Standing in front of a class of 20 women, ranging from college students to grandmothers, Daisy Miller outlines the finer points of the stank face.
Demonstrating a move from the upcoming choreography, Miller tells her class that “sometimes, you just need a little stank face. It just feels right.” The women laugh nervously at the suggestion of making stank faces, but when the moment comes in Miller’s hip-hop dance fitness routine, each face in the room contorts just as Miller’s had moments ago.
It is impossible to stand in one of Miller’s classes and not want to follow her every move. Miller is electrifying, commanding the room just through her movement. She takes classes through lively routines set to upbeat Top 40 songs with a wide smile on her face, occasionally shouting encouragement at her students when she sees them getting into the routines. By the end of her classes, students are exhausted but exhilarated.
Miller did not always have the dance skills she has now. She grew up playing volleyball and tennis. It wasn’t until she took her first Zumba class at the LSU UREC that she found her passion for fitness.
“I became certified to teach Zumba that summer, and I taught Zumba for two years before I kind of branched off and started my own class, Street Beats.” Though Miller loved Zumba, she found herself constrained by the guidelines issued to Zumba instructors. “In Zumba, each class has to be 70 percent Latin based songs and then 30 percent can be whatever you want. So I would do 30 percent hip-hop, and some of my students approached me asking if we could do a class that was just hip-hop, and I thought that was a great idea.”
Miller describes her class as hip-hop-choreo-fitness, and her combination of fitness-style moves and booty-popping dances quickly made her class at the UREC famous. Every week, people lined up outside of Miller’s studio waiting for the chance to take her class, and with word of mouth the class grew every week. Miller believes that it’s the combination of fun and fitness that bring people back to her classes, and she loves that she is able to help people live healthier lives while they enjoy themselves. “Everyone needs a little twerk in their life,” Miller says. “It does the body good.”

Gallery • 6 Photos

Charles Champagne

Daisy Miller works out Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014 downtown Baton Rouge, La.