Movin’ and groovin’

LITTLE ROCK — The lovely, smiling ladies dancing up a sweat to Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, Pitbull, One Direction and Rihanna could be your mother, your grandmother, maybe your former teacher.

That’s right. Meemaw dances to Pitbull.

This is Jazzercise Lite. Four mornings every week, its members, typically women between forty something and eighty something, do the same kind of 60-minute routine their counterparts in traditional Jazzercise classes do, only in a low-impact format.

Conway has the only Jazzercise Lite classes in Arkansas. But what makes this class a standout isn’t merely rarity. It isn’t even the number of times you hear from its members that they’ve been coming faithfully for six years, or seven years, or 10 years.

Longtime members and newcomers alike say the same three things about Jazzercise Lite: They love their classmates. They love their workout. And they love their instructors.

“It’s a really good group of women: very friendly and welcoming and accepting of whatever level you’re on,” said Pam Markham, 69, a member for about six years.

“And you’re concentrating so hard on the moves and on what you’re supposed to do that it goes quickly.”

Gloria Vaughan, who is none of your business years old, joined the class in 2002 when she was new to Conway. She calls it “instant stress relief.” “Before class we catch up on what’s going on in our lives - the vacations we’re planning, books we're reading. As soon as the instructor turns up the music, there’s no chit-chat here. We are serious about our workouts,” Vaughan says. “The music and the encouragement from my friends allow me to push myself.”

“We don’t compete with each other,” she says. “It’s about what we can accomplish for our health and well-being. We get an amazing workout with the 10 instructors that are on staff.”

Esther Mitchell, 64, agrees. “I love this class, because it’s my age group. We all get along, we think alike, and it’s a lot of fun.”

She believes that starting Jazzercise Lite about three years ago saved her. “My husband said that if I had not done this, I would’ve died, because I was just a blob,” she says. “I work sitting down, and I drive from work, so I got no exercise. And I could not get upstairs; I had to hold onto the banisters.”

Now, “I love the music. I love to dance,” she says. “This has really helped me tremendously. My husband is always pushing me to come, because he knows how much better I’m doing. And my bosses let me off to come; they don’t want me to get too old and quit!

“I couldn’t do it, I don’t want to do it, at home,” Mitchell adds. “I had bought exercise equipment and hung clothes on it.”

Anna Harmon, 70, also tried to work out on her own, but “I’d get up with the intentions of going, and before I knew it, the day was half over, and I’d think, ‘Oh, I’ll go tomorrow.’” She’s been coming to the Lite class for a year and a half. “This way, you know you’ve got an appointment, so to speak,” she says. “And there’s so much camaraderie in this group.”

CORE SUPPORT

They sweat together, laugh together and hold each other up through good times and bad, sharing restaurant reviews, garden tomatoes and more.

Martha Barger, 56, says that when she was planning her daughter’s wedding in the spring, the Jazzercise Lite ladies were there for her.

“I’d be real stressed and wasn’t going to come, but someone might call me and make sure I’m coming to class, and I’d come,” she says. “One of them brought me a purse that she had used in a wedding. It matched my shoes, and I carried it at the wedding.”

Linda Taylor, 63, started doing Jazzercise in 2006. In 2010, she was diagnosed with Stage III bladder cancer. “If I hadn’t been working out, then I wouldn’t have seen a sign that something was wrong,” says Taylor, whose only mild symptom occurred after exercising. “This was a silent killer.”

Her Jazzercise membership was put on hold for a year and a half while she underwent surgery and intense chemotherapy. “I was able to bounce back really fast,” Taylor said. “The doctor said it was because of my core strength, and I attribute a lot of that to Jazzercise.”

She’s back in the Lite class these days, and getting tested every three months to make sure her cancer hasn’t returned. “I’m having real good scans, and see, my energy is fine. I’ve been able to step right back in.”

Mary Sanders, 58, says that after a year and a half in the Lite class, people tell her she should move on to regular Jazzercise. “But I say no. I like being with this group.”

Franchise owner Paige Revis doesn’t find that unusual. “Some customers start with Lite because there is no impact and the footwork has been simplifed compared to a regular Jazzercise class. Some move on to the regular format; most stick with Lite.”

MUTUAL INSPIRATION SOCIETY

For instructor Alicia Gough, 48, “coming in and teaching this class is a huge inspiration.” She points to 10-year member Vivian McGibbony as someone she hopes to emulate. (McGibbony doesn’t divulge her age; no one would believe it anyway.)

“I mean, look at her, really,” Gough says. “I only hope that I can be that right there.”

As for McGibbony, “the classmates are my new family,” she says. “I would never have met them if not for Jazzercise. All the instructors are super and make the exercise so much fun.”

Because of the age range in the group, members and instructors can offer one another a different perspective.

“When I would mention having behavioral or school issues with my children when they were younger, I could go to someone in that class and they always had a personal positive outcome or an encouraging word,” Revis says. “Many of the women have been through things that I will go through when I’m their age: menopause, aging parents, loss, cancer, grandbabies.

“They are realistic about where life has taken them and assure me that it’s not scary. We motivate each other.

“I push them physically, and they encourage me emotionally.”

That give-and-take gave Connie Simpson, 71, a new way to connect to her grandchildren. “During one class back in May, one of the instructors said this younger generation doesn’t talk on the phone; they text. I got to thinking about Allie, my granddaughter; she’s just the hardest thing in the world to get in touch with.”

So after leaving several voice messages and not getting a call back, Simpson sent her very first text. “Within five minutes, I got a response: ‘Meemaw, you did not text me!’”

WORDS AND MUSIC

Using current popular music in the routines keeps the Lite members tuned in to what their kids and grandkids are listening to.

As the backup singers croon “baby, oh, baby” on Pitbull’s current release during a recent class, Vaughan at first guesses it’s an earlier version of the song, from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. No, she’s told, this is from Men in Black III.

“Oh,” Vaughan chides herself, “I’m so 20th-century.”

Their education doesn’t end with pop culture. For women to whom “rhomboid” once might have sounded like a geometrical shape, “oblique” like an indirect reference in a work of satire, knowledge is power. Each workout is peppered with mini-lessons in anatomy, with core strength emphasized.

“You give a better hug when your back is strong,” Revis tells the class.

“Do you know where your latissimus dorsi is?” she asks as they stretch an arm gracefully up and over and then bring it back to center. “It’s right here. I want you to pet yours. I’m going to name my next dog that: I’m going to call him Latissimus Dorsi.”

OUTSIDE THE ROOM

Does sticking with a low impact workout three or four times a week noticeably improve life?

“I just feel I have so much more energy around the house, and I am able to do more things,” Simpson says. “I’m more aware of my abs; I find myself sucking in. That’s one of the benefits, too: You’re more conscious of standing up straight.”

Georgia Manning Lewis,69, says the dancing seems to benefit her breathing. But for Manning, who started to class seven months ago, “The big thing is balance. As you age, your balance is not so good. And this has really helped me, because, you know, I can stand on one foot now.”

Sylvia Duke, 74, a seven year member, says Jazzercise Lite gave her the agility and confidence to climb up and down a ladder the day she up and decided to paint her 10-foot ceiling.

“We were doing a routine for awhile where we stood on one leg and balanced,” Duke says. “And we laughed and said, ‘If you went to the mall and picked out 10 people, you might find one who could do this.’”

Jennie Webb, 71, isn’t a fan of sweating or dancing, but she’s still showing up for class. “I really don’t like Jazzercise, because I’m such a klutz,” she says. “But it’s been a year, and I can feel the difference. I feel better, I’m more agile, I’m toned. I mean, I feel like 20 years younger.”

And it shows: “We can wear pretty, formal sheath dresses to nice events,” notes Joyce Grant, 65. “We can zip them up. We are contoured!”

Best of all, says Taylor, “Jazzercise is one of those activities that you can do all of your life.”

Mitchell agrees. “I don’t think I will ever quit,” she says. “As long as I can make it here, I’m gonna make it here.”State’s lone Lite program began with Super Seniors

How did Conway come to be the only place in Arkansas to offer Jazzercise Lite classes?

In 2001, franchise owner Paige Revis was asked to offer an exercise class that would tie in with the city’s Super Seniors program held at the McGee Center. She used the Lite format created by Jazzercise founder Judi Sheppard Missett, which was originally called Musical Chairs and then Simply Lite.

After the gardening, personal finance, estate planning and other classes in the McGee Center program disbanded, Revis kept her Lite class going. By then it had a loyal following, and in 2007 she moved it and her regular Jazzercise classes to their own space in Laurel Plaza on Prince Street, across from Conway High School.

Four of the Conway Jazzercise’s 28 weekly group exercise offerings are Lite classes. Nationally, Jazzercise offers 632 Jazzercise Lite classes per week;

Revis says Lite classes are a small percentage of the 32,000 classes Jazzercise offers globally.

She says that in a Lite class, as in any Jazzercise class, “You will get warmup, a minimum of 25 minutes of cardio/aerobic training, strength training for your upper torso, abdominals, gluteals, a flexibility component - stretching - and a cooldown.” Missing are bouncing and hopping, which can put stress on problem joints, and the floor work, which can be hard for those with neck injuries or who have trouble getting up from a supine position.

“It’s designed for someone who wants a regular Jazzercise class without impact and with a modified strength segment,” Revis says. “The Lite classes in Conway typically attract women who are in the active aging population, but there are younger customers who prefer this format.” The class is accessible for clients in wheelchairs, too.

Men are welcome, and a few have attended, she says.

• Jan Gaughan