Country Fusion takes you from the gym to a jamboree

During an aerobic dance class on Feb. 25 at World Gym in East Meadow, Elizabeth Mooney led a group of women through a routine that included mock lasso twirls, gallops and the occasional exclamation of “Yee-ha!”

The 36-year-old East Meadow native has been learning different styles of dance since she was 2, and began teaching when she was 16. She is well versed in ballet, tap, jazz and hip-hop. But she said she never came across a country music dance program — until she created her own.

Mooney’s first teaching job was at Betsy Dickerson Performing Arts Center in Merrick when she was 16. She studied dance at Nassau Community College before continuing her training at two Manhattan studios, Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway.

In 2012, when she was 28, she produced and directed an Off-Broadway burlesque show called “Arcana.” The show, which featured dances of the 1930s, premiered at the Cutting Room in Manhattan and had a nearly 12-month run.

That year, she also opened a studio in East Meadow, called Wild Cherryz, which she operated until she moved to Ledgewood, N.J., five years ago.

She taught Zumba lessons and, every so often, swapped out the music with that of country singers like Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean. That prompted her to think of ways to combine the experiences of a dude ranch that she visited throughout her childhood with her lifelong passion for dance.

Mooney had her first taste of what she calls the “country lifestyle” when she was 6 and first visited the 1000 Acres Ranch Resort in Stony Creek, N.Y. There she would don cowboy boots, go to “honky-tonks” — parties at country-western-style bars — and perform line dances with family members and friends.

Eventually, she was inspired to bring that “lifestyle” into the fitness studio. Mooney launched Country Fusion the year after she moved to New Jersey. “At this point, it’s all about spreading the love of dance, fitness and country music,” she said.

Last week, as she prepared to embark on a 10-day tour of Canada to promote her program, she visited her family in East Meadow, and offered her former students a class. At World Gym, participants followed her through a routine that included elements of belly dancing, hip-hop, salsa and merengue. She explained that her fitness program blends almost all of the dances she learned when she was young. She called it Country Fusion because it includes one “wild card” song and style for every four country hits.

“It has some Zumba moves, but if you have any dance background it will help. It also uses line dancing, which is different,” said Bari Hertz, who first learned Zumba when Mooney taught her 15 years ago. “We all miss her here on Long Island.”

Each 50-minute class that Mooney teaches at Dream Dance Studio in Ledgewood and Patrick’s Pub in Hopatcong helps dancers burn roughly 500 calories through a routine that is much like low-intensity interval training. She hires instructors to teach Country Fusion at private parties, schools, charity events and bars. The Saddle Ridge Riding Center in Franklin Lakes, N.J., has incorporated the program into its equestrian camp.

Mooney went on her first national tour last year with Sara’s City Workout Inc., which holds fitness conventions in major cities. She is scheduled to leave for Canada on March 24, on a tour arranged by the fitness education company Canfitpro.

One of the final dances she led at World Gym was called “Double Scoop,” which she said she learned while line dancing at a honky-tonk in Tampa, Fla. As she taught one movement, called the “sailor step,” she told her charges to imagine that they were drunken sailors on a ship, stumbling back to their bunks.

This dance, she explained, isn’t one she would teach beginners, but she wanted to make sure her fans at home in East Meadow could give it a try. At the end of the class, she told the sweating, red-faced members of the group that she was impressed with their performance.