Swayed by Bollywood rhythms

TO anyone who has ever seen a Bollywood film, the moves are instantly recognizable: the nifty shoulder swivel, the delicate flourish of a hand, the undulating hips and swaying torso. Now those very moves -- a staple of popular Hindi films -- are also the path to fitness.

Already popular in the United Kingdom, on the East Coast and in Northern California, Bollywood workouts are fast gaining traction in Southern California, with classes in West Hollywood, Marina del Rey, and Glendale, as well as cities with sizable south Asian communities such as Irvine and Artesia.

“In this society, women are not really comfortable bringing out their inner drama queen,” said Hemalayaa Behl, an Ojai-based yoga and fitness instructor who recently released “The Bollywood Dance Workout” on DVD. “But in Bollywood, it’s encouraged. With these workouts, we’re saying: ‘Let her play, let her shimmy, let her loose.’ ”

Bollywood dance is inherently sensual -- almost primal. Achinta McDaniel, who teaches Bollywood Bhangra Beats at Swerve Studio in West Hollywood and Bollywood Body Heat at Your Neighborhood Studio in Culver City, said she even encourages her students to adopt the sultry facial expressions that go with this kind of dance.

The expressions help make a stronger connection between the exuberance of the music and the sexy, swirling movements, she says.

McDaniel has been leading Bollywood workout classes in L.A. since 2002, having offered them in New York before that. As the founder of the Blue13 Dance Company, her background is in ballet and tap, but, born to an Indian family in New York, she grew up watching Bollywood films and listening to Hindi film songs.

“I was originally offering it as a great dance class,” she said. But gyms, including Equinox, began wooing her to structure it as a workout class, because “they could see that we were constantly bouncing around and jumping and never standing still,” she said.

That was evident on a recent Saturday afternoon at the Swerve Studio on 3rd Street, where a dozen students -- two of them men and none of them Indian -- were being put through the paces by McDaniel.

Dressed in sweatpants and a pale blue embroidered Indian shirt, she led the group through a warmup of stretches -- the kind that start most exercise routines. But that segued into a high-energy workout to rousing Hindi film music. The moves were fluid, artful and sexy, with steps also culled from hip-hop and jazz routines. Hips swayed, toes tapped and necks strutted in and out, peacock-style.

Class members managed to smile through even the sweatiest high-impact segment -- hopping repeatedly on one leg while twirling the opposite arm high above the head.

“It’s not as hard as I thought it was going to be, but it was more fun than I expected,” said Lisa Browne of Los Angeles, who had come in for an earlier ballet class, and stayed on for Bollywood Bhangra Beats.

Unlike exercise disciplines that stress intensity above all, having a good time is at the core of Bollywood workouts.

As with other fitness routines, most Bollywood classes feature upbeat music, stretching and toning segments, a chunk of time devoted to cardio, and then a cool-down.

But they also teach moves based on the vibrant dance steps featured in almost every Bollywood film, complete with songs from movie soundtracks.

Most also include moves inspired by the bhangra, a hugely popular folk dance that originates from India’s Punjab region, that involves robust foot-stomping while jerking the shoulders and arms upward.

“In yoga, the energy gets so structured and confined,” said Behl, whose yoga classes became a Bollywood workout after she began introducing some high-energy Hindi music. “I was teaching a class and felt like I really needed to put on some bhangra and Bollywood tunes.

“Everybody loved it, and it took off from there.”

The workouts are similar to conventional aerobics classes in that they “hit every area and you’re sore the next day,” Behl said. “But you don’t notice that it’s an intense workout because you’re having so much fun.”

She started teaching a month ago at the Ginga Multicultural Arts Center in Santa Barbara, and will lead workshops at Heartbeat House in Atwater Village on Saturday and April 28.

Also, Naach (the Hindi word for “dance”), a professional dance company that teaches structured Indian dance classes as well as Bollywood fitness classes, began Naachercise classes in Irvine in March and is looking at other potential locations in Greater Los Angeles.

Based in San Jose, Naach has trademarked Naachercise, which it teaches in 10 classes a week in the Bay Area.

“The cardio section uses Bollywood routines, but not in the form of structured, choreographed classes,” co-founder Aditya Patel said. “It’s fitness-based rather than dance-based, using lyrical movements but keeping fitness to a certain level.”

Patel attributed the enthusiastic response to his classes -- the debut lesson in Irvine had 30 students -- to growing familiarity with Bollywood movies and music.

“In India, they try to ape the West -- fitness classes based on salsa, hip-hop and jazz are really big there. But people have experienced all that here, and now want to see what the East has to offer.”

The NDM Dance Studio in Artesia will also soon extend its Bollywood workouts to locations in Pasadena and La Canada Flintridge, at exercise studios and in private homes.

Founder and artistic director Nakul Dev Mahajan said his students were drawn to it because they didn’t need to memorize dance moves.

“A lot of people are put off by the idea of having to learn a dance routine and coming back the next week prepared,” he said. “With this, they can get into shape without having to worry about doing all the movements correctly.

“Women who have enrolled their kids in my dance program want these workout classes,” he said.

“They’ll be able to do the dances they’ve seen on screen without being judged, and getting a workout out of it.”