Some of my favourite new things from last year were the circus/clown tricks I learnt to do, namely learning to juggle, making balloon animals, learning to mime, and spinning plates. This year, however, except wanting to learn to pratfall like Buster Keaton still being on my list, I’ve come to a circus standstill. That is until I found a Cirque de Soleil workout online and became intrigued – this could be what I’d unknowingly been working for! I’m sure you can see where this is going…
Cirque de Soleil, although founded in 1984 didn’t start to become popular until the 1990s, going from one show in North America to multiple shows spanning the globe. This contemporary circus show is made of dancers, acrobats, and aerial artists, and is famous for showcasing incredible physical feats. It’s fair to say the members of Cirque de Soleil are in peak physical condition, so I was very curious to see how I, a person not quite in peak physical condition, would fair with their workout video.
I was intimidated from the introduction alone: the instructor, Lauren J. Herley was moving between simple yoga moves with such poise and grace, I knew I wasn’t going to last long. As it turned out, I made it through 20 minutes of this 1-hour video before giving up. The bodyweight moves were great for building strength in arms and legs, but it lost me when it got to shoulder stands, splits and more. My five-minute dream of joining Cirque de Soleil was over!
I tried this more out of fun curiosity rather than with actual serious intent, but I couldn’t help but admire the craft. Even though I couldn’t join in, I watched far longer than I imagined to watch how effortless she could move her body into some impossible shapes. Truly awe-inspiring.
The good news is for those like me, that need a shorter, more strength-based workout before attempting anything more, the Youtube channel has a range of 10-minute videos targeting different areas. I tried the Toned Arms workout and I could really feel the burn. Who knows, maybe more of these videos and I could get there after all!
New Day, New Thing 