Street dance, jazz dance, and belly dance: three trendy dance styles and their slimming secrets.
Free street dance
Hip-hop is a general term for various street dances, including popping, breakdancing, etc., which originated from improvisational dance moves by street dancers in the United States. These popular street dances mostly originated in Brooklyn, New York, with dancers primarily of Black or Mexican descent. Some Black or Mexican children spent their days dancing in the streets for fun, thus forming various styles of street dance. Street dance has a strong slimming effect because it is a low-to-moderate intensity aerobic exercise; in an hour of exercise, it can significantly burn body fat. Street dance movements include various walking, running, jumping, and flexion, extension, rotation, circling, swinging, and undulating movements of the head, neck, shoulders, upper limbs, and torso. Each movement has a strong fitness effect, emphasizing not only the coordination of upper and lower limbs, abdomen and back, and head and torso, but also the independent movement of each component. Street dance not only has the general benefits of aerobic exercise, such as improving cardiovascular function, reducing fat, enhancing muscle elasticity, and increasing ligament flexibility, but it also coordinates muscle groups in different parts of the body, shapes a beautiful physique, improves coordination, and cultivates character.
Street dance is an aerobic exercise. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, it should be done 3-5 times a week for 30-60 minutes each time for noticeable weight loss. Data shows that during street dance workouts, the proportion of energy supplied by fat increases with duration. For example, during 40 minutes, 100 minutes, and 180 minutes of continuous exercise, fat accounts for 27%, 37%, and 50% of total energy expenditure, respectively. To achieve better weight loss results, the workout time should be appropriately extended and maintained consistently.
Popping involves using the muscles and joints of various parts of the body to create surprising dance moves in time with the music and with one's rich imagination. It belongs to a more challenging type of street dance.
Breakdancing, also known as breakdancing, is a highly challenging dance style. It can be broadly categorized into two types: "power moves," which involve spinning on the ground using the hands, head, and body; and "soft moves," which involve creating complex and varied footwork on the ground, combined with challenging handstands. Of course, dancers can freely incorporate any moves they wish to express while dancing.
Freestyle is a superb dance style that blends various dance types together, allowing for free expression without the limitations of any particular dance style. It breaks free from the norms of general dance and can be described as a personalized form of street dance.
House, accompanied by House music, is a dance style that uses complex and magical steps. It can incorporate the waist twists of Latin dance, the somersaults of martial arts, the basic steps of tap dance, and the turns of ballet. It can be danced in a way that is both very elegant and quite wild.
When first learning street dance, it's crucial not to increase the intensity too quickly; a gradual approach is essential. Start with warm-up exercises to loosen up all joints and ligaments, especially the knees and ankles, to prevent injury during movement. Then, engage in practice at a moderate intensity for at least 30 minutes. Finally, perform stretching exercises to relax the body. Following these three steps will yield better results for weight loss.
Because everyone's age, physical fitness, and health condition are different, the intensity of exercise varies from person to person. "Exercise intensity" is generally expressed as "maximum heart rate." You should calculate your optimal heart rate for street dance as follows:
If you are 25 years old, don't exercise regularly, have average physical fitness, and choose street dance as a weight loss exercise, then your maximum heart rate is 220-25=195. The appropriate exercise intensity (exercise heart rate) for you should be: (60%～75%)×195=117～146 (beats/minute).
Passionate and unrestrained jazz dance
Jazz dance originated from the dances brought to America by African slaves, and its movements, like the character of Africans, are primitive, passionate, and unrestrained. After arriving in America, jazz dance absorbed elements and techniques from ballet, modern dance, street dance, and Latin dance, aiming to express a fiery and passionate style. Hip thrusts, waist twists, and wave-like body movements all reveal a woman's charm and sexiness.
Jazz dance in gyms is a modified version of jazz aerobics. Instructors typically transform soothing pop and traditional jazz music into high-energy aerobic music. This jazz, unlike the swing jazz in dance halls, is more powerful, energetic, and rhythmic, allowing women to express a fiery passion in their dance. Jazz dance is an aerobic exercise. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, dancing jazz 3-5 times a week for 30-50 minutes each time can sculpt a perfect figure. Data shows that during jazz dance workouts, the proportion of energy derived from fat increases with duration. Therefore, to achieve better body shaping results, it's essential to appropriately extend the workout time and maintain consistency.
1. Basic Techniques of Jazz Dance
As the music plays, step forward or backward, bend your knees, and thrust your hips to one side. Pay attention to coordinating your hand movements with the hip twisting motion to maintain balance and aesthetics.
(1) Leg kick combination. In jazz dance, all movements need to be coordinated. In addition to the hand movements coordinating with the body's twisting, the leg movements are even more important.
(2) Hip twisting combination. Hip thrusting, waist twisting, and wave-like body movements are the main characteristics of jazz dance. With the strong rhythm of the music, twisting the hips and twisting the body releases the passion and grace of women in the forward and backward movements.
A good jazz dancer must embody three elements: soul, sensuality, and balance. The flexion, extension, rotation, circling, and swaying of the head, neck, shoulders, upper limbs, and torso may not seem aesthetically pleasing on their own, but when these movements are seamlessly connected, like flowing water, jazz dance exudes captivating charm. Therefore, besides mastering the basic steps, a good jazz dancer must possess these three elements: soul, sensuality, and balance.
2. The fitness benefits of jazz dance
(1) Cardiopulmonary endurance. Generally, the duration of a single movement combination in jazz dance is not very long, but the rest time between combinations is often very short. Therefore, if the learner has good cardiopulmonary endurance, they can generally maintain good dance skills after repeating the movement combination many times without experiencing excessive fatigue.
(2) Muscle strength and endurance. Jazz dance involves many fast movements that require instantaneous power, so basic muscle strength is essential. Furthermore, because learning dance often requires repeating the same movements multiple times, the demands on muscle endurance are also relatively high, especially for the lower limb muscles. Otherwise, injuries to the knees, ankles, hips, and surrounding muscles can easily occur. Jazz dancers also enhance their muscle endurance through other supplementary training methods (such as aquatic aerobics and yoga).
(3) Flexibility. Regardless of the type of dance, good flexibility is essential for beautiful movements; otherwise, the intended graceful lines cannot be achieved. Jazz dance is no exception. When performing warm-up stretches, it's crucial to avoid using bouncing stretches before the muscles are fully warmed up, as this can easily lead to muscle strain. Static stretching is safer, but requires more patience. Flexibility exercises should not be performed to the point of pain; a slight muscle tightening is sufficient. The duration of each stretch can range from ten to thirty or forty seconds; the longer the duration, the greater the load on the muscles and connecting tissues around the joints.
(4) Body Composition. Most outstanding jazz dancers possess strong muscles and low body fat. This gives their bodies clearly defined muscle striations, making their movements appear more powerful and energetic. Lower body fat also prevents dancers from carrying unnecessary weight, allowing for more graceful and agile movements. While learning jazz dance can be a way to lose weight, overweight beginners should first lose weight through other methods, otherwise it may pose a certain risk to muscle and joint health.
(5) Coordination. Coordination is very important in jazz dance. In addition to the coordination of the hands and feet, there is also the coordination of the head, torso, and limbs. Furthermore, in jazz dance, different parts of the body move at different rhythms simultaneously, which is a great test of the dancer's coordination ability. When starting out, it is advisable to practice the movements of different parts of the body separately until they are mastered, and then gradually combine them into the required movements. This will bring a great sense of accomplishment.
(6) Dexterity. Jazz dance often uses movements in different directions and at different levels to increase excitement and entertainment, so dancers must be dexterous and skilled, and the angle of turning must be accurate and quick.
(7) Balance. The ability to maintain dynamic balance is often more widely used in jazz dance than static balance. In other words, dancers must be clear about the shift of their center of gravity in the dance steps. In addition, they must use techniques and their eyes to locate themselves and assist in maintaining balance when turning.
Belly dance that is both graceful and powerful
Belly dancing is a popular fitness dance among fashionable women. This dance, considered one of the most graceful and alluring forms of exercise, is both gentle and powerful, making it especially suitable for women who want to lose belly fat and achieve a slimmer waist. As exotic music plays, freely moving your waist, abdomen, and hips can not only help you quickly disappear your "spare tire" but also release stress and relax your mind. The graceful and alluring figures of belly dancers, with their slender waists and beautiful curves, are truly enviable. The reason belly dancers possess such perfect curves is because each twisting movement has a powerful slimming, shaping, and health-promoting effect; freely moving your body effectively burns fat.
Belly dance primarily targets the waist, hips, legs, back, and arms for weight loss. The entire dance movement allows for full movement of your legs, hips, shoulders, and neck, reducing excess fat in the arms, hips, and thighs, effectively improving overall body shape, and thus enhancing elasticity and flexibility.
Many belly dance movements involve lifting the hips and circular or up-and-down abdominal movements, which effectively enhance the flexibility of the waist and abdomen. The alluring, undulating abdominal movements make the waist more flexible, beautifully sculpting the waistline and reducing waist fat while twisting freely, giving you a firm, slim waist.
When belly dancing, dancers often perform movements barefoot, lifting their heels as they walk slowly. This helps develop strong calves. The most classic belly dance move, the hip-swaying motion, can also give you a sexy, perky butt.
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