By Eva Gerten/DPA /Berlin
Bokwa is a new group fitness programme from the US that is spreading worldwide: it’s based on letters and numbers that participants spell out with their feet to the sound of throbbing music.
After arriving in Britain and the Netherlands, Bokwa is now spreading across the rest of Europe.
A group of Bokwa converts were recently working their way through the alphabet at a dance school in Viersen in western Germany. Dance coach Michael Behneke had drawn the steps on sheets of paper and hung them up to help his students.
“It’s actually very easy,” he said. The first trial courses he offered were booked out. Lots of men came along. “Bokwa is not really a very feminine exercise. It has lots of action and movement.”
Bokwa is a cross between boxing and African dance and was launched in Germany at the recent Fibo fitness trade fair. It’s aimed at anyone who wants to burn fat. “Bokwa uses up to 1,200 calories an hour,” says instructor Sabine Niessen.
The 32-year-old is one of the first Bokwa instructors in Germany and she offers courses at a gymnastics club in Dusseldorf. Participants dance as if they were drawing out letters and numbers with their feet. There are six levels of difficulty to master with over 50 individual symbols to dance.
The coach makes a sign with his or her hand indicating which letter or number is next.
Bokwa is about walking, kicking, boxing, jumping, turning sideways and repeated seesawing, or “bouncing” as it’s known in Bokwa jargon. Arms and legs churn and flail to the music until everyone has worked up a good sweat.
Bokwa is often compared with another exercise trend, Zumba, which is danced to Latin American rhythms. “There’s no pre-set choreography in Bokwa and everyone can dance to it,” says Bokwa instructor Gracia Patricia Hemer.
Concentration is very important in Bokwa and you need to follow the coach closely otherwise you will soon be out of step. However, the intensity and speed at which you dance is your own choice.