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It’s good to be serious about your health and fitness, but, says APOGEE Fusion Funk instructor Theo Philip, you don’t have to be serious while you’re working out. Philips is a model for his students, sporting a huge, infectious smile while he leads his popular Fusion Funk class every Wednesday at APOGEE White Plains. The class is a mix of cardio, strength and “freedom” says Theo. “Dance for me is a big escape—when you dance you can let yourself go!” The fact that Fusion Funk is a total-body workout is icing on the cake.

Theo brings his formal dance training (modern, ballet, jazz, improvisation), his experience as a performer (everywhere from the street corners to concert stages), and the latest selection of dance music (from the Latin groove of Enrique Iglesias to the latest from Flo Rida) to class every week. “I choreograph small sections and repeat it so people can follow easily,” Theo says. He uses the same music and movement sequences several weeks in a row so it’s familiar to everyone in class, then mixes in new steps and tunes to keep it fresh. “If you’re just starting you will catch on after the first few minutes,” he says. “I get everyone pumped up.”

Fusion Funk has a devoted following at APOGEE White Plains, and it’s easy to see why: Theo is a master of using music to bring the class to several cardio peaks, slowing it down for a recovery period, then building it up again. He weaves in bounces with light hand-weights and easy stretches such as plies. The variations in intensity, upper- and lower-body moves, and straight-from-the-clubs dance beats make an hour of movement speed by. Everyone in the studio follows Theo’s lead: dancing, sweating, smiling and feeling free.

More Funk: We’ve just scheduled a very special 8-weeks of dance fun with Theo. In Funk It Out (Mondays, 6:30pm, White Plains) you’ll learn dance moves choreographed by Theo Philip to five current hit songs. Each week you’ll learn a little more and by the last week, you’ll be a master on the dance floor.
Begins 10/4.