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Get sexy legs with stiletto salsa!
Strap on your sexiest heels and dance your way to a hot body!
By Heather Buchan
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Here I am, barefoot, standing in front of a tall glass mirror. With quivering legs, I raise my heels off the ground until I am on the tips of my toes. Fighting to maintain my balance, I hear a silky voice murmur, "Good, now slowly take one delicate step forward, pretending you have diamonds on your toes." Diamonds on my toes? Right, okay. If Sarah Jessica can do it, then ... I move my right toe off the ground and instantly feel my left ankle give way underneath me. Stumbling to the ground, I realize I'm venturing into the latest craze to hit the fitness circuit: Stiletto salsa.
Sisters Tina and Estelle Nicholaides, who own Toronto's City Dance Corps, developed stiletto salsa two years ago. After hearing their students' complaints about how much harder it was to salsa at a club than in a studio, they decided to come up with a more intense workout at their facility. "When our students went out dancing at night, they wore heels, whereas in class, they just wore flats and sweats," says Tina. "Your entire posture changes when you're in heels." "We found that a lot of women don't know what to do with their feet when they step into heels," adds Estelle.
Using fundamental ballet techniques like the articulation of the feet, the class focuses on balance, control in the heels and utilizing muscles properly. The benefits are numerous: Not only does stiletto salsa strengthen your calves, hips, quads and hamstrings, but it improves overall balance and helps prevent back injuries by forcing you to focus on your alignment. The majority of the first class is done barefoot in order to retrain women how to use their feet, since feet are the grounding for everything else in the body. Once students have developed stability and balance walking barefoot on their toes, it's time to strap on the Manolos.
A lot of success wearing stilettos comes down to wearing the proper shoes. City Dance Corps offers an array of specially designed stilettos with flexible thin leather soles and no tread. "Ankle support is essential so your muscles aren't working to keep your shoe on your foot when you dance," says Tina. If you're always wearing flats, the legs are working but not the feet, so the foot muscles lose function and atrophy. You actually develop calf muscles by wearing heels.
After going through the basics with Tina, I try the rises on my own at home for the next few days. On day three, I am aware of a new sensation in my feet. They feel more grounded, engaged. I eagerly pull out my three-and-a-half-inch Yves Saint Laurents that have been sitting in their box since the day I bought them two years ago. It's time to strut my stuff.
Anyone can take the class. City Dance Corps offers registered workshops and once-a-month open classes. Check out www.citydancecorps.com for more information.
If stiletto salsa isn't your thing, why not try pole-dancing for fitness? Click here for all the juicy details!
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