International Aerobics Week (IAW)

Posted: Wednesday July 2, 2008

During the 9 days of 6 – 14 June 2008 Club La Santa was busy with lots of exciting classes, including Dance, Aerobics, Step, Body Work, Stretch & Relax and Kara-T-Robics. The last class, Kara-T-Robics, is special, because the man who invented this kind of exercise is the organiser of IAW, and Karate World Champion, Charles Longdon-Hughes. Charles started teaching Kara-T-Robics in 1992 and since then, according to him, many people have copied this style of class and given them names like Tae Bo, Body Combat, etc.

When Charles came to Club La Santa in 1987 there were no Aerobics classes as we know them now. Charles was the one who introduced the Aerobics classes here. In those days, there was only Morning Gymnastics and Afternoon Gymnastics. From 1987-1992 Charles brought a group of fitness guests to Club La Santa and said to Kenneth that he wanted to do some Aerobics with them. While he was teaching those classes a lot of guests asked if they could join in, and the 5-a-side became very crowded!
During the next 5 years he came with a group in June and December every year. After the first year the Green Team instructors said they were interested in Aerobics and wanted to learn, so he helped them to create an Aerobics class in 1988, which was then called Evening Workout.

In 1992 Charles came up with the concept of International Aerobics Weeks. He was impressed with the concept of Club La Santa, where guests could participate in more than 30 different sports activities at all different levels of ability. This inspired him to create a similar concept with the Aerobics classes. Participants were able to attend a wide variety of Aerobics and Fitness classes, taught by a team of International Instructors, offering something for all levels of fitness and ability, from the complete beginner to the most super fit athlete. 5 times each year Charles organized these weeks together with Club La Santa in January, June, July, September and December.

In 2002 Charles took over the financial responsibility for the International Aerobics Weeks from Club La Santa and has had full control of it since then. As a result of this organizational change, Charles then changed the dates of the IAW events to take place in June, September and December each year.

This year (2008) there has been another change in the concept of the IAW events.

‘Because of the ever growing and improving program of Aerobics and Wellness classes that the GreenTeam offers now for free to the guests, I can’t offer the same anymore’, says Charles. Therefore he has introduced a wide variety of dance classes to his weeks. During the last 16 years a lot of the same people have been coming to these weeks from all over the world, but there is a new generation too now. Charles calls them the MTV-generation, and they are more dance orientated. There are now 5 different dance classes on offer each day, most of which will be taught at beginner to intermediate level. One is called ‘Let’s Dance Ballroom’. This class covers all different ballroom styles, but in a new environment. People dance in aerobic clothes and learn all the moves and dance steps without a partner. When they know the steps and dance techniques they will then dance with a partner. These classes are for everyone, from beginners, with no experience in ballroom, to intermediate levels. It is the same with the Latin and Salsa classes, which are also for beginners to intermediate level participants. Hip-Hop is more for intermediate and advanced level participants, but there will be also classes for beginners. ‘At the end of the week you will feel like a dancer!’

More styles included in the dance classes are: Latin, Salsa, Hip-Hop, Funk, Jump n Jive and Jazz. Alongside these dance classes are the Aerobics and Step classes for intermediate and advanced level participants, as well as Body Work, Stretch & Relax, and Kara-T-Robics

Charles mentions Elisabeth Dalsgaard, who comes to Club La Santa a couple of times a year as well to teach her own Dance Weeks. Elisabeth has a Dance Company in Denmark, called Swingtime and she came up with the concept of ‘Let’s Dance Ballroom’ to bring all the Ballroom styles into an aerobics class environment.

After a three year break Charles restarted the June event again this year, and many of the participants said that they love the new concept and structure of the event. It’s a shame that a lot of people didn’t know about the restart, but Charles had a wonderful time and the rest of the people too! ‘For June, September and December we’re doing the same. For the future this is the way we want to go.’

‘The nationalities we have during this week are mostly English, Danish and German. I brought 8 instructors now who come from Denmark, Bulgaria, Brazil, UK, Germany, Italy, Canada and Austria. It is good to bring them here to give the people a wonderful experience. This is a great place to get new inspiration, so we also attract a lot of Instructors from many Studios all over Europe.’

Charles wants to promote his week with the name ‘Dance, Fitness & Aerobics Weeks’, but he keeps the name IAW (International Aerobics Week), because that is how they are known. He organizes all these together with Frank Thomasini, his business partner in Germany.

‘It has been a great week, but there were only about 40 participants. Normally we have over 100. In September we expect a big group with at least 100-150 people. The December and June events did not take place for 3 years, but last year we began the December events again and now this year we have restarted the June events. We didn’t have a lot of people this week, but that is because we have not had the June event for a while.’

‘It is very important for us when people come to the event that they also have a lot of fun socially. We organized a beach party on Sunday, as we always do on the first Sunday of the events. We are trying to organize special evenings in the disco. A lot of singles come to these events and without social activities they get bored, so it’s a lot more fun and complete for them when we organize some social activities. An important thing to mention is that we always have a 9 days Event, from Friday-Saturday. It is the best duration of time for the events, because every country then has at least 7 days to participate before they have to go home.’

There was a salsa beginner’s instruction as with a latin party afterwards on the Saturday and a Hip-Hop R&B night on the Tuesday in the Disco with special guest DJ ( DJ Def Star ) which was organized by Charles working together with CLS Entertainment Manager Joanne.

It has been a great and energetic week to have you all here from the International Aerobics Week.

Thank you Charles for organizing this fabulous event again and see you back in September!