Need Choreographic Inspiration? Try Your…Treadmill!
March 17, 2015


If you’re not “Uptown Funk”-ed out yet, you need to see this video of Carson Dean dancing on a treadmill (his YouTube video description reads, “The best cardio workout! Don’t believe me just watch”—nudge-nudge wink-wink, Carson). But this is more than just a cardio workout: It’s a smooth hip-hop dance, with a couple of grands battements thrown in.

This video then prompted me to look up some of my other favorite treadmill-dance videos. (Duh. The vicious YouTube vortex strikes again.) Remember the band OK Go’s video for “Here It Goes Again”? They did it all in one take! And it was choreographed by Trish Sie, who’s created stuff for Pilobolus and directed Step Up: All In.

My treadmill search then led me to this little gem that reached its peak popularity a few months ago: Guy on a treadmill in a gym, doing sweet, sweet moves. With absolutely no inhibitions. Some genius overlaid “Mack the Knife” as the background music. Perfect.

Which then led me to this little video here—an advertisement for NordicTrack. According to the YouTube description, choreographer Jason Celaya used 12 YouTube and Vine stars and 40 dancers to star in the “world’s largest treadmill dance.” (There’s also a fun saxophone cameo, which appears unrelated.) Definitely a great workout.