I got a text a few days ago from my godson Walker that said “Our new quarantine workout channel,” with a link to a dance workout by Caleb Marshall. I clicked it open, and a tall, handsome guy – Caleb – was talking about how I (or at least the viewer) was going to feel good after this song as he moved into place with two other dancers. The trio was set up beside a hiking trail in the mountains, and they launched into a really fun routine to Lizzo’s Good As Hell. Caleb hammed it up and threw out funny lines, and all three dancers were lip synching and having a blast. At one point a hiker walked into view on the trail; as he passed by the gyrating group, for whatever reason, both of his middle fingers were extended in the classic obscene gesture. That made me laugh out loud, that they hadn’t edited the video or started over, just left the random guy flipping them off as part and parcel of the experience. The whole video made me smile and I wanted to get up and dance.
Walker sent me another video, and gave me a brief tutorial – Caleb Marshall has a YouTube channel, The Fitness Marshall with 2.39 million subscribers (so you may already know about him). He makes cool dance videos to famous pop songs, filming them in various locations, almost always with a couple of backup dancers. Sometimes one of the backup dancers is Caleb’s boyfriend Cameron, who does the Level 1 (easier) version of the routine and makes the funniest faces. You can join what Caleb calls The Booty Army by subscribing to his channel, which has such perks as longer workout routines and early access to his videos.
After I taught an online ballet class yesterday, which Walker helped me with by being my demonstrator, we were chatting with some of the participants and Walker mentioned his new obsession with The Fitness Marshall. One of the students’ moms messaged me after the class to thank me, and relayed that her daughter had burst into tears after the class because, while she was really happy about the class, she was also sad, because she misses ballet and her dance family so much. And then she asked what videos Walker had been talking about. I gave her the info and the assurance that “They’ll make her smile.” I got a video about half an hour later of her daughter having a blast dancing to one of Caleb’s videos, with the message “Thank you, Walker.”
I was inspired to attempt to dance along with The Fitness Marshall myself. Now, during my life, I’ve done a lot of different types of exercise. When I was an obsessive teenaged ballet student dancing all the time, I also swam, biked, and walked a treadmill in the futile quest for different legs. Throughout my adult life, I’ve engaged in all of those activities off-and-on, added the elliptical and aerobics to my repertoire, and then yoga. Yoga has been my most consistent activity over the last twenty years, because it provides pain relief in my neck and shoulders (where I hold my stress), and in my hips and lower back (which are cranky from years of ballet). But my favorite activity has always been dancing. I have a few dance-oriented exercise DVDs that I used to do pretty regularly for cardio, until I started having trouble with one of my knees. However, my knee has been feeling a lot better lately…and I have been feeling the need to be more active during this time of social isolation…and Caleb’s dance videos just look like so much fun.
So, I did a three-song workout this morning, and it WAS so much fun! I sometimes messed up the choreography. The first time I did the wrong arms, my inner perfectionist reared her head and started to get judgy, instructing me to “Figure that out!” But then I reminded myself that it didn’t matter if I did the wrong arms or went the wrong direction; what mattered is that I was moving and I was enjoying myself.
I’m going to try to hold on to that perspective through this unsettling time – keep moving and enjoy life as much as possible – and I’m pretty sure that’s going to be the real Quarantine Workout. However, I’m looking forward to another fitness session with Caleb and company tomorrow.
Thank you, Walker.
Penny Askew 