WHEN was the last time you danced?
As parties, gigs and club nights have been off the cards for almost a year, for many, online dance classes have fulfilled that craving to let loose and blow off steam in lockdown.
JP Omari has been running a unique dance fitness class in Brighton for almost seven years.
READ MORE: How Brighton dance company Streetfunk helped students in lockdown
FunkFit uses funk, soul, disco and Motown hits to create a party atmosphere as “Funk Master” JP leads the class with improvised moves, often bouncing around a room lit with disco lights, enthusiastically bellowing “Energy!” as dancers of all ages follow his lead.
People who have attended his classes in Brighton, Hove and Worthing say his enthusiasm and passion for the music is infectious - and although the sessions are now of course online, this has not stopped keen FunkFitters from joining the party.
Maddie White from Patcham describes herself as a “FunkFit addict”.
The 67-year-old said: “I honestly don’t think I could live without it.
“I started doing the online classes when my mood first sank in the first lockdown. I live in a tiny one bed flat but I just thought, I’ve got to give it a go.
“It was wonderful and it did the trick.
“I remember so clearly the first time I went to a class and there was all the disco lights and the music. I felt like I had travelled back in time.
“I used to work in the music business and would be out all the time - I love all that funk and disco music.
“FunkFit instantly lifts my mood and the in-person classes are like a party every time. There’s an infectious enthusiasm.”
Sue Duncan first started attending FunkFit in Worthing last summer, when exercise classes were allowed to take place in person again with social distancing measures.
The 55-year-old from Storrington was quickly hooked.
She said: “I do three online sessions a week now.
“I’ve been working all the way through the pandemic, often from home, and when you’ve had a difficult day the last thing you feel like doing is exercise.
“But as soon as I start the class I’m thankful. JP is so full of enthusiasm and really motivates you to try harder. I’ve noticed a change in my body shape from doing it.
“I don’t get to dance much these days anyway - lockdown or not - so it’s just so great to dance."
Katy Williams from Hove started FunkFit after having her second child in 2017, and has not stopped since.
The 38-year-old said: "What I love is there is no judgement.
"We are like one big funk family and everyone is made to feel welcome.
"JP's energy, enthusiasm, genuine desire to uplift, help and heal people is just infectious. Funkfit has kept me going through the past year."
For JP, who started dancing at a young age doing hip hop and breakdancing, FunkFit was a happy accident which he says saved him from a midlife crisis.
The 39-year-old starred in the BBC dance contest Strictly Dance Fever in 2006 and launched the Brighton youth dance company StreetFunk, but by 2014 he was suffering with burnout.
He said: “FunkFit has been such an important part of my life and it saved me, in a way.
“I’d been teaching street dance for a long time but I felt stressed and burnt out, and like I couldn’t teach anymore.
“I didn’t know what to do.
“The first FunkFit session happened as a mistake. I had to cover a Zumba class but I didn’t have any Latin music and so we just freestyled it to funk and disco.
“I discovered something which people enjoy and it was a release for me as I could just enjoy dance again and not have to think about routines.
“It saved me from stopping dance.”
As well as the physical exercise having a range of health benefits and lifting the mood, for JP, FunkFit is also about taking people back to positive memories - something which is needed more than ever in lockdown.
He said: “The idea of disco music was to keep people on the floor. The message is so positive - it’s about love and being together, and it’s timeless.
“For people like Maddie who lived through that era, those songs can take them back to their first nights clubbing or their first love.
“That’s really important for me to bring people happy memories. Everything is so grim at the moment.”
JP hopes FunkFit can be “the next Zumba” and firmly believes dance is a remedy for mental health as well as physical fitness.
He said: "I really think dance could be an alternative therapy.
“It can bring someone out of their heads, at a class where they can socialise with others and move with others.
“Many people become motionless as they get older, but following these moves means the brain and body are speaking to each other and the connections stay fresh.
“This is the beauty of dance - to stay active and keep the brain and body connected.”
To find out more about FunkFit, visit www.funkfituk.co.uk.
Anyone taking a class for the first time can book a session for free using the code FF1STFREE.
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