Professional dancers Curtis Pritchard and Emily Barker have been dance partners from a young age and are currently using their dance knowledge to encourage fitness through a range of dance based exercises. Working alongside James Walker, they put together a monthly subscription package of exercise videos for daily use. Having caught up with Emily recently, we find out about the subscription plan, the founding members and where they are hoping to take it in the future.

How did you come up with the idea for Dancer Body?

Coming up with Dancer Body was so easy for me as my whole life I’ve always been around women that are big fans of shows like Dancing with the Stars or Strictly Come Dancing and being a personal trainer myself I’ve trained so many women who always wonder how professional dancers keep our bodies in shape! At first I just put together a series of all my favourite workouts that I do, it was quite personal to me! I then created Dancer Body which is basically to prove to people how easy it is to get yourself in shape!

When did you start the project, and what has the response been like?

We started the Dancer Body project last year when myself and Curtis were eliminated from Season 1 of Dancing with the Stars. I had the idea for quite some time but just didn’t have chance to get the ball rolling with it, then having more time on our hands after being eliminated from the competition it just felt like the perfect time to set it up. The response has been great and we now have our dedicated Dancer Body ladies who love to use the programme!

Can you tell us a bit about the Dancer Body team?

The team consists of quite a few people, but it mainly comes down to myself, Curtis and James! I am the face of Dancer Body sort of for the ladies for inspiration, James our personal trainer is the brains behind the exercises and puts together my ideas for workouts and makes them work in a way so that everyone will see results and Curtis has a part called Curtis’ Kitchen where he creates recipes and we added them to our advent calendar, he also taught himself a lot about cameras so he does the logistics of the filming and lighting etc!

What does a membership to your site include?

When you purchase a membership on our site, you get five videos for the £5.99 you pay, you will get a different video which works a different part of your body for every day of the week Monday – Friday (we suggest taking the weekend off to recover), you then redo these videos Monday to Friday for the month. You also get two emails a month with lots of tips and extra bonus exercises from myself, Curtis and James!

Do you have to sign up for a length of time or is it on a monthly basis?

You sign up monthly so we like for our customers to not feel like they are tied into something for a long period of time, the fact that they don’t have to purchase the next months package until they have found out if they actually enjoy the programme I think helps the customers to get a real experience of our motive!

How rewarding is it knowing you’re helping people get fit?

As a personal trainer myself and along with James who is one of London’s best personal trainers and myself and Curtis being professional dancers we really take a lot of pride in the way we look, from exercising, to what we eat, it is our reality so we want to make people feel the same buzz we get from working out and being in control of your own body so it’s very rewarding when this pays off!

How do you come up with the exercise routines?

The exercise routines are quite personal to me and they often consist of a few exercises which are my favourites and I do in the gym myself but James is the complete brains behind putting all of the exercise routines together, he works out which exercises will benefit you most and make a difference!

Is it suitable for all abilities?

Dancer Body is definitely suitable for all abilities, we feel our niche is women that want to learn to dance as well as tone their bodies. We really want to expand our brand into doing programmes for children, pregnant ladies and even people who have suffered from operations (e.g. knee ops), we just need the time to expand to all areas, so keep posted!

How much time does an average workout take for a member?

On average a workout would be thirty minutes with the fifteen minutes of toning and fifteen minutes of cardio, however you can shorten your workouts by taking out the cardio element or making it longer by purchasing a stretching video!

How did you get involved with James Walker?

We are lucky to call James Walker family as he is actually Curtis’ cousin and has been a personal trainer to myself, Curtis, AJ (Pritchard) and Chloe (Hewitt) for quite some time, as we knew what a high standard he has in his work and how creative he is so we decided to get him involved in this venture and we are so happy we did!

How much fun was it filming your advent calendar?

The advent calendar was probably the funniest thing we have ever filmed, it took us two whole days to film! We filmed it in September and it actually wasn’t cold at all but we were in a studio wearing silly Santa hats and getting into the Christmas spirit! We have an outtakes video coming out soon from the filming and I must say it really is hilarious!

Would you consider releasing a Dancer Body DVD or book in the future?

We would definitely be into releasing a DVD, the only thing that puts me off is that I really want people to make this their reality and live their life this way and I feel a DVD is something you do as a one-off! A book would be my goal and is something I’m working towards and I would really love to do in the near future!

Would you like to open your own studio?

Right now as we tour pretty much all year having a studio wouldn’t be great for us, as I would love to commit my time and make it personal and a reflection of our journeys and right now I wouldn’t have the time to do that, but in the future it’s definitely a thought!

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