3 Aerobics Contestants Get a Jump on the Competition

SHERMAN OAKS —  A frail, elderly woman carefully picked her way past the cosmetics counter of the Robinsons-May department store at the Sherman Oaks Galleria on Saturday and was met by an onslaught of throbbing disco music.

“What in the world is going on out there?” she muttered.

It was competitive aerobics--in the eyes of some “the next big thing”--featuring driving drumbeats, buns of steel, free-flowing endorphins and 101 different ways to do a pushup to music.

The hard-body set descended on the Galleria--where the Valley Girl mall culture was born and the first regional competitive aerobics finals were held a decade ago. On Saturday, 16 aggressively perky competitors vied for the chance to advance in two weeks to the National Aerobic Championship in San Diego.

Three of them made it--including two novices competing for the first time.

Sylviane Chapoulaud, 33, a choreographer and personal trainer from Pasadena, won first place, competing for the Santa Clarita Athletic Club. Stella Alzocar, 22, an aerobics instructor from Marina del Rey, placed second, and Susan Johnson, 31, an aerobics instructor and mother of two from Chula Vista, came in third.

“I’ve wanted this since I was 20 years old,” Johnson said.

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Although she didn’t advance to the finals, Nancy Severinsen, daughter of former “Tonight Show” bandleader Doc Severinsen, was the crowd pleaser as she performed her routine to her father’s music, a number called “Bugle Call Rag.”

Severinsen, 45, of Glendale, won a silver medal Friday in the master’s competition.

“I just like to work out,” she explained, adding that having a younger boyfriend also provides strong incentive. “Everyone is so nice. There are no Tonya Hardings in this sport.”