In early April, 31-year-old social producer Kimberleigh Anderson joined a gaggle of about 60 within the mirror-lined studio on the Pickle Manufacturing facility dance studio on the Frogtown Inventive compound, eradicating her sneakers and stretching on the black-padded ground.
She was there for an Intro to Popstar Dance class led by self-described Homosexual Choreographer Alec Cohen. In simply 90 minutes, Cohen guarantees to assist members “realize they have permission to be fabulous in their everyday lives and the benefits, joys and lessons that dance can teach everyone.”
Anderson hadn’t danced in a studio setting since elementary college and was keen to seek out her rhythm.
Every 90-minute Intro to Popstar Dance session prices $25 to attend.
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Cohen has a background in musical theater however performing in Woman Gaga re-creation drag exhibits helped him uncover a sure gratification that got here with pop music.
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“I want to explore moving my body in a way that’s new to me,” she mentioned.
Cohen kicked off the $25 session with what he calls a “communal pump,” a classwide strut throughout the ground. Anderson adopted his instruction, counting eight beats of 1 foot in entrance of the opposite and ending in a pose. Later she tells me it’s a motion she desires “to implement into daily life,” to maneuver “with intention.”
Each Intro to Popstar Dance class unfolds the identical approach. Earlier than main college students step-by-step by an authentic dance routine, Cohen particulars a story arc to tell the power he desires to elicit, whereas offering a touch of context for the pop hit that he’ll play on the very finish.
It’s solely within the last couple of minutes of the course, as soon as the room comfortably twirls to embrace metaphorical sunshine and assertively sashays to depart the negativity behind, that the music is triumphantly revealed.
Every Intro to Popstar Dance class revolves round studying a choreographed dance for a single pop music, which Cohen reveals on the finish of the session.
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“What attracts me to pop stars is the complete conviction that they have, and I love how comfortable they are being seen,” Cohen mentioned. “It’s this sort of mentality where you don’t even entertain the possibility of you not being completely, 100% fabulous.”
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For Anderson and her fellow dancers, Cohen associated the day’s music to “The Wizard of Oz,” particularly Dorothy’s journey of realizing the ruby slippers’ energy was inside her all alongside.
That sense of self-assuredness that he sees in Dorothy’s story, he additionally sees within the many singers who dominate the Billboard Prime 40 checklist.
“What attracts me to pop stars is the complete conviction that they have, and I love how comfortable they are being seen,” Cohen mentioned. “It’s this sort of mentality where you don’t even entertain the possibility of you not being completely, 100% fabulous.”
Cohen is steeped within the artwork of projecting confidence onstage. He started his profession as a dancer in musical theater, which included a two-year ensemble function within the nationwide Broadway revival tour of “Hello, Dolly.” Between auditions in 2022, Cohen started performing in Woman Gaga re-creation drag exhibits, the place he found a sure gratification that got here with pop music.
Cohen appreciates pop songs as a result of inside the music, “There’s room for individuality and freedom of movement.”
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Cohen teaches weekly lessons, usually rotating between places in New York and Los Angeles.
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“There’s room for individuality and freedom of movement,” he mentioned. “If you mess up, there’s not going to be a pile of cards on your dressing room station saying, ‘Your foot was not pointed when it was supposed to be.’ You can just be yourself. Be flamboyant.”
Shortly afterward, a pal related him with Chrissy Chlapecka, a queer pop singer with greater than 5 million followers on TikTok. Cohen began out dancing alongside her in movies, however as soon as he noticed how clearly their visions aligned he volunteered to choreograph each her reside performances and music movies.
Across the identical time, an thought started to percolate. Each time Cohen mentioned his profession, individuals would usually confide that they had a secret want to learn to dance as nicely.
“I realized everyone had this story with dance and a lot of times that story [came down to], ‘I really wanna learn how to dance,’” Cohen mentioned.
Impressed to offer classes, he posted an Instagram story gauging curiosity in taking an intro-level pop star-inspired class. Fifteen signups later, he led the primary session within the basement of the Mark Morris Dance Middle in Brooklyn in August 2023. The anthem of selection was “Hair Body Face,” a music sung by Woman Gaga for her function as a budding pop artist in “A Star Is Born.”
Alec Cohen, a.okay.a. the “Gay Choreographer,” leads his Pop Star Dance Class.
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Cohen’s lessons usually characteristic music from pop stars like Britney Spears, Rihanna and Charli XCX.
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College students quickly started commenting on Cohen’s Instagram posts, raving concerning the course and asking when the subsequent can be held. So Cohen saved arranging for extra.
Cohen now teaches weekly, touring between Los Angeles and New York, with occasional stops in San Francisco, Chicago and, as soon as, Yale College for its community-wide masterclass dance collection. (His subsequent Los Angeles class shall be Might 4 on the Pickle Manufacturing facility in Frogtown.)
Cohen usually options music from pop stars like Britney Spears, Rihanna and Charli XCX, although often he’ll department out to subgenres that cater to a sure fan base. In March, he led a Homosexual Man Intro to Popstar Dance class to Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ la Vida Loca” in New York Metropolis. After a number of requests for Lana Del Rey songs, Cohen created an Alt-Woman Popstar class, which focuses on extra lo-fi artists like Del Rey, Lorde and FKA Twigs.
Again on the studio, Anderson and the remainder of the category have been glistening with sweat, having spent the final half of the category spinning with their arms open, sashaying throughout the ground and blowing kisses within the air. It was lastly time: Cohen’s huge music reveal.
Ballet-trained Cohen leaped throughout the ground to press play and there over the audio system, the category heard the primary few notes of the 2008 pop hit “Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield. “Oohs” rippled by the category as college students started to kneel down in place to start the choreography. “Ahas” have been heard because the embracing twirl coincided with Bedingfield’s voice singing, “Take me away / A sweet escape.”
Mikey Harmon, left, hugs a fellow attendee at Cohen’s April 6 class in Frogtown.
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Cohen continuously reminds class attendees, “There should be no shame in your body’s natural response to music.”
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“An absolute classic. … Being able to actually process the words and feel the emotion of the song with the movement was really incredible,” Anderson instructed me after the category. “The way Alec encourages everyone to feel fully free to move without judgment is a huge part of this. It was a truly supportive environment.”
Regardless of the theme or metropolis, in the course of the class’s warm-up and cool-down, Cohen reiterates, “There should be no shame in your body’s natural response to music.”
No shimmery bodysuit obligatory.
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