This weeks Thursday throwback is brought to you by my good friend and Les Mills instructor Roger Edwards. He runs his fitness blog over on grandnat.co.uk, group fitness over coffee podcast and his Marketing, Protection & Finance blog. Please be sure to check out his websites as they’re full of great content.
The track
This post takes us way way back about 10 years to Les Mills Body Balance release 26 Track 1. I believe that this is one of the best ever Tai Chi warm ups in the history of Body Balance. The arm circles and the birds tail and snake flow are divine. The palm press upward and explosive exhale forward are stress busting. I’d love to see a genuine flowing track like this again rather than the more aerobic un-tai chi like warm ups we’ve seen recently.
The music
Nearly every track Delerium have put out has been in Body Balance. They spawned another group called Conjure One who have also appeared frequently. Les Mills used to show case off the wall music like this in Body Balance but recently seem to have stopped to concentrate on solely pop music. This is a real shame. It would be good to see some more experimental stuff like this.
The choreography
Beautiful flowing arm circles. Matching breath to the moves. Weight shifting. This is what tai chi is all about.
Why this track?
I chose this track for several reasons:
- A beautiful song which with perfect fit choreography.
- A variety of moves which makes the track challenging despite the slow pace.
- It has a young Doctor Dave in the video (though sadly not presenting). Dave is truly missed from the more recent masterclasses.
- A track I bring back once a year or so and participants always comment upon how beautiful it is.
What do you think?
Have you taught/done this track and thought differently? Please let us know your thoughts or If you have any tracks you’d like to share please comment, tweet me, or get in touch. Thanks for reading Simon Philp. Thank you Roger for your throw back 🙂
While you’re here
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If you’d like to contribute a track from the past based on any Les Mills programmes please tweet me, or get in touch Kia Ora.
