ROCKINGHAM — Since September, Dance Sensations has been the home of Mary Kate Lambeth’s new Dance Cardio class three days a week to help women and men get into better shape, learn some new moves and have a little fun.
Lambeth said before one of her Thursday night classes that she had been wanting to start this project up for years, but with having three kids at home, finding time was difficult. But now that her children are getting older, she’s found extra hours to get out of the house and provide a fun exercise for those who might not feel comfortable in a gym setting.
“We’ll dance for a straight hour to top 40 music,” Lambeth said. “We keep the music rolling the whole time. We’re doing repetitive dances to music so it’s real easy to follow. We incorporate squats, lunges and some ab work. We do one song that’s nothing but arms. You are getting a workout, but it’s really more about cardio. You just sweat a lot in there.”
Lambeth has been teaching at Dance Sensations for 20 years this year, but has been dancing her whole life — even before she moved to Richmond County from Kernersville when she was 12 years old.
Misty Barnes, one of the participants in the Dance Cardio class, has attended several already and found that after trying aerobics and Zumba in the past, this was a way to “change up” her exercising.
Another member of the class, Tina Pittman, has only been to three classes to this point, but was also looking for something to change her day-to-day regimen.
“I just heard several friends talking about it, and I’d seen Mary Kate’s Facebook post, and it looked like a lot of fun,” said Pittman. “It looked like a good way to get out, exercise and do something different. It mixes up your routine a bit.”
Lambeth isn’t always the only one teaching as others who have been to a majority of the classes — which see between 10 and 20 participants — and who know the routine of the dances, will sometimes get pulled up to the front of the class to help.
The Thursday-night program begins at 8 p.m. and is free to the public. She also offers a line dancing class and an additional cardio class for a small fee and said she’s trying to put together another morning routine on Thursdays that will include Motown and 70s music, as well as a few musical numbers.
Anyone interested is encouraged to check out the full schedule on the Dance Cardio Facebook page, which Lambeth updates weekly.
“We turn the lights off, and we get the disco ball going,” she said. “It’s kind of like a party in there every night.”
