As a 68-year-old hip hop fan, celebrity makeup artist and Jones Road founder Bobbi Brown swears by the power of music and movement to keep herself in shape. Before she starts the day, the beauty entrepreneur revealed on HELLO!’s Second Act podcast that her secret for feeling like a “new person” is working out with a British TikTok star each morning. Oxford-based Daniel Browne, aka @MrGrooveUK, has made a name for himself teaching midlife women to dance to old school classic hits, with over 531k devotees across the world, including Bobbi and Strictly star Oti Mabuse. “I love to dance and I’ve taken lessons, but I’m not good at it,” Bobbi told Ateh Jewel on this week’s podcast, where she also opens up about her beauty and business secrets. “Sometimes when I get up in the morning and I haven’t worked out for days, I just feel stuck. So, I literally open up my Instagram and I put on my new favourite app, Mr. Groove UK. I don’t know what it is about his energy, but it’s just five minutes, so I get up, I dance without a mirror, I follow what he does and I just feel like a new person.”
This is Daniel’s mission, with the dancer telling HELLO!: “I like to say I am hiding health in happiness – I just want people to come and have a good time and enjoy my class. They don’t realise that it is aerobic fitness, and what is incredible is we burn as many calories as really hard combat classes.” Despite being just 32, the professional dancer, who has performed with the likes of Fleur East and Dizzee Rascal, has managed to tap into what gets midlife women moving with his routines to old school soul and classic R&B hits. “It was the music that I grew up enjoying with my parents,” he says. “When I see women coming to my classes, what brings them in is the music choices I use and the lack of judgement and joy that I bring to my classes. We are here to have a good time, and the exercise feels like a by-product almost.”
Daniel wants movement to be fun for his clients
For his pupils, Daniel uses a mind over matter way of getting the best work out of his dance classes. “I always pretend we are on stage or dancing for an artist and that really helps switch our brains from thinking, ‘We are here to work hard and grind and burn calories’, which does happen, but it comes from committing to dancing and completing the choreography, not perfectly, but in a way that we enjoy it There is a science behind how I train my class with the arch of the aerobic exercise and then the cool down, but my class doesn’t come to hear that from me – they want me to take them somewhere else for an hour. If they came in feeling in a bad mood, they will go away feeling on top of the world afterwards.”
Having trained midlife women between 40 and 60 for over 10 years, Daniel has noticed that after the initial apprehension, his pupils love it. “Joy and natural movement have been lost along the way and more pressure has been put on being active to lose calories or fit into a dress size. We are overcomplicating exercise in my opinion. Movement used to be an everyday part of our lives, whether it was through chores or walking, and now we are having to carve out an hour a day to do weights in a gym. You just need to dance and have fun.”
LISTEN: To Bobbi Brown talk about her love of dance on HELLO!’s Second Act podcast
Daniel’s tips for taking up dancing in midlife.
Think less, dance more
I think some women come into class with way too much overthinking. They’re in their heads thinking ‘I’m not going to get it right’.
Have a positive frame of mind
The first thing people always tell me is, ‘I’m not a dancer. I haven’t done this before.’ I want to tell them to relax. It’s not an audition, no one is coming here to put you on a stage in front of Simon Cowell, so just relax.
Wear comfortable clothes that make you feel good
Come in something comfortable, always have comfortable, good, proper shoes on with good heel and ankle support and clothes you’re willing to sweat in and move in that give you as much mobility as possible.
Come with an open mind
If you come with good energy, you will walk away feeling like you have accomplished something
Feel The Music
I can teach you a move but there is nothing like feeling the energy in the room. Let go and move your body. That is the difference between enjoying the class and just taking part in it.
Dance to music YOU love
Whether it’s AC:DC, Abba, Bruno Mars or even modern Sabrina Carpenter, just put it on and move your body. ‘Proud Mary’ by Tina Turner is the track that kicks everything off in most places I go. It is finding the fun in the music and doing something you like.