The Museum Workout Video … You have to watch this!

If you said you were going to the world famous Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, one would never imagine you’d be jogging, doing squats and yoga poses through 35 galleries, past paintings, sculptures, armor and other treasures … then end laying on the floor in a yoga pose called savasana (which is meant to release tension from mind and body) INSIDE the museum! All the while Bee Gees’ hit “Stayin’ Alive was cranked up  to get you moving. Museum are a place where we usually speak in hushed tones … jogging and loud music would be heavily frowned upon (and probably get you escorted out!) under normal circumstances. But not during the Museum Workout!  While this isn’t  a nutrition blog post, I found it highly entertaining … and it shows how you can get creative when finding ways to exercise . 

For best viewing, make this video full size and crank up the volume when watching! 

As per this AP  article, the classes took 3 years to create. The Met commissioned the innovative Monica Bill Barnes Dance Company for the project. It was choreographed by the two women leading the workout — Monica Bill  Barnes herself and her dance partner, Anna Bass — along with Robert Saenz de Viteri, the company’s creative producing director. Bass said the team worked “obsessively” calculating how to keep a safe distance from the artworks. That means no wild swinging of arms or legs, and exercising a minimum of 3 feet or so from any treasure.

Leading scantily clad, pumped up bodies around the artworks “really runs against the culture of being in a museum, being quiet and being still and walking slowly,” said Barnes.  Watching these two women jog through the museum in their sparkly outfits was one of the highlights of the video for me… and of course, the Stayin’ Alive Soundtrack.

The first sessions, from Jan. 19 through Feb. 12, were sold out months ago. New classes were added through March 9, and they’re also sold out. Participants, both men and women, have ranged in age from 13 to 85. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that they have plans for more classes. I’d gladly pay the $75 for this NYC experience … one time!  I must have watched this video 5 times.

Would you pay $75 for this experience?