pRoFESSIoNAl EdgE ClUb SCENE

Explor E a

New World of Dance

Classes that jazz up your fitness routine

By Jodai SarEmi, dpm With an inviting name and a knockout lineup of instructors, your Neighborhood Studio (yNS) in Culver City, Calif., offers the world to its members. dancers from West africa, Jamaica, Europe, india, Japan and the United States come together here. my goalwas to create a friendly and community-oriented environment, where everyone feels comfortable, says denise mazan, the owner of yNS. mazans open-house events invite the neighbors in for a unique fitness experience where they join 30-minute snippets of a wide variety of classes offered free throughout the day. They quickly become members once they are hooked. Acroyoga acroyoga, a combination of acrobatics and yoga poses, demands trust and teamwork among groups of two, four or more. after initial jitters about entering strangers personal space and actually touching them, the exercises become really fun and an act of beauty. Each pose is an amazing application of the laws of physics as you balance on fulcrum points and discover your centers of gravity. advanced acroyogis eventually learn to thread the poses together and appear to fly slowly through space. instructor Becca Fresco works with each team to make sure everyone feels safe, but the greatest thing is the sense of accomplishment once you achieve the final pose: its like being in Cirque du Soleil. Booiaka raised on the sounds and rhythms of Jamaica, Brazil and the italian club scene, Tatiana Tamai created Booiaka when she was dancing with friends. its the way you move, she explained. When you shake it, people say Booiaka, girl! The music, imported from the hottest European clubs, transforms the studio with the Jamaican hip-hop/latin fusion rhythms. i like to help people learn to enjoy movement, she says and winks, drawing you into the secret to Booiaka: you may not be a music video star, but Booiaka will make you shake it like one. Mystikal MovementTM misty Tripolis concept class is based on the Groove methodTm, which she created after years of dissatisfaction with traditional dance and fitness class formats. i love to dance, says Tripoli, but i needed simplicity. i knew that when i let myself get lost in the groove, my body came alive. So, the Groove method was born. you cant get this wrong, Tripoli emphasizes. like children, you wander the room and imagine yourself surfing, flying, flowing. The result is a joyful, playful, free-form dance exploration that tones and conditions your muscles and quiets your mind. Tripoli acts as a guide, directing the base exercises, such as knee-ups,

To find out more about the classes and where they are offered, check out the following Web sites: . acroyoga.org . booiakamovement.com . mistytripoli.com . yourneighborhoodstudio.com . zumbafitness.com bounces, jumps, lunges, etc., while asking you to imagine what would happen if you were a cat (for example); What would that look like? What would that feel like? Each session is unique in its uninhibited motion. West African Dance The instructor places her baby in a carrier at the side of the room and strides to the front wearing an artfully razor-cut tank top and an african print tie-skirt. She starts the music and suddenly we are carried into the heart of that great continent where tribal rhythms seem to pulsate in every humans center. Skin color doesnt matter; clothing doesnt matter; whether your hair is in a ponytail or dreadlocks doesnt matter. you only need to feel the beat and let go of your limbs, your head and your feet. West african dance is a highstepping, booty-popping, arm-swinging good time. if you add in all the standing crunches and hip tucks, it becomes a full-body cardiocore workout that even babies find entertaining. That baby watching on the sidelines didnt make a single cry for an hour! The World Is Your Neighborhood mazans other wildly popular class offerings include Zumba, the latin fusion dance workout made popular by Beto and followed by thousands; yoga Booty Ballet, a terrific blend of yoga warmup and cool-down with ballet and fitness moves for cardio; and Bollywood Bhangra Fusion, which has come across the seas from india to entertain and trim the Western masses with upbeat, Eastern sounds and lots of gorgeous hand and arm movements accompanied by hip-hop attitude. Working out doesnt have to mean work and it doesnt have to involve intimidating machines. mazan invites you to experiment with moving your body for fitnessfor fun. AF Jodai Saremi, DPM, is aFaa certified in group exercise and personal training. She is a contributing editor for American Fitness and enjoys writing about a variety of health and fitness-related subjects.

2 8 A M E R I C A N F I T N E S S M AY / J U N E 2 0 0 9