simple military-inspired exercises and boogie shoes of our lolos and lolas to today’s online-driven routines.
In the 1940s, fitness was straightforward: stretch, jump, repeat. A few jumping jacks and a bit of running around kept our forefathers in top form, mostly because life itself was already a workout (hello, wartime rationing and constant physical labor).
Then the ‘50s hit, and with it, the hula hoop. Over 400,000 of those wobbly circles were sold across America alone. Talk about revolutionary! For the life of me, I could never go beyond a couple of twirls before the darn contraption drops to the ground.
No pain, no gain is no longer hip. After a taxing workout, just exclaim ‘sheesh’ or ‘skibidi.’ Your kids will totally get you.
Yet, by the 1960s, people decided they were tired of moving their hips and wanted something easier. The vibrating “slimming” belt machine, every lazy dieter’s dream, promised that once you try it, you “can’t stop shaking.” Spoiler alert: it didn’t work, and yet it has evolved into vibration plates found in some fitness centers today and heat belts that should melt fat away. We have a Filipino term for that: Budol-budol.
Enter the ‘70s, and folks wanted more than passive weight loss. Disco dancing duked it out with Jazzercise for an endorphin-inducing workout akin to popping Prozac. In a period marked by batik prints on one hand and body-forming, asphyxia-inducing outfits on the other, dance merged with fitness. This is when Jane Fonda got a second wind in her lackluster acting career—does anyone really remember Barbarella beyond the opening scene?—convincing millions of women to “feel the burn” as they whooped it up in dance studios.
The ‘80s took it a step further with aerobics, aerobics, and even more aerobics. Keeping it real, it probably was less about the exercise and more about looking good, before, during, and after sweating it out, with neon leg warmers and headbands that served no practical purpose whatsoever.
Just as the soccer moms and yuppies were perfecting their box steps and grapevines, the ‘90s had to go and toughen things up with Tae Bo. Billy Blanks made martial arts fitness a thing, and suddenly, we were kicking and punching our way to six-pack abs... at least for the first five minutes for me before I dropped out of class, or turned off the VHS at home.
As if masochism wasn’t enough, spinning classes emerged and everyone (except me) jumped on stationary bikes—why they’re still called “bikes” even if they have one wheel is beyond me—pretending it’s just as fun as actually pedaling through the park. In later years, Ariana Grande would make it retro cool in her hit single Side to Side, mixing in some boxing and the obligatory sweaty bodies.
By the time the dreaded Y2K arrived with a pfft, Zumba had added a Latin flavor to the fitness scene in an apt celebration of the non-apocalypse. It was the moment of Beto Perez, the genius behind Zumba. He even visited Manila in 2015, calling it his “home away from home.” If that’s not a heartfelt endorsement, I don’t know what is. After all, Cali and Manila, the “gates of hell” per novelist Dan Brown, could be sister cities.
And let’s not forget the Pilates and yoga revolution, which may as well come with a disclaimer: “Warning, may attract celebrities.” From Lady Gaga to Cristiano Ronaldo, or Jennifer Aniston to Robert Downey, Jr., everyone’s doing it. But did you know the guy behind it, Joseph Pilates, was basically a fitness MacGyver during World War I? Using bed springs and beer key rings, he made the first Pilates equipment. This wasn’t yoga with the Kardashians in Malibu; it was straight-up, make-do-or-die fitness innovation.
Dance crazes, too, have always had a way of shaking things up, starting from the Charleston’s quirky kicks in the 1920s to the TikTok-ready moves of today. Remember the Twist? The Hustle? The Moonwalk, Dirty Dancing, and the Macarena?
There was a time when I thought MJs routines were easy, but when I try to pull off some classic moves at home, I only elicit eye rolls and snickers. In my head, I could still nail those dance steps; in reality, my feet seem to be nailed to the floor!
It’s a whole different story now. For Millennials, Gen Zs, and Alphas born with social media in their DNA, dance is no longer confined to parties or a move-as-if-nobody’s-watching thing, but a performance. Take TikTok dance challenges, which seem to morph every other week. The Renegade? The Nae Nae? If you’re over 30, you’ve probably turned to Google to figure out what the heck is going on.
Of course, in the Philippines, dancing has had its own flavor. There was a time when ballroom dancing was a craze, complete with dance instructors (DIs or “dancing attorneys” as we called them). Some of them did house calls to teach tango, cha-cha, samba, or swing in the comfort of your living room. More than a fitness routine, ballroom dancing had, for a time, become an expensive pastime, as well as a source of good income for those “happy feet.”
So here we are today. CrossFit has come and (mostly) gone, replaced by HIIT sessions we do in our living rooms or in studios with our ClassPass, and if all else fails, there are tons of tutorials on YouTube.
So, my fellow Gen Xers, go out there and shake it up like Cece and Rocky Blue if you’re feeling bold, or shake it off à la Taylor Swift if you’ve renounced these trends. What’s important is that no matter what’s in vogue, the goal is still to feel good.
No pain, no gain is no longer hip. After a taxing workout, just exclaim “sheesh” or “skibidi.” Your kids will totally get you.