Yoga's benefits stretch - Giant class raises money for organization
Fresh off her first fitness DVD -Real World
Yoga - released in September, Jackie Camborde
of Sante Fitness Studio in Eldorado is encouraging
individuals who have been entertaining the idea
of becoming fitness instructors to do what she
does.
On Sunday, she will conduct a workshop called
Dance, Dance Evolution to teach both fitness
instructors and potential fitness instructors
to make their classes more interesting and beneficial
to the clients.
This class is fairly new and has only been
taught two times, once at the Genoveva Chavez
Community Center in March and the other at the
Fitness Fest Convention in October in Tucson,Ariz.
"Eighteen people were signed up,"
she said of her class in Tucson. "People
would watch and then join in, and by the end
we had 36 people."
She kicks off the class by discussing with
her students the evolution of dance fitness:
Dance was initially viewed solely as an art
form, and when aerobics arrived on the scene
in the 1970s and '80s, dance started to be viewed
as a form of exercise.
When this happened, aerobics started to include
high-impact moves, and people started to get
hurt.
"We decided maybe we should take a step
back and start teaching the basics and foundation
for dance-based movement," Camborde said.
"That's really where this class comes into
play."
After the history lecture, the workshop continues
with other modules, the first of which is music.
Camborde likesto tell her students they must
always be on beat; she urges them to pick music
that allows them to do this. She also discusses
counting for dance.
"One thing that drives participants nuts
is if the instructor is not on the beat,"
Camborde said. "I know I ... will leave
the room if the instructor is not on the beat
because it just makes me crazy."
The second module is choreography. Instructors
should design choreography that appeals to every
level of student in the class, she said.
"My philosophy on that is keep it simple,"
she said. "For a long time, the goal for
a lot of fitness instructors was to be the hardest
instructor in the club, but now it's much better
to be the smartest instructor in the club."
She aims to have students leave her class thinking
it was fun but effective,and her workshop aims
to instill that goal in other instructors.
Camborde wants instructors to know that if
they have very complex choreography that none
of their students can follow, they're probably
not very good instructors.
"If you're doing not-so-complex choreography
and everyone in the room is following you and
having a good time, then they're going to be
more apt to come back to your class," she
said.
The third module pertains to base movements,
which are six simple movements that every dance
move is based upon, such as "the grapevine"
and the step touch.
Camborde addresses the way instructors can
take these movements and jazz them up.
"I just want to open their minds up to
new patterns and new ways to move,"Camborde
said.
The fourth module addresses how instructors
can modify movements to appeal to seasoned and
beginning dancers.
In addition to the lectures, Camborde and workshop
participants will spend 90 minutes discussing
two different ways to build a routine.
The Sunday workshop is from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30
p.m. and costs $55 in advance and $65 at the
door. There is still room.
"Even though it's an instructor-based
workshop, anyone who has an interest in dance
will benefit," Camborde said.
"In Santa Fe we need new instructors,
new blood."
