A ‘Vukuto’ Workout : Funk-Style Aerobics Take on Feeling of Live Rock Concert

When Laguna Beach fitness instructor Mel Jackson started conducting his funk-style aerobics class to the beat of live conga drums, tambourines, flutes, bells and bass guitars, he realized that he had something special on his hands.

So, to encourage the family feeling that was rapidly developing among his students, he implemented a unique “black only” dress code and gave the class the most intriguing name he could find.

“I found vukuto (pronounced voo-koo-toh ) in a Swahili dictionary that was given to me by a student,” says Jackson. But it wasn’t the dark ritual overtones of a word that sounds like some weird blend of voodoo and karate that attracted Jackson to vukuto ; it is nothing more or less than the Swahili word for sweat.

“The workout you get in my class is the cake,” Jackson says. “Vukuto is a blend of cardiovascular exercise, dance choreography, and muscle isolation exercises sandwiched between a proper warm-up/stretch and cool-down/stretch. All the other stuff is just icing.”

Mixed in with the aerobics dance workout are the soulful enthusiasm of a revival meeting, without any religious testimonials, and the “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” audio-kinetic involvement of a live rock concert, without the stench of smoke and cheap perfume.

“It’s like the difference between watching MTV and going to a live concert,” says Pam Warner of Corona del Mar resident . “It’s disciplined and wild at the same time--and the workout does wonders for my bad back.”

While there are other exercise classes that are conducted to live music--most notably Zahava’s Monday night class at Legion Hall in Laguna Beach--Jackson’s Vukuto is the only one that encourages joyful, foot-stomping interaction between the “audience” and the “performers.”

What makes Vukuto unique is that--once it all gets going--it’s hard to tell who’s working and who’s playing. Also, the avant-garde, aluminum and concrete ambience of Laguna Beach’s Club Postnuclear, where all Jackson’s classes are held, definitely contributes to the “Saturday Morning Live!” feel of Vukuto.

Jackson brings it all together by standing between stage and dance floor. From this position he skillfully cues both the musicians on stage and the exercisers on the floor in a way that catalyzes both groups. The result is everyone starts jumping and shouting like a bunch of Grateful Deadheads.

“Sometimes the musicians come out on the floor and surround us,” says long-time student Brenda Thompson of Lake Forest. “That really gets you going.”

Wherever they happen to be, the musicians enthusiastically perform aerobic dance movements while playing their instruments. On the floor, aerobic dancers mimic, sweat and chant like revivalists under the spell of the Rev. Mel at the Church of the Truly Physical.

Although all the low-impact movements are safe and sound, neither Jackson, the band, nor the dancers always know what’s coming next.

“A lot of it is improvisational,” Jackson says. “Sometimes we’re all surprised when one set of movements just flows into the next. Sometimes a student will even grab a tambourine and jump in with the band.”

This blend of funk aerobics, dance choreography and live music is held every Saturday and Sunday morning at Club Postnuclear on Laguna Canyon Road. Between 8:30 and 9 a.m., Jackson’s assistant, Karen Lee, leads a “primer” session designed to help newcomers tune in to the basic move sequences. Most involve movement of the trunk and shoulders in addition to traditional movement of the arms and legs. At 9, the band and Jackson show up and that’s when the “meeting” begins.

Jackson says that planned spontaneity has always been a key theme in Vukuto.

“It just sort of happened about two years ago,” Jackson says. “A friend of mine, Markus Ritchie, started playing drums as background for some of my classes. But Markus is a real showman--and he loves to dance--so he started swiping my tambourine and dancing around with the class. Everyone loved it.”

Reasoning--a la Frank Zappa--that if some is good, more is better, and too much is just enough, Jackson brought in other instruments and other musicians until he was able to scrap recorded music altogether. That’s about when the popularity of Jackson’s classes began to soar.

“We went from 10 to 15 people per class to 20 to 30 in just a few months,” Jackson says. “And now, because we get as many as 60 people showing up on Sunday, we have to cut it off at 50 so everyone has enough room to move.”

Jackson says the word is out among musicians as well. Between five to 10 musicians show up every Saturday and Sunday morning to get in on the action.

“First-timers just follow my cues and blend in with the three to four regular players,” Jackson says. “It’s amazing, but it always seems to work out fine.”

The owners of Club Postnuclear have since scrapped their own standard aerobics program, of which Jackson’s classes were just a part. They then leased the facility to Jackson.

In addition to the weekend Vukuto classes, Jackson personally conducts other classes seven days a week. “Techno-funk,” a cardiovascular workout coupled with muscle-isolation floor work, runs Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

“Choreographic Funk,” which focuses more on dance technique, is held Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 9 a.m. Lee conducts “Fundamental Funk,” for beginners, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Jackson also teaches a “Street Dancing” class for “juniors and teens with an attitude.” The class, designed for boys and girls age 13 and up, runs Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 p.m.

An additional seven classes at Ken Norton’s Gold’s Gym in El Toro, and seven private training sessions a week keep Jackson as busy as a fitness professional can physically afford to be.

Jackson and Ritchie have great plans for Vukuto.

“We’re still developing the concept,” Jackson says. “But eventually we’d like to build it into a complete traveling show. We’d show up at a club or studio just like we were doing a gig and people from all over could dance, exercise and enjoy live music all at the same time.”

Adds Ritchie, “We’re also looking at a Vukuto record album and the possibility of marketing the class to MTV or a video company.”

For more information call (714) 494-0818.