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Is ballet the next workout craze?
Ballet is making its move on aerobic dance and infiltrating gyms, says Kate Solmssen, manager of the New York City Ballet Workout.
The routines are based on the choreography of elite ballet but are simplified. The end result, she says, is a certain style to the arms and the upper body and a grace and poise that people see when they see a dancer on the street. “This is a way to bring ballet into the gym,“ said Solmssen.
Solmssen is training instructors in cities around the US.
The training focuses on conditioning as opposed to group dance. And the workouts bend to limitations of equipment, such as not expecting participants to have a bar. Similarly, there are no lifts or great leaps.
However, the workouts have their dance roots showing. “We have a nice little repertoire of about 25 movement combinations,” says Solmssen, “based on ballets such as New York City Ballet founder George Balanchine’s Tarantella.”
“There is also the pleasure of exercising to the civilized strings of Bach and Mozart rather than the plebeian pounding of rock. The ballet workout is a mind-body experience, and mood counts for a lot,” she said.
The work out programme is being offered at a number of locations including New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Cape Girardeau and North Carolina.