Whether they’ll resemble a giant conga line going down Ross Street or a pedestrian version of roller disco, some enthusiastic Red Deer residents are preparing to give dance walking a try.
Starting at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 1, a bunch of devil-may-care exercise buffs — anywhere from four to 40 people, according to organizer Diane Hermary — are planning to dance/walk from the downtown Co-op to the former train station at the end of Ross Street.
“I’m hoping other people will join us as we go,” said Hermary.
Once at the station, her exuberant group will turn around and dance/walk back to City Hall Park for an impromptu Zumba class with local instructor Natalie Brooks of Chair Tease Studio.
The energetic event is expected to end at noon, with the same scenario repeated every Friday until the end of summer. ‘
By August, Hermary hopes a virtual army of dance walkers will become a familiar sight in the downtown every week.
“It’s a combination of fitness and fun. It’s dancing, it’s exercise, it’s meeting new people all rolled into one,” she added. “I think it’ll be a hit.”
So what is dance walking? It’s a freestyle event that everyone can participate in, whether anyone knows the moves to the moonwalk, the time warp, the macarena or watusi.
Hermary said she got turned on to the pedestrian sport by a video sent to her Facebook site. It features NBC’s man-on-the street Ben Aaron first spotting a guy grooving to his own dance muse down a busy New York City street.
Aaron impulsively decides to join him, and then begins encouraging other strangers to participate, starting a dance/walking trend that Hermary said is now sweeping the Internet.
She predicted her first group of Red Deer dance walkers will probably seem like a flash mob to people not expecting to see a bunch of people boogieing through the downtown.
But eventually she hopes they will become a regular sight as more residents realize fitness can be “super fun.”
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com