Let Us Now Freak Out About this Awesome Treadmill Choreography

March 17, 2015

It’s official: I’ll never complain about treadmill workouts being boring again. Because the dancers of the internet have, as of this morning, convinced me that the treadmill is actually a brilliant choreographic instrument.

Since I hate treadmills with a fiery passion, this conversion was a long, slow process. It started about a hundred years ago, when OK Go put out its now-(in?)famous treadmill-based video for “Here It Goes Again.” Fine, I thought: Treadmills are fun for hipster dudes to mess around on. Still, not sold.

Team Treadmill made another chink in my armor a few months ago, when NordicTrack produced the world’s largest treadmill dance. OK, I figured: Treadmills are good for peppy, aerobics-y types. Whatever.

And then came Carson Dean’s treadmill routine to “Uptown Funk.” And I surrendered.

FINE, TREADMILLS. YOU’RE COOL.

What made me cave? Well, Dean is a talented dancer and choreographer—someone whose pretty impressive off-treadmill dance skills are considerably amplified by his creative on-treadmill choreography. The moving ramp becomes less a gimmick and more an inspiration for innovative movement. Also: treadmill flips, eee!

(A quick PSA: Please, for the love of all your as-yet unbroken bones, don’t try this at your local gym.)

Enjoy, everybody.