He’s worked with Prince, Michael Jackson, Pink, J. Lo, Gwen Stefani, Ricky Martin. Britney, Christina, Mariah Carey and George Michael. He directed Madonna’s Re-Invention Tour, the highest grossing concert tour of 2004. Some say he is the most innovative dance choreographer working in the entertainment industry today — and clearly he is one of the best sports coaches anywhere. Yes, I said “sport.”
Jamie King’s goal is to push boundaries and change traditional definitions of what makes or defines an athlete and wants to get us all dancing our way to a rock star body in the process.
Faze caught up with Jamie in New York recently as he unveiled his Rockstar Workout, an innovative new workout that combines sport with music, where he said, “Dancers are just as physical as athletes, and the fact that we are lucky enough to be recognized now, it’s beautiful.” Recognized because sport apparel giant, Nike, has seen the obvious connection between dancers and athletes and designed a new workout line specifically for the demands of a dancer.
Jamie and his team performed a dance/workout routine for 15 minutes and were sweating and tired, and looked like they had just run a marathon. “Dancers truly are athletes. It’s proven in the constant training, the grueling hours of dance classes, and the keeping fit and staying fit, the eating and the conditioning of the body. They are athletes. They just are,” says Jamie. If dance were in the Olympics, Usher would win gold.
Jamie says, “With desire, you can do anything and it doesn’t matter who you are. We all start out in the same place. Even if you’re a celebrity, you still come to rehearsals like everyone else and you have to train.” (During rehearsals Jamie’s good friend Madonna stopped by to offer some encouragement!)
Jamie King has come up with an exciting recipe for fitness success: take sport and add music. So now, when someone asks what sport you’re into you can simply say, “Dance.”
Photos courtesy of Nike Canada
Written by Faze’s Jayne Rae, actress and former Toronto club dancing queen
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