Pony It Up
The pony is a classic dance move made popular in the 1960s, but it still remains front and center in many aerobics class. Start with feet together, hop to the right foot and lift your left foot up, quickly place left toe on the floor and shift back to the right as in step ball change or step toe step. The count is 1-2-3, 4-5-6, or right left right, left right left. The arms can alternate reaching overhead or for more of a '60s groove, do the swim by alternating reaching arms in front as in the crawl swim stroke. To pony hip-hop style, open the legs wider and gyrate your torso by arching your back and then collapsing your chest forward while you pump your palms to the front of your chest.
Grapevine With A Three-Turn
The grapevine is a low-impact, old-school dance move that is a standard in aerobics classes. A favorite dance move for back-up singers---think Gladys Knight and the Pips---the three-turn combined with the grapevine makes for a little funkier step. To perform the grapevine, start with feet together. Take one step to the right, then cross your left foot in front of your right. Next, step right foot to the right again, then close your left foot to a toe touch. The step is an eight-count step. When you are learning, it might be helpful to say the cues out loud, as in "step, cross, step, touch." After your four-count touch to the right, perform a three-turn to the left. Step down left with your left foot, turn to the back with your right foot, turn back to the front with your left foot then touch your right toe. Cues for the three-turn are "step, turn, step, touch."
Caliente Cha Cha
If you are a fan of watching Latin dancing, then you are quite familiar with the cha cha step. The cha cha is to salsa as the grapevine is to jazz. This Latin basic moves front and back as opposed to the grapevine, which moves side to side. The step is composed of two slow steps, three quick steps, two slow steps, three quick steps. Start with both feet together. Step to the front with your right foot slowly, shift weight or rock back to left foot slowly, bring your right foot back behind your left foot and do a quick right left right step, or step ball change. Step left foot backwards, shift weight back to the right foot and quick left right left or cha cha cha. If you want to say it out loud, the steps are right, left, cha cha cha, left, right, cha cha cha. Put on some salsa music and get your Latin on.
Charleston
The Charleston step gave Swing that extra kick in to the '20s but has managed to endure through the decades and is still a standard step found in cardio dance classes today. To perform this step, step forward on your right foot and kick your left foot to the front. Step back with your left foot and touch behind you with your right toe. The choreography cue is step, kick, step touch. Perform several kicks with the right foot as lead and then switch to the left foot as the lead step.
