Halifax News Net: Ancient wisdom meets modern fitness
SACKVILLE
YVETTE D'ENTREMONT
Halifax News Net
What do you get when you combine cardio moves with the fundamentals of Belly Dance, Bollywood, Bhangra and African dance with a little bit of yogic meditation thrown in?
Bellyfit.
Described as an exercise program combining ancient wisdom with modern fitness, Bellyfit was developed by British Columbia native Alice Bracegirdle. The program is now being offered at the Sackville Sports Stadium, the first place in Nova Scotia to host Bellyfit classes.
"This is first and foremost a fitness program not a dance program, although there's a hint of that in it," explained Terri Roberts, the Stadium's program coordinator and a certified fitness and Bellyfit instructor with years of actual belly dance experience under her belt.
"This is a program about women's fitness and health and wellness and about women getting in touch with and listening to their own bodies," she said.
Roberts said you have to feel Bellyfit to know it. So in the spirit of adventure and accuracy, I spent an hour learning about Bellyfit from a participant's perspective, hips and body swaying.
In addition to high energy aerobics fused with belly dance, African dance and other traditions, the program incorporates Pilates infused core and yoga infused stretching.
Wider audience
That has allowed Bellyfit to appeal to a wider audience. It's for women of all shapes, sizes and abilities as the moves can be modified according to individual fitness levels.
"The great thing about this is it appeals to fitness people who want to do aerobics and get a taste of dance moves, to people who are into dance who get cardio and ab work in, and to people who enjoy yoga because of the mind/body aspect," Roberts said.
"It's a nice mixture of these things and appeals to people interested in maybe one aspect and then broadens their scope to the others."
Sackville resident Andrea Carr started Bellyfit when Roberts first offered classes at the end of September. A self-described gym rat, Carr said it's a unique and enjoyable experience.
"When I heard about it, I thought it was something different ... It's the full package in one hour. You get your warm-up, your cardio and your cool down and a little bit of meditation," Carr said. "I'm not into aerobics, but this is something everybody can do and you can even modify the moves if you have to."
Sackville Sports Stadium members whose memberships include group exercise classes can participate without extra cost. But anyone interested in taking the Bellyfit class can show up and pay a drop-in fee.
ydentremont@hfxnews.ca
Classes are held Monday nights at 6:30 p.m. Check out www.bellyfit.ca for more information or contact the Sackville Sports Stadium.