Joffrey Ballet Class (Free This Friday!)

School has started back up for the semester, but that doesn't mean that I am not going to keep this up.
This Monday I went to a Keep Fit Ballet class at the Joffrey Ballet here in Chicago. They offer adult ballet classes for anyone who wants to drop in and they have a variety of different levels. The Keep Fit class is extremely effective at making me sore. No word on whether it is effective at getting someone in great shape because I have never taken it regularly. But, that said, the level of soreness indicates that I worked some muscles.

Now, in the effort of full disclosure, the classes normally do cost money. But, this Friday, January 27th they are offering free classes! That is why I am posting about it even though I paid for the class on Monday (well not really but that’s because I had a gift certificate). The normal cost is $15 for adults, $12 for students and $10 for professionals.

So, free class on Friday!!!
I will of course be going to one of the free classes.

Observations about Keep Fit Ballet:

- Leotards are not flattering
To be fair, they make clothes look great. When I wear a leotard under my clothes on the way to class, I feel pretty rockin’. They are like full body shape-wear. Spanx ain’t got nothing on a leotard. I also wear full body tights. I recommend them soooo much for anyone who is not a professional ballerina with a professional dancer’s body. They prevent the horrible tights-muffin-top-thing and make everything look smoother.
All that said, leotards are meant to be clothes, not full coverage undergarments and leotards just on their own, man oh man. Not my favorite look. It is almost enough to deter me from going to class altogether- which is counter intuitive. The only way I will look good in my leotard is if I work out, so not going to class isn’t going to help anything. To make the leotard situation even more noticeable, ballet studios are covered in mirrors. There is no escaping them. Other people in the class wear additional clothing like capri pants or tank tops and I might explore that idea.

- Pointing your toe = Workout?
The majority of Keep Fit Ballet is a variety of toe pointing exercises. I don’t speak French, so I will not be writing any of the special terms down, but mostly they are all toe pointing: toe pointing to the front, to the back, to the side, a little off the ground, bouncing off the ground, circling pointed toe on the floor. Lots of toe pointing.
After the toe pointing, then there is some kicking. Then a little jumping. Nothing is very hard to do; however, at the end of the class I feel it!
I have tried artistically pointing my toe in my apartment and it does not have the same effect. Somehow, toe pointing in the ballet studio is a workout. Go figure.

- The studio has the most amazing view.
Seriously, there are giant picture windows that look out over State Street. Gorgeous. If you ever wanted to feel like a professional ballerina but say, you didn’t start when you were 4 and you aren’t Russian, I think this is the best you can get.

Additional benefit, people think you are really cool when you say you are going to a ballet class at the Joffrey. I had people ask me: “Oh wow, are you, like, a ballerina?” Hahaha… no. But, people seem to impart all sorts of specialness to a ballet class that just doesn’t exist when you tell someone that you are going to a Pilates class.

I’ll write about the free class once I go, but again, I wanted to let people know about the Free Classes this Friday!
Check out the link a class schedule and more information about the free classes.

http://www.joffrey.org/academy/programs/adult

First Free Class: Yoga at Lululemon

So, went to a free yoga class today at the Lululemon store on Michigan Avenue.

I think yoga means stretching for a long time and looking really relaxed in public.

I kept waiting for the torture part to happen and it just didn’t happen.  I like stretching so I think I will keep going to this class.

Observations about yoga in general since I am a newcomer:

- Some people have learned to breath like Darth Vader. 

Seriously, I have never had a group of polite polished looking people breath so loudly around me.  But more specifically, the breathing really really sounded like Darth Vader. It also seemed that the yoga people breathed more like Darth Vader as the stretching and bending got more intense.  As if they were summoning the dark side to help them get their noses closer to their knees.

- One must have well groomed, soft-looking feet.

It’s winter.  I have not had bare feet in ages.  In the shower, I wash my feet, but nothing special.  Soap, water, rinse.  In the future, I think I will add lotion and pumice stone to that routine because my feet were looking a little… rough.  A large portion of the class was spent getting my face as close to my feet as possible, so I was able to observe my feet up close. 

- I feel really relaxed.

All the stretching prepared me perfectly for a nap or a bath or other relaxing activities.  Normally, I find working out stressful (generally because I lack athletic talent).  But I am flexible, so yoga was soothing. 

- Everyone owned some Lululemon clothing. 

The class is held in the store, so often while working on a pose, I found myself concentrating very hard on the garments hanging just a few feet from my head. The store was really pretty and there was plenty of room, but it’s a store so there is merchandise everywhere.  After glancing around at the other people in the class, I noticed that every single person in the class was wearing at least one article of Lululemon clothing.  I don’t blame them.  The clothes look great.  But man, they are on the pricey side. 

- Don’t come late. They lock the door.

Conclusion:

This class was great.  It’s free. It happens every week. I will be doing this again.
 http://www.lululemon.com/chicago/michiganavenue/events/

It all starts tomorrow

I am a graduate student living in Chicago.
I live on modest means (I'm told that is "polite speak" for poor).

In the past I have liked to attend work-out classes.  But I have found that they can be really expensive here in the Chicago.  Of course, this has worked wonders as an excuse to not exercise.  I find that I will go to a class or two, realize how much money that cost, decide I could try a different type of exercise and then not try that other exercise after all.  Normally, within a few weeks I am back on the couch with my grey cat Kitten.  He does not help motivate me to exercise.  He does encourage me to nap.

Anyway.  Once upon a time I danced ballet.  I started ballet when I was 18, so when I dreamed of dancing in New York, I was aware that the dream was delusional.  Never the less, I loved dancing ballet.  I was strong and flexible and leaner that I had been before.  It was a glorious 3 years of ballet classes and then I moved to Chicago. Here ballet cost money.  I don't like spending money on non-tangible things and ballet classes were not tangible. I also had to take the L to get there, so that was a hassle.  That was that. I stopped. I was being frugal and being frugal is good. Yay for me!

Fast forward a few years and all residual muscle from Ballet has long since gone.  Lifting things is hard. Walking up stairs- meh. Running, well running is not fun.  I have made a few half-hearted attempts at working out at home and I have discovered that I am very influenced by peer pressure. I need other people working hard around me for me to also work hard at my exercises.  So, I really do want to take classes.

Solution: Find free classes in Chicago.

Done. I found a ton.  All sorts of free classes.  Being a good student, I have created a spreadsheet and I have organized it.
I have also purchased some yoga pants.  The pants make my butt look great, so I feel like I have taken a valuable step.  Also I walked to the store to buy the pants.  I feel like the whole pants buying experience was progress enough for one day.
Tomorrow I begin testing random classes around the city.  Everything I try is going to be cheap. My goal is for every class to be free (but if I do spend money I will say so).

I have not been physically active in any kind of substantial way in 2.5 years, so when I rate these experiences, take that into account.  I will describe how things go at these classes and I will say whether I would be willing to pay for classes in the future at the location.  Since my goal is to try the free stuff, I am going to be trying a ton of things that I would not have tried otherwise (like indoor rowing, cross fit, jui jitsu...).

Here goes nothing. It all starts tomorrow at 11am.  I'll tell you how it goes.