Dance your way out of stress - that is the new fitness mantra for thousands of young IT and BPO professionals in the country.

After intense work pressure began taking a toll on their health, an increased fitness awareness has set in, paving way for mushrooming of dance studios which offer "shake-a-leg-to-stay fit" programmes, say industry insiders.

"Within a short span, there has been a steady rise in the number of dance studios and professionals who frequent them, says Lokesh Naik, a senior technical writer with an IT firm and a regular visitor to the Bangalore arm of dance studio network 'Swingers'.

According to B Murali, noted film choreographer and founder of Chennai-based Swingers, 30 to 40 dance studios have come up in Chennai while around 50 in Bangalore, all within a short span.

Swingers has six branches across the country and abroad has over 1,000 students on its rolls, of which more than 50 per cent are IT or BPO professionals, he adds.

Another famous South Indian film choreographer G Kala, popularly known as 'Kala Master', goes a step further and claims about 70 per cent of the nearly 2,000 students at her 'Kala's Kalalaya' here are young professionals.

"It's not just the professionals. Even several IT firms approach us for conducting dance training programmes aimed at fitness, stress-relief and rejuvenation", Murali says.

Many companies, including Microsoft, IBM and Club Mahindra had dance trainings and workshops organised by Swingers, Murali says.

Tata Consultancy Services has been arranging dance classes for its employees at all its centres since last May, says N Manjula Devi, coordinator of the company's employee welfare department.