Barre with Justine

I am days away from teaching 3 new fitness “releases” – Les Mills BodyBalance, BodyStep and SoulBody Barre. In these pre-choreographed formats, new choreography and music is released quarterly and at GoodLife, which has exclusive rights to Les Mills in Canada, we release this week! It’s always a fun time for members and instructors since it’s an opportunity to team teach with other instructors and launch the latest moves and music.

That being said, it’s a TON of work to learn and memorize the choreography and keep it straight in my mind. As an example, I teach BodyStep/BodyBalance tomorrow night (old releases) and then release the NEW BodyBalance on Wednesday with my colleague, Rachel. Will I mess up? 100%! But my goal is a great class, not perfection.

My first Les Mills program was BodyStep and I’m so glad it was because it is very challenging to learn the choreography and add in the step. If you mess up in BodyStep, it’s really hard to recover so it took me a long time initially to practice and memorize the tracks. It’s a little easier now, 5 years in, because of practice but also the revamp of BodyStep to be more functional and less choreographed.

BodyBalance had its own challenges since the music doesn’t always have the same downbeat that makes it easier to learn transitions. Sometimes I get lost in a dreamy state and time drifts by too!

SoulBody Barre is a different brand but the same 3-month release schedule of new moves and music. I’m grateful that the stretches stay the same throughout the year and that we do the glutes track twice, same song! It is a challenge though because we move in many different positions and alignment is crucial to the class (not that it isn’t important in the others, but dance positions don’t always come easy to everyone!)

So my mind is full and I’d love to share my own tips for memorizing choreography over the years and curious to hear yours too!

Here’s my system:

1. I listen to the music first – playing the songs no my car or on my AirPods helps me get to know the music and the feel of the class. This doesn’t need my full attention so it’s easy to multi-task.

2. I physically do the release (mostly) with the video – I used to do the entire class, especially in Step, but that gets completely exhausting when you are teaching regularly. I “mark” the moves and practice any that seem complicated. I also listen to the cues given by the presenters.

3. I practice a few tracks with the notes close by and with the voices turned off. I try not to look at the screen unless I really need to. I will often film parts of this just to check alignment etc.

4. I listen to the tracks in the car and think of my own cues and practice teaching it out loud (sorry kids!). Again, this doesn’t need my total focus so it’s okay to do while driving.

Usually I will devote 2-4 hours to each release – more for some and less for step now. Being able to team teach is great because then we each focus on one half and learn from each other as we co-present. I always feel more polished when presenting with another instructor and love seeing their teaching style.

We usually get the releases about 4 weeks or so before the showcase and I’d love to say I start right away but that isn’t possible, time wise or mentally for me. I can’t remember things that far in advance so it’s best for me to start the week before. But again, I do like to listen to the music right away 💗

I feel so lucky to teach Les Mills and SoulBody because they are international programs that have so much knowledge and research behind them. The music is always a ton of fun and it’s so cool to think we could go to Singapore or New Zealand and feel right at home in the gym!

How do you learn choreography? Does it come easy to you?