HEALTH & FITNESS | CAREERS
From Issue #19
To Dance Like A Pro
Train Like An Athlete
By Jayne Rae
He’s worked with Prince, Michael Jackson, Pink, J. Lo, Gwen
Stefani, Ricky Martin. Britney, Christina, Mariah Carey and George
Michael. He directed Madonna’s Re-Invention Tour, the highestgrossing
concert tour of 2004. Some say he is the most
innovative dance choreographer working in the entertainment
industry today — and clearly he is one of the best sports coaches
anywhere. Yes, I said “sport.”
Jamie King’s goal is to push boundaries and change traditional
definitions of what makes or defines an athlete and wants to get
us all dancing our way to a rock star body in the process.
Faze caught up with Jamie in New York recently as he unveiled
his Rockstar Workout, an innovative new workout that
combines sport with music, where he said, “Dancers are just
as physical as athletes, and the fact that we are lucky
enough to be recognized now, it’s beautiful.” Recognized
because sport apparel giant, Nike, has seen the obvious
connection between dancers and athletes and designed
a new workout line specifically for the demands of
a dancer.
Jamie and his team performed a dance/workout
routine for 15 minutes and were sweating and tired,
and looked like they had just run a marathon.
“Dancers truly are athletes. It’s proven in the
constant training, the grueling hours of dance
classes, and the keeping fit and staying fit, the
eating and the conditioning of the body. They
are athletes. They just are,” says Jamie. If
dance were in the Olympics, Usher would
win gold.
Jamie says, “With desire, you can do
anything and it doesn’t matter who you
are. We all start out in the same place.
Even if you’re a celebrity, you still
come to rehearsals like everyone
else and you have to train.”
(During rehearsals
Jamie’s good friend
Madonna stopped by
to offer some
encouragement!)
Jamie King has come
up with an exciting
recipe for fitness success:
take sport and add music.
So now, when someone asks
what sport you’re into you can
simply say, “Dance.”
Photos courtesy of Nike Canada
