SHAPE UP AND DANCE

David Hewitt remembers a short-lived 1980s aerobics craze accompanied by chart-topping keep-fit albums

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Put your feet together, pelvis forward, tummy in, shoulders back, head up, left hand on your hip. Ready? Away we go!”

Those were the words of Felicity Kendal, in 1981, at the beginning of the very first Shape Up and Dance exercise album. And with Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely playing away in the background, she was ushering in an energetic — albeit short-lived — new craze.

It had begun with Jane Fonda, who developed her own workout regime while recovering from a broken ankle. Her record and subsequent video proved extremely popular. Their influence quickly spread to Britain, where 11 Shape Up albums would be released in barely three years.

They were the work of Lifestyle Records, a company otherwise known for the song Save Your Love, which gave Renée and Renato a Christmas No 1. They featured a well-known presenter reciting 40 minutes of exercise instructions over instrumental versions of recent pop songs and came with an instruction booklet containing photographs of the routines.

They weren't, however, the first of their kind. Since the 1960s, veteran PT instructor Eileen Fowler had been making her own exercise records for the BBC. They had titles such as Slim to Rhythm and As Young as You Feel, while Dance, Keep-Fit, and Slim to Music, which promised to tone up waistlines to a tango beat, had been released in only the past few months.

Felicity Kendal was a good choice for Shape Up and Dance. Petite and nicely spoken, with a ready smile, she had made her name in The Good Life and was currently starring in the Carla Lane sitcom Solo. And the tracks on her album were well chosen, too. As well as the Stevie Wonder hit, they included I Will Survive, YMCA, In the Navy, and Dancing Queen.