ROSANNE LAKE
rosanne.lake@perthcourier.com
Women of Perth, get ready to move!
Alice Bracegirdle and Arts in Motion, Perth School of Dance director, and local Bellyfit instructor, Svetlana Timtsenko are teaming up to host three nights of Bellyfit at Conlon Farm, Aug. 23 to 25.
Bracegirdle, creator of Bellyfit, hails from Perth and is now growing the Bellyfit movement from her home in British Columbia. She will be visiting town next week. While here, she and Timtsenko are holding three Bellyfit classes, including a sneak peek at one of the new formats – Bellyfit Warrior.
Set to take place outside at Conlon Farm, Bracegirdle said the evenings of connecting the spiritual, physical and emotional side of participants promise to be invigorating.
Bellyfit focuses on fitness, while maintaining the belief that women should embrace their bodies’ natural shape, size and weight. To that end, Bellyfit International offers cutting edge holistic fitness systems exclusively for women.
“Bellyfit started in Perth, with one class,” said Bracegirdle. “Since then, we have grown to have over 200 instructors in both Canada and the United States.”
Now, she has perceived a need for even more classes which will suit the needs of all participants.
“We’ve seen a need for more variety,” she said. “So we’re creating four new classes with new formatting. A lot of women are coming to classes and are drawn to the essence of Bellyfit, but the original format might not be what they were looking for.”
After some brainstorming, research and development, the full roster of classes available has grown to include:
Bellyfit The Original Cardio Workout; Bellyfit Live; Bellyfit Flow; Bellyfit Warrior; Bellyfit Sculpt and Bellyfit YIN.
From Aug. 23 to 25, three of the formats will be offered in Perth. The Bellyfit evenings will kick off with Bellyfit The Original Cardio Workout on Aug. 23. The original offers a fun combination of moves inspired by belly dance, African dance and Bollywood plus an infusion of yoga, pilates and meditation.
Next on tap is Bellyfit Warrior on Aug. 24. One of the new formats, Bellyfit Warrior takes cardio kick-boxing to a new level, designed with a seamless integration of moves inspired by fitness, cardio kickboxing, Capoeira, Qi Gong, Pilates, Yoga and meditation.
Finally, Aug. 25 will see Bellyfit Flow take over Conlon Farm. Bracegirdle describes Flow as an invigorating yoga and dance fusion class that takes its inspiration from fitness, yoga, belly dance, Indian dance, Qi Gong and meditation.
“The response to this is really a testament to the fact that women know they have to care for themselves spiritually, emotionally and physically,” she said. “There is a definite spiritual component in this.”
The Perth workshop classes run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. both days. If it’s raining, the location is changed to Saltos Athletics.
For more information on Bellyfit, and if interested in participating in the up-coming classes, register online visit www. bellyfit.ca/classes/workshops. Registration and payment will also be accepted at the door.