IT’S an especially warm summer evening, but the weather is no match for the heat inside a spacious studio at Dance Theater Workshop in Chelsea. Nearly 20 men and women sing as they sway from side to side, swivel their hips, kick their legs up in the air and do fast semi-squats to the catchy beat of “Pretty Woman,” a Hindi song from the popular Bollywood movie “Kal Ho Naa Ho” (“Tomorrow May Never Come”). They repeat the sequence again and again until they’re dripping.
This high-energy group is taking part in BollyBasics, a dance class that grooves to songs from Bollywood, the Hindi film industry known for movies with splashy dance numbers. The routines can challenge even the most consistent gymgoers, and New Yorkers have their pick of several classes that teach the choreography and offer a cardio workout at the same time.
BollyBasics is one of several Bollywood-inspired choices offered by Dhoonya Dance, founded by Priya Pandya, a professional dancer, with Kajal Mehta. The classes started a year ago, and when they proved popular, Ms. Pandya said, more options were added, including advanced levels and DhoonyaFIT, which began this month. Instead of focusing on one song, DhoonyaFIT covers six at a rapid speed and intersperses the steps with push-ups, sit-ups and other moves for a more intense workout.
The classes at Bollywood Funk NYC Dance School, hourlong sessions at various levels, aim to show the more modern side of Bollywood. They combine elements from hip-hop, funk and jazz with shimmies, hip shakes, pivots, side-to-side glides and various muscle isolations.
Robyn Spielberg, a maternity-clothes designer for the Gap, started taking beginner class a year ago after seeing a Bollywood segment on “So You Think You Can Dance.” She said she was hooked by the liveliness.
“Unlike other dance forms where everyone seems so serious, Bollywood dancers always look happy,” she said. Ms. Spielberg, who has moved up to the intermediate level, said she had shed 10 pounds and was more toned as a result of twice-a-week sessions.
The moves may look complex, but instructors say that even the most coordination-challenged are welcome and that most students have never danced. “They’re actually moves that we all know or have seen before,” said Pooja Narang, the founder of Bollywood Axion, which offers nine classes a week at its Midtown West studio.
Most students initially sign up because of an interest in Indian culture. Sue Menon, a 30-year-old law school student from Brooklyn, has been a BollyBasics regular for a year. Though she was “pleasantly surprised” by the routine, which helped her lose four pounds, she said, “I was drawn in because of Bollywood.”
For those like her, the workouts come with a bonus, a mini-education in Bollywood films. Sunita Chaphalkar, the instructor teaching the “Pretty Woman” routine, translated the Hindi words for her students. “The movie is about a guy who is dying and in love with a woman,” she explained. “He spots her for the first time and is singing that she reminds him of a ray of sunlight and is the color of gold.” Having barely finished speaking, she started the music, and her students were kicking, shimmying and bouncing as they sang about romance.
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