Looking to exercise or dance more this year, or just rediscover a bit more fun and joy? YouTube dance workouts can help you do ALL the above, and with lengths from just a couple minutes to a half hour, you can easily sneak one or more into your busy day.
Looooong before the pandemic turned people onto home workouts, I was a total online dance class and dance workout aficionado. A lifelong dancer, I've always sought out opportunities to bring more joyful movement into my life and discovered many years ago that dancing at home, especially using super-fun YouTube videos, had heaps of benefits:
IT'S SO FUN IT DOESN'T FEEL LIKE EXERCISE!
IT'S FREE!
IT'S FLEXIBLE!
No commute.
Hit play/pause whenever you want.
Need to work a little longer on something? Rewind and rewatch!
Find just the right style and length (maybe even combining a few short videos) to suit your mood and availability.
IT'S FREEING! No need to be shy or nervous at home. Dance like no one's watching, as they say, because likely no one is...except maybe your pets!
As someone who strives to help people find easy, accessible ways to find more peace and joy in their daily lives, I find YouTube dance videos to be such a win-win-win and am excited to share with you some of my all-time favorites below. They vary from add-on choreography style to follow-along Zumba-style, from single-track sessions to full-length workouts.
Try out a few and see which styles, lengths and instructors speak to you, then explore some more. Maybe even make a playlist of your favorites so you have just the right collection waiting for whatever duration of time you have available that day.
MOVE WITH COLOUR - Dance Now! Britney B@*&^
This 10-minute Britney Spears break-down and add-on cardio choreography class is my new favorite YouTube dance workout. The songs and Britney-inspired sassy moves get me so amped and vamped! Cheesy? Yeah, a little. But also a blast? And a great short workout? 1,000%! Move with Colour is good at slowing down to help you learn in bite-sized chunks, while also repeating a lot to commit things to memory and keep the heart rate up.
SUNNY FUNNY FITNESS - "Fancy" by Twice
South Korean Zumba teacher Park Young-Sun ("Sunny") shares tons of single-song follow-along dance workouts as well as longer multi-track sessions, some even with good ab workouts, on her popular YouTube channel. This is my all-time favorite of her single tracks! Easy-to-learn, super sweet song and similarly sweet choreo, and always makes me feel like I'm a K-pop performer for a few minutes!
Repeat the video to master the moves or to extend your workout, or combine with some of her others. If you have more time and energy, this 36-minute multi-track class with ab work is guaranteed to make you sweat (a lot!)...and smile!
KEAIRA LASHAE - Reggae Dancehall Workout
With such a unique bubbly, silly, upbeat personality and such fun, funky moves, Keaira LaShae was one of my very first YouTube dance workout faves. This 22-minute reggae dancehall workout is SUCH an oldie but goodie: so simple to follow as she repeats moves for a longer period before moving on, and if you're like me, they all take me back to my days of goofing off at the club days with friends.
STEEZY - 15 Minute Groovy Dance Workout
Steezy has their own well-known and highly-respected online dance video platform, studded with lots of high-profile teachers and both follow-along (like Zumba) and tutorial-style (like a choreography class) videos. So I love that they offer some of their awesome videos for free on YouTube as well! This is one of my favorites...just chill and fun and, true to the title, full of groove!
MARK KRAMER PASTRANA - "Cupid" by Fifty Fifty
I'd never seen an all-male "Zumba crew" until I found Philippines-based Mark Kramer Pastrana and his adorable band of dance dudes. I can't get enough of them! Between his refreshing choreo and the group dynamic, to me it feels a little more like what you'd find in a (gentle) hip-hop studio class than a gym workout. This track is my favorite...a little slower tempo so easy to follow along and pick up moves and really just add your own flair. And like Sunny Funny's "Fancy," it's as sweet as a heart-shaped raspberry macaron.
FITNESS MARSHALL - "Telephone" by Lady Gaga
RUNNER UP: "Me Too" by Meghan Trainor
You can't talk about YouTube dance fun-and-fitness folks without mentioning Caleb Marshall, aka The Fitness Marshall and his massive multi-million-person "Booty Army" following. He makes moving your body SO. FUN! Try one of these two tracks for starters. If you get lost with the choreography, just lose yourself in a freestyle solo to one of these bumpin' songs until you catch back up!
FIT BODY BY ASHLEY - 25-Minute Dance Party Workout to 2000's Hip-Hop Hits
Another one of my OG YouTube dance fitness faves, Fit Body by Ashley has such a bright, motivating, come-as-you-are vibe and knows how to get you grooving and having a blast. I especially love this workout video because of all the throwback hits! (I've NEVER not danced when Wayne Wonder's "No Letting Go" comes on!)
1 Million Studio - "Despacito" Tutorial
No conversation about dance on YouTube is complete without a nod to 1Million Dance Studio, the powerhouse South Korean dance studio where so many of today's fiery-hot dancers and choreographers–like co-founder Lia Kim–have emerged and trained. 1Million has loads of short dance tutorials on YouTube (be sure to watch the music-video-like performance versions first for inspo and to know where you're going; here's "Despacito"!). And while they're not always as much of a workout as the choreo is complex and takes time to break down and learn, they are always fierce! It's like getting a professional dance class for free, and thanks to the pause button, at your own pace... ;)
I hope you try one or more of these YouTube dance classes and workouts, and if so, let me know what you think! DM me on Instagram (@jennymayomindandmove) or drop a note in my contact me form at the bottom of the page.
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