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Examples of a High & Low Impact Dance Beginner Aerobic Routines 
Made popular in the 1980s, dance exercise continues to help people burn calories and build cardiovascular strength and endurance. It's ideal for all fitness levels, as many steps can be performed at various intensities or impact. No dance experience or coordination is required, as routines are usually basic steps strung together and repeated.

Basics of Exercise Dance

At one time, exercise dance instructors made up specific routines for each song used in their class. Today, the creation of 32-count music allows routines to be performed to any other 32-count music piece. Routines are created in 32-beat segments that are usually broken down into two-, four- or eight-beat parts. For example, a 32-beat segment might involve eight counts of step-touch, eight counts of grapevine, eight counts of V-steps and eight counts of jacks. A more complicated segment could include four counts of grapevine to the right, four counts of V-step, four counts of grapevine with four counts of V-step to the left, four counts jog forward with four counts of jacks, and four counts of jogging back with four counts of jacks. Several 32-beat segments are strung together to create an exercise dance routine.

Exercise Dance Steps

Although you only need to know a few steps to enjoy dance exercise, there are many steps and step variations. Low-impact steps such as step-touch, V-step, ham curls, grapevines and alternating knee lifts are good for all fitness levels because they are low intensity and don't involve jumping. High-impact steps require more exertion and involve impact. Many low-impact steps can be made high impact by adding a hop, such as a V-step done by taking two steps forward and two hops back. Other high-impact steps include jacks, pony and squat jumps. Turn steps make the routine feel more like dancing, although they also make the routine more complicated. Turn steps involve making a quarter, half or full turn. For example, a basic step-touch side to side can be turned into an L-step by stepping to the right, making a quarter clockwise turn, stepping to the left and stepping right again while making a quarter counterclockwise turn back to the front. Other types of turns include diagonal moves and pivots.


Many exercise dance routines use popular music, but themed options are fun and offer variety as well. For example, a Latin-themed routine uses Latin music and includes mambos and sambas. Hip-hop themed routines use hip-hop music and dance steps. Many seniors enjoy exercise dance using music and dance steps from the 1960s. Other exercise dance themes include Broadway and country.

Zumba and Video Dance Exercise

Exercise dance isn't limited to traditional aerobic dance forms and formats. Zumba uses Latin music and moves in a high-energy routine. While Zumba teachers choreograph their routines, they craft the moves to individual songs, not in 32-count segments. In fact, Zumba was created when its founder, Alberto "Beto" Perez forgot to bring his traditional aerobic music to a class he was teaching.

Gaming system dance programs such as "Dance Dance Revolution" or "Just Dance" for Wii, Playstation or X-Box offer popular dance moves to current music. A 2011 study in the "Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy Journal" showed that video dance games lowered BMI in overweight individuals. Video dance takes a little longer to learn because it doesn't use spoken cuing like other dance exercise forms use.





