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SPORTS COMMENTARY: LIZ LANGLEY

May 2, 2004

ORLANDO SENTINEL

You, too, could be as fit as a stripper

Last year I went to the Playmate of the Year awards at Hef's L.A. mansion and watched the breathtaking honoree receive a large check and the keys to new car.

I thought about the Ramen noodles and unpaid bills I'd be going home to and cursed myself for having chosen writing as a line of work without ever having considered nudity.!"

Now someone in Orlando is making it easier for any woman to get in touch with her inner bombshell even if she doesn't want "naked" to be part of her job description.!"

I get tired of watching athletes moving their butts; I want to move my own sometimes. They get all the money; I don't see why they should get all the fun, too. Besides, sex and sports do have a connection; just ask Miss Jackson (if you're nasty).!"

"Being sexy has never been a problem," said instructor Heather Chaney, who credits her experience as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator for special events at Universal with her mastery of that quality.!"

"I've never been a stripper," she hastily said, adding, "People think you have to be a stripper in order to dance sexy, but that's not true."!"

Anyone can do it, and women are definitely curious.!"

"Almost everybody is a little shy at first," she said of her students, but after a few classes, inhibitions slip off like a tear-away dress.!"

The focus of the class I attended was lap dancing. It's not until Bootylicious comes on that I realized I had been thinking of strip in its archetypal form: burlesque.!"

We were not, however, doing any quaintly antiquated bump-and-grind.!"

Our routine included scoops (bending down and then twisting and coming up, emphasizing your lovely tush), improvisational hip shaking, "flailing," (letting your arm fall to one side, jerking your head to follow it and then coming back up), shoulder shimmying (with "full rocker attitude"), high kicking over the heads of our hypothetical viewer and "body tracing," (moving your hand sexily up your body).!"

On the lyric "if you like what you see," we rubbed our tushes with the same circular motion one uses to wax a car.!"

The girls in the class liked what they saw. I caught glimpses of some of them watching the mirror without a trace of self-doubt. One of the women I caught was me. I thought I'd never be able to move at all like this unless I was animated by Pixar. It felt great to be wrong.!"

Heather's hopes for us were that we'd be feeling slimmer and sexier by the hour's end. As for the former, the class was definitely a workout. The next day my legs were so sore I felt like I'd done the cross-desert race in Hidalgo.!"

I was so involved that it didn't occur to me until later that we hadn't stripped off a thing: this class was about moving, not removing.!"

As for feeling sexier, after enough time dancing like that, I could have seduced Boy George. Not that this is a goal of mine, but I'd recommend the confidence, and the fun, to any woman willing to try it.!"

I won't be doing it for a living any time soon, but who knows? Maybe one day someone in my class will make the halftime show more noteworthy than the Super Bowl.!"

****** This article has now also been featured in : South Florida's Sun Sentinel, KRT Wire.com, Surfwax.com, and University of South Carolina's The Gamecock.

By Kate Santich
Sentinel Staff Writer

March 15, 2004

ORLANDO SENTINEL

Sweating to the oddities

Heather Chaney, a 27-year-old Orlando dancer and choreographer, leads her exotic-dance class. Many gyms today are offering alternative exercise classes as a way to lure more customers through their doors.

For many, the heart-pounding regimen of the treadmill has been replaced by the heartthrobbing allure of the Striptease workout and other exotic programs

A young woman en route to exercise class fairly bounds across the parking lot, hollering to her friends. "Oh, my God!" she squeals. "You guys -- tonight we have chairs!"

Indeed, inside the Salsa Heat Studio in east Orlando there is a row of classroom-style, molded-plastic chairs -- a sign, 24-year-old Kaysie Markwardt assumes, that this evening's lesson will focus on lap dancing.

(Yes, you read that right.)

But once the group clusters inside, it becomes clear the chairs are merely for, well, sitting. Not to worry, the teacher says, next week they'll tackle lap dancing, and meanwhile there will be body rolls, chest thrusts and a sultry, cat-on-the-prowl strut.

This is Stripping Slim Fitness, where feather boas and "floor flirting" have replaced leg warmers and doggy kicks. And if you think it's the only edgy exercise routine on the training circuit these days, you obviously haven't heard of Whipped, Cycle Karaoke or Ruff Yoga.

Getting physical, it seems, has taken a whole new twist since Olivia Newton-John first appeared in spandex.

For some gyms, it's merely a marketing strategy to get people in the door. But for Stripping Slim instructor Heather Chaney, it's more than that.

"What we're working on is getting women to feel more comfortable about their bodies," says Chaney, 27, an Orlando dancer and choreographer. "I want them to learn that it's OK to be a beautiful, strong, sexual woman. And if it happens that they shed some pounds in the process -- hey, more power to 'em."

Chaney -- who points out she has never actually been a stripper -- started her class in late February . Purportedly, the concept has been the biggest thing to hit the gym since kickboxing.

Admittedly, the workout has been slower to catch on in the Midwest and Bible Belt than elsewhere, but there's no actual nudity involved -- just a lot of more-or-less-clothed bumping, grinding, slinking and swirling.

"OK, this is our sweet walk," says Chaney, demonstrating before her class of eight, all women. "Imagine you're a schoolgirl with a little skirt and a ponytail. Stick your finger in your mouth. Oh, I'm so cute, I'm so cute, I'm so cute."

There's also the sultry walk, the saucy walk and various gyrations. Participants must be 18 or over, and spectators are not allowed -- although midway through class three young skateboarders park themselves outside the window and ogle.

The concept may not play in Peoria, but that's one thing about the latest melange of fitness routines -- there's something out there for everybody.

Whipped, taught in South Florida, features a leather-clad dominatrix complete with thigh-high boots, riding crop and "a healthy dose of S&M." Ads promise: "Nothing will get you working harder."

The class was created by Crunch Fitness, a national chain of gyms targeting the young, urban, hip professional. Crunch was also the first gym to offer Cardio Striptease, and it continues to shake up the workout world by coming out with such innovations as Cycle Karaoke (singing while you spin), Navy Seal Boot Camp, hip-hop-inspired Grooveology and Ruff Yoga, which is, as the name hints, yoga with your dog. The latter is held outdoors, perhaps in deference to janitorial protests.

"Our goal is for people to have a good time and be entertained while they're getting a workout," says Shetal Amin, a Crunch spokeswoman in New York.

"First and foremost, it should be fun. If it's drudgery, you're not going to want to stay with it."

Keeping it fresh

With more than 22,000 gyms across the country -- raking in a collective $13 billion a year -- club directors must compete to bring in new members and keep satisfying the old ones. Thus, the need for novelty. Boredom not only makes it hard for exercisers to stay motivated, but it's also bad for business.

"You always want to evolve. You always want to give them a little bit more," says Leda Perez, the group exercise team leader at RDV Sportsplex Athletic Club in Maitland. "If you're still teaching the same classes that you were 10 years ago, you're 10 years behind everyone else. People are like, 'Been there, done that, what else can I do?' "

Just this week, RDV began offering three "boot camp" classes filled with drills of push-it-to-the-limit calisthenics and weight training. As a bonus, the instructor may get behind you and scream, berating you to work harder.

This, apparently, is good fun.

RDV also has belly dancing, chi gong and a new strength-training program called Gravity that uses pulleys and your own body weight for a workout.

That's relatively tame compared to the courses in some cities' health clubs -- Boston has Punk Rock Aerobics, Los Angeles has Heavy Hula-Hoop and an Atlanta tree surgeon has founded what is likely the world's first recreational tree-climbing school, a concept that has since spread to France, Germany and Japan.

How innovative, trendy or bizarre any particular health club is depends largely on its targeted clientele. The Central Florida YMCA, for instance, prides itself on steering clear of fads and opting for steadiness.

"Most studies suggest that people who commit to regular, consistent, basic exercise and healthy eating are better off in the long run," says Tom Bohn, the Y's vice president of marketing. "I don't think you'll be seeing the YMCA offer a striptease class anytime in the next century."

Likewise, the international and highly successful women's fitness chain Curves tends to appeal to those put off by the very things that attract the boot-camp and Whipped crowds -- intimidating instructors, heavy lifting and feel-the-burn bravado.

Instead, Curves plugs its "supportive, encouraging environment," and women are paced through their 30-minute aerobic and strength-training circuit by a pleasant, feminine automated voice -- so there's no in-the-flesh, would-be supermodel/teacher to loathe in envy, although fitness trainers are on hand to help.

Meanwhile, Steel Mill Gym on East Colonial distinguishes itself by staying open 24-7, luring in a youthful crowd that sometimes parties till the bars close, then works out.

Despite the macho name, the gym offers yoga classes, pilates and step aerobics in addition to weights -- but salesman Samuel Gonzalez says that, like the Y, there will be no erotic dancing anytime soon.

"That's too bizarre," he says. "But I guess for some people, they need a gimmick."

Gimmick or not, striptease aerobics classes are proving popular across the country, with endorsements from Jennifer Love Hewitt and a workout DVD put out by Carmen Electra. And fitness experts say that anything that elevates your heart rate, strengthens muscles or increases flexibility can be helpful.

"Maybe it's a lower-intensity workout, but it's still a workout," says RDV's Perez. "People have this idea -- 'Unless I'm breathing hard and sweating, I'm not working out.' Well, then, what's the idea of yoga?"

Already, Chaney is planning a second location for her Stripping Slim class, and her students say they're smitten.

"I think it's fun to feel sexy," says Marcella Cardinal, 28, after a run-through of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me." "Step aerobics and jogging I hate. The treadmill? Boring. The Stairmaster I absolutely detest. But this I look forward to."

Kaysie Markwardt concurs. "By the end of class," she says, grinning, "you feel like a diva."

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