Why CIZE It Up?

(A piece I wrote for the Wallingford YMCA's member e-newsletter)

Here are some of the comments I have heard from people who have come to my CIZE Live class:

"That was so fun. It was challenging, but it was fun. I feel really accomplished."

"My heart is beating so hard, I can feel it in my toes."

"I love this class! I work my mind and my body."

CIZE Live is the latest workout program from Beachbody, the makers of P90X and Insanity. I have been dancing for 39 years, and teaching dance for 25 years. I took my first CIZE Live class last summer and was both challenged and captivated. Even though I am an avid runner, the class challenged me from a cardio standpoint. Plus, the uptempo, dance music (from the likes of Justin Timberlake, Pharrell, Missy Elliott, Ariana Grande, etc.) doesn't stop for 45 minutes straight; which means your brain is moving and learning for 45 minutes straight. I fell in love with the format and the philosophy behind it; specifically, that all movement is dance, CIZE just puts it to a rhythm.

I find that CIZE is so fun, people forget they're working out. It's a dance party where you learn the latest moves and laugh a lot! It's professional dance for everyday people (no prior dance experience necessary). My job is to break down professionally choreographed dance routines so the choreography is scaffolded in a way to work for everyone...from beginners to the more experienced. I believe it takes three times attending a CIZE Live class before you have a real sense of confidence about the moves. My encouragement to first time attendees is give yourself a chance to learn. No one goes to kindergarten expecting to know how to read after the first day; it takes some time.

Attendees are moving for most of the class so they're burning calories the whole time. On top of the awesome exercise and totally pumping music, one of my favorite aspects of CIZE Live is that you really have to leave behind whatever is on your mind and be fully present and focused in this class. That kind of "all in" mindset will aid in learning a new skill and you will leave feeling a sense of accomplishment!

If you have never taken a dance class before, but frequently have dance parties in your car when "your song" comes on...this class is for you!
If you love a great work out...this class is for you!
If you have danced on and off for years, but want to try something new... this class is for you!
If you just need to get out of the house and break out of your routines with a fun group of people...this class is for you!
If you want to START a fitness routine that you will actually enjoy...this class is for you!

The makers of CIZE LIVE designed the class so that "if you can walk, you can do CIZE!" So join me at the Wallingford YMCA Mondays on the West Side at 8:45AM or Wednesdays on the East Side at 6:35PM. Or come to the Academy of Dance and Music on Tuesdays at 6:10pm. I can't want to see you in class!

I See Dead People

Spoiler Alert: If you have never seen the movie "The Sixth Sense" (and I highly recommend that you do), read no further because I will give away one of the most turn-on-a-dime plot revealers of all time.

One of the most chilling lines ever, right? When little Haley Joel Osment playing the role of Cole confesses to Bruce Willis' character that he has a sixth sense...one beyond sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. He can see people from another dimension. People who have left the time and space dimension of Earth and are wandering around in some sort of altered dimension. Crazy, right?

Today's tale is a wandering one that will ultimately reveal that I have come to the realization that I too have a sixth sense. Thankfully, mine is different from Cole's.

The story starts about a month ago. Paulie, my husband of almost 19 years, is an avid exerciser. His father had a quadruple bypass at age 54 and that possibility scares the dickens out of Paulie; thus he works out several times a week and has for as long as we have been together.

However, like many, he always gains a little weight over the winter months...and this winter was especially hard to be motivated to exercise. Who had any juice for that after all that snow shoveling?

In early March, Paulie asked me if I would begin a 9 week running program with him called "Couch to 5K." My initial response was, "Have you met me? I am the least athletic person on the planet!" My second response was, "Hell no." Thankfully, when my maturity started to wax and my freshness waned, I realized that it had been a while since the last time Paulie asked to do something with me. So I acquiesced and as of today we are three-and-a-half weeks into the 9 week program.

At the start of week 4, the Couch to 5K plan is to walk a five minute warm up, run 3 mins, walk 90 seconds, run 5 mins, walk 2.5 mins, run 3 mins, walk 90 seconds, run 5 mins, walk 5 mins to cool down. I confess that the idea of that first 5 minute run was daunting. However, for the first time ever, I hit what people call "their stride". That had never happened to me before. This is also when my "sixth sense" kicked in.

I see movement. I see it in patterns of people in crowded places, and in this instance, I saw movement by people who were not even there.

We were running at the track at Sheehan High School and what I saw was a flash mob event that would involve hundreds of people. Simultaneously a celebration of fitness and community, the flash mob I imagine would involve young and old. And in my head it is set to Fat Boy Slim's "Right Here, Right Now." I could see the whole event, both the gathering of participants and the invitation to watch, being communicated and promoted via social media (Facebook and Twitter for sure). Now all I have to do is get permission from John Gawlak to use the track!

Sometimes my "sixth sense" brings on a choreographic idea like this, and sometimes it is just an awareness of how other people move; how their bodies work, how the shape of their hips/knees/feet affects they way they sit, stand, walk. It doesn't happen all the time and it has been a while since it happened as viscerally as it did when I was running.

Paul and I will soon head out to accomplish the Week 4, Day 2 session of Couch to 5K. I wonder what will spring to mind today as I hit my stride.

Choosing a Hero

How do you choose a hero? It seems that the word itself requires that the person have done a heroic act; this implies bravery, courage, leadership. For me, the choice transcends the simplicity, clarity of this definition. You see, their work and ideas feed my soul.

In retrospect, I have also realized that my choice of heroes required that they be alive and working during my lifetime. I need my heroes to be navigating the same complicated world that I am in. It seems that I need to be in the context that they are in. If my timeframe criteria weren’t in the mix, you could definitely add Rosa Parks and Jesus Christ to my list of heroes, among many others I am sure. Apparently I also can’t know my heroes personally, or I’d have to add my mom and husband to my list.

Since I was in my early 20s, I have had two heroes. I have had the thrill of meeting, and actually speaking with one of them…twice, actually! My heroes are nothing like me and for the most part, I don’t need or want to aspire to be them. But they have been a constant backdrop to my adult life and I am comforted that they are still doing what they do best. What my heroes have in common is that they are both performing artists.

Mark Morris is the artistic director of his own company, the Mark Morris Dance Group, which he founded in 1980 (he was 24 at the time). Since that time, he has choreographed more than 120 works including the most beautiful piece of art I have ever seen, felt, consumed: L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato. I met Mr. Morris the first time in 1990 when I was working at Jacob’s Pillow, the summer dance festival in the Berkshires. I was part of a team of summer staff that had the privilege of interviewing him. I was the oldest of all the summer staff and, I suppose not surprisingly, took the lead on the interview. Within an hour after the interview, his general manager (then Barry Alterman) came and told me that Mr. Morris wanted me to come work in his administrative offices. While that didn’t end up working out (I met Paul about two weeks later and my life went in another direction), I was elated that my brain, mind, thinking, personality was noticed by arguably one of the greatest dance minds of all time.

I also must note that I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Mr. Morris dance. He performed in Going Away Party at Jacob’s Pillow in 1990 and it was validating to know he was as unique in his qualities as a dancer as he is as a choreographer. It was also that summer that I got to sit in the JP gravel parking lot, sitting on a big rock with Mr. Morris’ mom, Maxine, drinking a beer and watching Fourth of July fireworks. We chatted about what it was like for her to raise Mark, and how much she enjoys being a part of his world. (Note: she was clutching her white pleather pocketbook whilst sipping her beer and gazing at the lights in the sky.)

The second time I spoke with Mr. Morris was after a performance in Fairfield during a talkback during which I actually got to tell him he was one of my two heroes. He was curious to know who my other hero is, but simultaneously didn’t want to know…he said he feared it would be Hitler and then he’d be tremendously disappointed!

Since this is getting long…I will devote my next post to my other hero.

Interesting Tidbit

Oh, and I do mean tidbit. Couldn't be a smaller morsel of info if I tried. But alas, it is all I can muster because I am so sleep deprived that I am losing my grasp on reality. Yesterday morning, I pulled out of my driveway to head off to work and an empty gallon-sized milk jug had blown out of someone's recycling bin onto my lawn. My immediate thought was to want to shoot someone. No lie. This is how I get when I have had waaaaaay too little sleep. Paul and the boys duck and cover.

Anywhoooo, back to my tidbit. The black and white photo of dancers' feet at the left belongs to me and my boys. Thought you'd like to know. Hayden's ridiculously high arches are at the left, Turner's darker-skinned, long, slender calves are in the middle, and that's me on the right.