This week, the Anything But The Gym Girls try something special – a dance class that takes them back to childhood.
Sinead: Truth be told, I’ve never actually enjoyed exercising, unless I’m dancing.
Not the proper dance class kind of dancing mind you – the spontaneous, ridiculous and embarrassing kind where you pretend you’re in a music video. Emma and I started this column in an endeavour to find an exercise that came anywhere close to the sheer, unadulterated joy we feel when an absolute banger song comes on the radio, that makes us dance until we can’t breathe and we’re soaked in sweat.
Finally, after months of trials and tribulations – we found it. It’s here. We’ve done it.
Shut Up and Dance is New Zealand’s first dance class to teach routines inspired by popular films, musicals and music videos. It was founded by two cool as hell girls (JUST LIKE US) who just wanted to exercise the same way they danced in their bedrooms (JUST LIKE US!!!!)
Shut Up and Dance has been a huge success, their classes sell out immediately, and it’s easy to see why.
They believe that the dance floor is for feeling good, not looking good. By covering the studio mirrors and having a strict no-photos policy, the dancers feel empowered not intimidated. At Shut Up and Dance you don’t need to be nervous or shy or stand at the back – everyone’s there to let their freak flag fly and dance like an absolute loon.
When Emma told me we were going along to try out their Auckland Pop Up class, I was beyond excited. Friday night came, I’d had my pre-workout (two glasses of wine) and I thought I was ready – but nothing could have prepared me for what would be the greatest night of my young, 23-year-old life.
On arrival we were told that the theme for the night was “90’s boy bands”. The next hour was a blur of sweat, tears of happiness and a group dance off.
The dance moves were ridiculous but amazing. We were ridiculous but amazing.
Every now and then Emma and I would look into each other’s eyes and whisper “this is the greatest thing we’ve ever done”.
By the end of the class we had successfully mastered one of the most influential dance routines of the decade: Backstreet Boys’ Everybody (Backstreets Back). We left the class feeling elated, and forever changed as women. We knew that wherever this class went, we would follow.
Sinead and Emma channel their inner boyband personalities. Justin Timberlake approves.
Emma: When I was 12, my best friend Rachel filmed me performing Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) in her bedroom. Even though I am now old as hell, I still remember the moves to the chorus.
One of the magical bits of Shut Up and Dance is that they don’t tell you which routine you are learning until later on; Clair is a bloody genius at drip-feeding the choreography, just two or three moves at a time, so that your brain/dancing feet never get overwhelmed.
It was about half an hour in that she taught us one particular move that my brain pinged with a memory from long ago, and I knew what dance we were learning. The Dance. The dance I had practised for a hundred hours as a fair youth.
If you were to see a lifetime of Emma Clifton emotions represented on a line graph, the hour we spent at Shut Up and Dance was, frankly, peak joy.
At various points, Clair would bellow at us “IN THE RAIN” and we would have to pretend that we were dancing in the rain, ala Backstreet Boy’s Quit Playin’ Games (With My Heart) – sidenote, they really loved their parenthesis, didn’t they?
The crowd at SUAD were a mix of ages, sizes and talent levels but two things we all had in common was a passion for 90s pop and enthusiasm for making slight fools of ourselves.
Shut Up and Dance is the only exercise that has ever made me literally question moving cities, as up until recently the classes were only available in Wellington. But, like a miracle, they are now coming up to Auckland from September.
Also, if you’re not a BSB fan (get OUT, though), never fear. Other choreography the team has taught includes songs by Justin Bieber, Beyonce, Britney Spears and Michael Jackson. This class is the best use of your time and money ever.
The Anything But The Gym Girls have found their spiritual exercise home.
Verdict: We have signed on for the Auckland classes, starting in September. We are already planning our dancer’s wardrobes. We would probably quit our jobs/lives and do these classes full time if the option was available.
Where we went: Shut Up and Dance Pop-Up Class in Grey Lynn, Auckland
Where you can do it: From September, Auckland classes will happen every Monday night at the Grey Lynn Library Hall. Wellingtonians, your options are practically limitless with classes Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. Visit shutupanddance.co.nz for more information. You can book season passes, but get in quick!
We have one pass to The Shut Up And Dance team’s six-week Auckland course (worth $80) to giveaway. To enter visit the New Zealand Good Health Choices Facebook page. Winners must be in Auckland.
Sinead and Emma are the Anything But The Gym girls. Bored with standard workouts, they have begun the hunt for new and fun ways to get fit. Follow their weekly adventures here, and in New Zealand Good Health Choices. If you have a suggestion for something interesting for them to try, email [email protected] with Anything But The Gym in the subject line.
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