Sugar Plum Zippy

I was so happy to be back in my "ballet body" class at Lifetime Fitness today (I had to miss the past two weeks because of sick kids!). While the class is not a true dance class, but rather a series of ballet-inspired movements and exercises, our instructor (a former professional dancer) has decided to build up to teach us a routine inspired by the famous Sugar Plum fairy dance from the Nutcracker Suite.

He is incorporating different moves each week from the dance, so that we have a strong foundation on which to build the complete sequence. This week, the new move he taught us was "ballet beats". You can see the dancer, Simone Clark, in the above video doing this move at around :17 & :23 (as well as other points in the video, too). For this practice, we were not actively moving across the floor as in Clark's performance, but stood in place. We bent one leg at the knee, pointing the toe and bringing it to touch mid-calf. Then, in very rapid succession, we would move the toe from the front to the back of the calf several times, and then switch to the other leg. We kept our arms either raised above our heads or out in front of us.

This exercise required balance, and therefore develops core strength. It also targets several leg muscles, including the calf, hamstring and quads, and opens the hip. I'm sure I'll feel this one in the morning!

Today's workout:
50 min. run (6.25 mi)
40 min. ballet body class
60 min. yoga