Only one day after we posted our record breaking take on Dana Flynn’s YogaNation Tour was Dana’s “24 Years of Practice in 90 Seconds” feverishly shared among patrons of the Facebook. Behold:
Speaking on how the video came to be, Dana states:
“I’d just finished teaching the noon class at Laughing Lotus in NYC when this couple from out of town walked into the studio and asked if they could see “some yoga.” I said, “Of course. Are you DTF — down to flow?” Then I spontaneously started a sequence to show the couple “some yoga,” and my friend, who happened to be in the studio with me that day, turned on his iPad and started to film me. So this video is a very realistic snapshot of my practice, a spur-of-the-moment flow that just feels good.”
Wonderful.
But, then something crazy happened. Seemingly out of nowhere another video started circulating the interwebs (though it was originally uploaded late last year), challenging everything we knew about “flowing,” “sequencing,” and “feeling good.” Set in what looks to be a suburban wonderland of joy, the video has a slightly different take on what constitutes “moving like yourself.”
Complete with a website and book (!) Joanna Rohrback’s “Prancercize” is having people scramble to find out if this new lifestyle craze is real or just a ruse. Always fans of the outlier, we found ourselves tapping our mental foramen not out of confusion, but out of curiosity as to what the two videos might be saying together, as we believe each is in dialogue with the other. And yet, as the always controversial Lauren Hill has said, “Two MCs can’t occupy the same space at the same time.”
So, we did the obvious thing, and pitted them against one another.
Let the games begin!
CHALLENGE #1: “USE OF ARMS”
As far as we’re concerned, arms are the doggie doors to the soul. If you don’t know where to place ’em, you may find yourself with a puggle up yer arse. But, Joanna Rohrback knows exactly how to rock those appendages. Complete with a dizzying array of “hello’s,” waves, loops, “fingerly wigglies,” elbow sachets, and swivels, Joanna rocked this category like “Doo-Wop Night” at the clubhouse.
CHALLENGE #2: “FASHION SENSE”
While one might think that this category would go to Dana, whose flashy capris ride alongside the current trend of awesomely insane yoga leggings sweeping the urban yoga nation, in the end the win must go to Joanna, whose pairing of white yoga pants with a salmon-colored blazer is not only unprecedented, but bold, daring, and dastardly. Plus, hand weights!
CHALLENGE #3: “SELF PROMOTION”
We simply have to give this category to Dana. While it’s true that both videos promote the people featured in them, nothing says “Look at me” like having a shirt made with your own name ironed on it over the number “1.” And, seeing how her video supposedly just kinda randomly happened, it suggests that Dana was wearing her “self shirt” throughout the day. An easy win for the creator of “lotus flow.”
CHALLENGE #4: “VERTICAL ACHIEVEMENT”
Yes it’s true that titibasana is an advanced asana, and yes it suggests a certain kind of “flight.” However, there is little that could have come close to challenging a woman whose hair is so perfectly organized (we’re guessing on a weekly basis) that it barely moves while the body below leaps into the air with a whimsy previously unseen by human eyes.
CHALLENGE #5: “CREATIVE USE OF ENVIRONMENT”
Joanna says it best when she proclaims that people should be “[g]etting back to nature by exercising in it rather than a confined, unnatural, germ laden environment.” We couldn’t agree more, and appreciate her use of the old people community grounds as a backdrop for her somatic exploration.
So, who won…?
Three Babarazzi cheers to a woman who truly defines “innovation,” to a woman who appeals to the suburban mom in all of us, and to a woman who when lacking a horse, simply photoshopped one running along side her.
Congratulations, Joanna Rohrback. You are truly and inspiration.
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The Babarazzi 
You want horses? … why not try the real crazy, PSY …..
and it’s got that little Orientalism touch …
DTF….down to flow….mmmmhhhhhmmmmmmmm! Sure, if you say so.
Asking “are you Down to Flow?” sounds a little like code for asking a woman if she has her period.
Ankle weights on yhe wrists? That is just craze-amaze. Why does the camera guy keep trying to get away?. And according to Dana, a film crew just happened to be in studio when these strangers from ‘out of town’ demanded a show?,,,Uh OK…I saw that on an old Our Gang movie.
Reminds me of the old Body Flex system, Advanced Pranayama to lose inches
This may be news only to me, but DF’s alignment is terrible. She’s going to damage her knees practicing like that. As for it being a realistic snapshot of her practice, there’s clearly a big edit between standing ankle-to-knee and that first arm balance. Prancercize FTW.
I would say its not just news to you. And not to mention the rotator cuff/shoulders with the fast standing-marichi and bird of paradise binds. I hope this “couple from out of town” does NOT give this a try! Or anyone watching it… Prancercize would be much safer! (although I remember hearing that walking with ankle weights is not good for you).
She actually doesn’t even get into most of the warrior poses before she’s moving into another. Where was the W3? I always think it’s a mental, not physical, thing if people resist actually aligning in a pose. “Rainbow!” “Peace!”I get annoyed when Sadie “brands” poses so that goes for DTF too.
cypress trees.
Excellent comment.
that raspy voice gives me the chills.
I was really hoping you would do something with Prancercize. You have delivered as expected and found the pot of gold!
As a former step aerobics maven in the mid ’90s, yours truly went without stating the obvious.
That you chose to put her head to head with DTF gettin’ down … now, THAT’s the priceless part!
The lineage of Prancercize runs deep …
OH. MY. GOD!
Judi Sheppard Missett started this venture in my home town. My Mom would go three times a week to class. You gotta admit, JSM really knew how to sell enthusiasm and turn it into a career. The book, “The Great Oom” is a telling history of Yoga in America. Right down to the rented elephants.
JSM and Jazzercise are still going strong today. At 68 she looks amazing, sign me up! http://www.jazzercise.com/documents/judi-sheppard-missett-bio
I used to do Jazzercise videos, along with my Kathy Smith videos, and Joanie Greggains audiotapes, etc. Those were the days.
If only you had a Camel Toe category Joanna would truly walk away with this!
The debate of the century was had here at BabaHQ over mentioning the toe. In the end we decided JR looked too much like our moms to mention. Thanks for reminding us. Blerg.
Thank you for drawing that line …
“Blerg”?
You’re making my giant crush on you even worse.
There’s also this, if we’re crosstraining. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apP-J-ernN0
I have noticed women doing this when I go on my jogs. They always look sheepish like I caught them doing something wrong when I jog by. Some of them even stop for a minute and pretend that they were just fumbling their ipods or something. That is some camel toe.
I love Joanna so much
I have to ask…#1, with Dana moving so fast in her flow, when does she have time to breath? but what do I know….thought yoga was all about mindfulness of the body, breath, and mind. and #2, does she always talk so damn much during a class? I would walk out after 10 minutes or at least yell, shut the F up! namaste. 😉
I was thinking the same, exact thing. Dana’s instruction reminds me of those chicks from the 20-minute workout back in the day…
The prancing just looks so darned fun!!!
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I have no idea how you are supposed to follow dana’s sequence? It’s so chaotic and there isn’t a moment to even feel an asana till the next burst of blah blah words are being thrown out at you. Do this, do that, then this, then that… NOW be yourself and feel freeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! whaaaaaaat????? CALM DOWN DANA!
I feel it needs to be said that in Dancer -vs- Prancer, we all win. We all win.
Will Joanna be at Wanderlust? Where do I sign up for the 3 day Intensive?
okay, so i don’t want to make unwarranted assumptions about other people’s sexuality, but i’m pretty sure that dana flynn is a lesbian. i am a lesbian and i am reasonably sure that i can recognize my own kind. anyways, i’m pretty pissed that she is the lesbian yoga teacher we all know about. it gives the rest of us a bad name. we aren’t all cheesy and lame. some of us are almost as cool as joanna rohrback.
and also, i am actively offended by the acronym dtf being appropriated by yoga as down to flow. boo yoga.