← Dance-Fitness to Punjabi Music · Module 7 of 7 · 20 minutes

The Pungra story and joining in

1999: dancing as a way to keep exercising

• As a teenager he was overweight. By 17 he had lost weight and become enthusiastic about exercise, having tried football, martial arts, badminton and swimming.
• He wanted something he would keep showing up for. He noticed he only enjoyed running with good music, so he flipped it: choose the music first, then the exercise.
• He liked the group feeling of martial arts. Music plus group exercise pointed to dance. In 1999 he decided that dancing must be the way to keep exercising, and began facilitating classes, dancing to Punjabi music.

2004 to 2006: listening to the people who left

Hundreds of people came through the classes, but many did not return. Working in customer-focused roles, he began asking them why. The answer surprised him: at least 95% mainly wanted exercise. Costumes, shows and choreography did not matter to them. They said the class felt unstructured, like a social club, with a lot of waiting around.

His work in consumer protection taught him that if people feel disappointed because a service does not match its promise, the promise is wrong. He could not honestly promote the class as a fitness class.

2007: failing, and learning

To teach in fitness centres he took an Exercise to Music Level 2 certification. After years of teaching he expected to pass easily. He failed, and was given pages of things not to do. It was humbling and insightful, and it made him ask how many dance classes get fitness wrong. He retook it and passed.

Two cards, two industries

While working at a bank he saw that customers struggled to tell a debit card from a credit card. They look alike, but one uses your own money and the other is a loan from a company. The same idea applies to dance:

• Dance performing: the customer is ultimately the audience. Classes are rehearsals for a stage, a wedding, a dance floor or social media. The industry is entertainment.
• Dance fitness: the customer is you, and the aim is your physical health. You may look good doing it, as someone on a treadmill might, but that is not the point.

He later saw the same pattern at a technology company: two businesses can both make phones and still be in different industries, with different business models. Things that look the same can be built to do very different jobs.

2012: where the name came from

Around the London Olympics he was thinking about how to help people learn to exercise to Punjabi music. He noticed that the word is so often pronounced “bang-ra”, because of how it is written in English. It is closer to “pun-gra”. Spelling it the way it sounds gave the name Pungra.

Why Pungra is different from performance-led bhangra

Performance-led classes promote culture, traditional dress and views on social media, and may recruit people to perform on stage or in videos. Pungra’s promise is simple: you come to class, you do the class, you go home. As far as possible the class meets what a genuine fitness centre expects of a genuine fitness instructor, including insurance and music licensing.

2020: lockdown

During the pandemic the Pungra workout videos were used by thousands of people, who asked for more. Many also asked for live video-call classes. These had lower quality, had to be joined at a set time, and raised music licensing problems. The videos could be done whenever suited you. The lesson was that more work is needed to educate people about group exercise to Punjabi music.

From pirate to professional

Pungra’s own path, from teaching informally to failing and then passing a fitness-instructor certification in 2007, follows a pattern that has played out in other places, including radio.

Sunrise Radio began as Sina Radio, broadcasting from Southall from 1984. Wikipedia reports that Sina was a pirate station until 1988, and that it was awarded a licence and launched officially as Sunrise Radio on 5 November 1989, described as the first 24-hour radio station in the UK for the Asian audience. The station's own website tells its early story differently, so treat “pirate” as how it is commonly reported. Sources: Wikipedia, Sunrise Radio.

Many things start informally, with passion and an audience first. What matters is what happens next. Going legal did not end the station’s energy. It let it grow, reach more people and work with others on a proper footing.

Group exercise follows the same arc. A new class can begin informally, but as it grows it needs the right qualification, insurance and music licence. That is not a burden. It protects participants, instructors and the artists whose music makes the class.

What is next

• A certification programme to teach exercise to Punjabi music, aimed at 2027. The preference is schools and community centres first, with fitness centres as the longer-term goal, because fitness centres should have the higher standard.
• More active workout videos on the YouTube channel.
• A path for you: stay involved, then perhaps become an Activator, someone who encourages others in their community to become instructors, or an instructor yourself. Being an instructor is not about the money. The benefits are for your community, for society and for you.

Ways to support Pungra without attending a class

• Tell people you know about Pungra and encourage them to try it.
• Watch and share Pungra videos on YouTube.
• Encourage someone who says they are too tired or too busy to do a little at their own pace rather than nothing.

Why classes are recorded

Classes are video recorded to demonstrate instructing techniques. The videos are published for members of pungra.fit who want to use Punjabi music to teach their own classes. They are not for checking attendance or judging how well participants perform, and there is still nothing for you to memorise.

Optional: the 10-minute starter workout

A gentle follow-along for anyone who wants to try. Go at your own pace and stop if anything feels wrong. If you have an injury or health condition, speak to your GP before you begin.

Four badges, four stages

1. Members: learn the idea and earn the badge.
2. Activators: develop coaching skills to help the community grow.
3. Instructors: certify to fitness-industry standards to lead your own classes.
4. Organisers: make events and projects happen.