Sarina Jain is the creator of the Masala Bhangra Workout, an aerobic exercise routine that combines bhangra, a from of traditional Punjabi folk dance, with high-energy cutting-edge aerobic moves. Endlessly energetic, Sarina has worked in the fitness industry for over a decade, teaching everything from cardio-salsa to hip hop classes, as well choreographing music videos. In 1999, she founded Masala Dance and Fitness, Inc., a company that promotes Sarina’s unique exercise routine and offers the first bhangra exercise video, Masala Bhangra Workout Volume 1. Originally from the Los Angeles area, Sarina now teaches primarily in New York at Crunch, Equinox, and New York Sports Club. Called the “Indian Jane Fonda” by A Magazine, Sarina and her workout have received a great deal of press lately, soaking up the spotlight in Cosmopolitan, Fitness, Self and Honey magazines, as well as KTLA Morning News and the WB Channel 11 news programs. AsiaSource caught up with the exercise guru at the Asia Society’s New York office.

For more information on Sarina Jain and the Masala Bhangra Workout, visit MasalaDance.com. To see a sample of the Masala Bhangra Workout and to hear Sarina discuss the origins of bhangra, watch the following clip:

Masala Bhangra Workout Excerpt
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How did you first get involved in the fitness industry? Can you talk a little about how this workout was developed?

I’ve been involved in the fitness industry for the past eleven years, since I was fifteen. In high school I used to run track and I would come home and go to these exercise classes that used to take place at the recreation center next to my house. I used to go every day, Monday through Thursday, and I loved it. I had a lot of energy and I wanted to get rid of it. I loved to be active. I knew the routine like the back of my hand. One day the instructor told me she was leaving town and asked me if I wanted to take over. It never occurred to me that it was going to be my career, but it was just an awesome hobby. The instructor at the gym pushed me to start teaching step. When I first started my choreography was very basic…. I started teaching and one thing led to another. I couldn’t give up my classes. I became really good at teaching and I would see students who would just follow me everywhere I went. And now it’s over ten years later and I teach at the best time slots, teaching step, cardio-salsa, hip hop at all the top-notch gyms.

Another reason I got involved in the fitness industry is that my father passed away of massive cardiac arrest at the age of 47. When he was 40 he had a mild heart attack and after that the doctors said he really had to work out. I made my mom and dad join a gym and I wanted them to stay active. I didn’t get into the facts about the lack of fitness in the South Asian community until about two years ago when I started my own business.

Had you always been dancing to bhangra as a hobby?

I have always been very involved with the Indian community. My sister and I danced together and we were known as the dancing Jain sisters. We danced everywhere we went. I always choreographed [Indian] dances and fashion shows. I choreographed an opening number for a pageant. Then I got into training kids for these pageants. Their moms would call me and say, “I’m entering my son into a pageant; can you please train him?” Five out of the six people I trained won the title. I also used to work for an Indian television station, where I was the host of the entertainment show.

Bhangra has always just been part of my life. Also as a teenager, four of us girls started a dance group called dhamaka, which means ‘impact’ in Hindi. We were a bhangra team and we won every competition we entered. It was the first time girls had won bhangra competitions. From there it just developed and I began to teach kids.

I graduated from college and even though I majored in marketing and communications, I stepped into a PR firm not really knowing anything. I worked there from September 1998 to January 1999 and those were the most miserable months of my life, but I saw what PR could do to an awesome product. I decided to start my own business. I sat down and said these are the steps we do in bhangra. I thought that everyone knows about Latin dance, everyone knows about African dance. But people do not know bhangra. So I had to come out with a product that people could talk about…. I came up with the choreography, I got five people to be in my first video and I just invested a lot of money into it. The first video was awesome, but the second video is going to be ten times better.

Can you say a little about the history of bhangra? Traditionally bhangra was a men’s dance. Have you adjusted any of the moves for women?

You’re right, traditionally bhangra is a men’s dance. It’s a folk dance from the northern part of India. So when you see women dancers, it’s still surprising, even to this day. I haven’t changed the moves. The beauty of a woman is that she can also add her feminine touch to it; men cannot. It’s a bit more modern than what the average male Indian dancer would do, but that’s because I have to cater it to the average person in the US.

Since my first video came out, my style has changed. My whole philosophy has changed. I have five other videos slated to come out in the next two to three years. Everything is set for my second video except for music; I’m waiting for that.

In fitness, you always have more women than men in classes. It’s intimidating for men to come into an aerobics class. I think things are different in New York, which is why I came out here. The market was much bigger here than it was in LA.

Why do you think that’s true? People in Los Angeles have the reputation of being obsessed with their bodies.

Yes, people are in shape in Los Angles, but Latin dance is so popular there. There is that typical Hollywood scene, but in New York you have real people and real culture. People in New York are in to all kinds of culture and they don’t mind learning something new. In New York, people just love my classes.

Who attends your class? How do you feel exposing non South Asians to bhangra?

When I first started teaching classes, it was all non-Indians. South Asians may have the highest number of doctors in the US, but we have the lowest rate of physical activity. It’s really sad. I think it’s picked up a little bit with my generation. If I see an Indian in the gym it’s like “Omigod, there’s an Indian.” But ten years ago you would ask me and there were no Indians at all. Now there are a lot more South Asians in my classes.

Why do you think bhangra has become so popular in New York? What is it about bhangra that attracts all sorts of people?

I think it’s the music. The music is very intoxicating. As much as I teach it, I will still have a blast at Basement Bhangra because of the energy it gives off when people are dancing together. In my class you don’t really feel like you’re working out; you feel like you’re dancing. This is something we do at weddings and at social functions, I’ve just placed it in a gym setting. The reason why I’m able to carry it off so well is because I have the fitness background of twelve years…. It’s an asset being in the industry for so long. Everything has snowballed. To me bhangra, the dance and the music is a major part of our culture, even though I’m not Punjabi. Even in my classes, people say that the music lured them in…. The music is completely intoxicating. That whole drumbeat is amazing.

Do you think bhangra is a trend in the US or is it here to stay?

I think it depends on who introduces it. Basement Bhangra is here to stay. My whole concept is here to stay as long as I can teach it. I am looking for other instructors to teach it, but it’s very difficult to teach culture to someone. How do you teach authenticity? If a South Asian doesn’t know how to teach in the fitness style, it’s not going to work. If the instructor is awesome, he or she makes the class.

When you hear Latin music, you can dance to it without knowing what the words mean. In bhangra, I can not teach to a song with lyrics because people will want to understand the lyrics and not listen to me teach. That’s why I use the straight dhol beat. But then at the end of the class, once people know the routine, then we put it to a song with lyrics. That’s the part where you don’t feel like you’re working out; you feel like you’re just dancing.

The last time Indian fitness was big was yoga. Yoga is derived from India, but this folk dance is the total opposite of yoga. I think bhangra is here to stay. It’s also a trend but I’ve definitely created a name for myself. I’m the masala bhangra girl.




AsiaSource interview conducted by Michelle Caswell.