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10 Easy But Cool Dance Routines

There's nothing quite as mesmerizing as a well-choreographed dance routine. It's one thing to be able to walk or even run in a straight line on the dance floor; it's another to execute moves with incredible precision and execution — think Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever or Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline.

You don't have to be as flexible or supple as a ballerina or a gymnast to perfect some moves, though. Sure, some of the moves require an impressive amount of strength and flexibility, but some of them are incredibly simple.

Sure, it'll take a lot of practice to perfect your moves, but if you're new to it, you'll learn quickly and your moves will improve as you go.

If you're already a regular at the gym, you'll know that adding some gym moves to your routine can work wonders on your stamina, strength, and self-confidence.

Whatever you're into, here are 10 simple and fun dance routines you can try at the gym. Have fun!

1. Anchor Roll

dance, yoga, meditation

First, you'll start out with an anchor (like a bench). Slowly lower yourself down to the bottom of the anchor, keeping your spine straight.

Pull your shoulders down toward your hands, keep your hips and knees in line, and lift your feet up. Release your hands and sit back down to the bottom. Repeat this process until you get tired.

2. Ruffle Fling

Ruffle your hair and toss it to the side. Then lift your hands into the air and do a soft fling around the room, or into the air if you have enough energy.

At first, you might want to raise your arms higher, but as you practice you can raise your arms as high as you want. This is a great way to work up your upper-body strength.

3. Rounded Shoulders

Straighten your arms and take a deep breath in. As you exhale, lift your chest off the floor and try to make your shoulders come forward. While you're in the perfect position, take a small step forward, pushing your chest forward even more. Do this for 30 seconds.

4. Row

Curl your upper body up into a row position, then slowly lower your body until you're back in a standing position. Slowly repeat this pattern for 30 seconds.

5. Body Pump

freedom, girl, travel

Start with your feet in a push-up position and bring your feet into a high plank position.

Keeping your hips on the floor, slowly lift your chest into a high plank and pull your shoulder blades together. As you lift your chest up, slowly bring your shoulders back toward your ears.

As you lower your chest, slowly bring your shoulders down toward your ears. Finally, return to your push-up position. Keep your arms stretched out in front of you at all times. Repeat this for 30 seconds.

6. Get Up

For this one, you'll need a bench and floor. Start by standing on the bench. With your hands on the floor in front of your feet, lift your butt off the floor, bending at the knees. Keeping your hips in line with your feet, lower your body until your hands touch the floor. Pause for a few seconds, then lift back to the starting position. Repeat for 30 seconds.

7. Hopscotch

Stand in the middle of your mat and step out to the edge of the mat. Push yourself back in and repeat. Do this a few times.

8. Dab

Photo of two women dancing

First, stand in a wide stance and lift your hands into the air. Squeeze your glutes, push your hips back and slowly lower them back down. As you lower your body back to the ground, do a downward slant in your eyes.

9. Low turn up

We all know this dance by now: 'Low Turn Up'. I will leave it to you to Google if you haven't already.

The first thing to understand about this dance is that the performer is not moving quickly or directly. For example, if the performer were to have just walked around the corner to the side, the first move will be just a shuffle in place. Now imagine that the dancer hasn't walked at all but is instead leaning up against the wall with arms akimbo, swivelling his hips to the side and slowly doing the 'Ugh, someone's blocking the fire exit' shuffle.

Second, as he turns, that slow shuffle turn is much faster and much smoother than if he were just dancing straight. The smooth motion is something that can't be learned on the go. So this is a really useful one for training, because it will help you work on smooth movement with other techniques like speed, power and quick turns.

10. Square troupe stand

The dancer does a slow shuffle turn from the left side and moves forward, then turns left again and takes a step towards the right.

The player now moves in the opposite direction, shifts in place, shuffles forward again and moves back to the left. This is repeated until he is a couple of feet away from his starting position. When you're done, he turns around and you have a standing square troupe.

The next step is to stand in the centre of the square, like a traffic cop. From there, you get a sense of space and momentum from your dancing: think of it like you're riding a roller coaster, turning it left and right while you make your way across.

This is good for quick, sharp changes in direction. A little tip on rhythm: the faster you swing your arms, the slower your feet.

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