Scottish Ballet's New Year resolutions

Even if the New Year’s resolutions haven’t lived up to their pre-2013 expectations, Scottish Ballet have come up with a solution to help you fulfil your fitness aims for January and beyond. With the motivation to keep your tutu twirling, Scottish Ballet has released a new exercise download for dancers and non-dancers alike to keep toned and trim throughout the year, a timely announcement for a society that tends to break its resolutions by the middle of January. Time to tone, lengthen and strengthen! Scottish Ballet is straight to the rescue with ‘New Year, New You’: the third in a series of free fitness downloads designed to improve your fitness from the comfort of your living room, or wherever it is that you make your dance space! The ability to hone your ballet body is at your fingertips, working with the knowledge that the workout from Scottish Ballet will be a sure-fire way to beat those winter blues and engage with a dance fitness regime for 2013. For the ‘New Year, New You’ episode, Gyrotonic instructor Kate Menzies works with one of the Company’s Principal dancers Claire Robertson and Coryphée dancer Kara McLaughlin in a workout that is designed to tone and strengthen muscles by introducing barre work. Similar to the DVDs released by the New York City Ballet, Scottish Ballet’s workout takes the form of a dancer’s warm up prior to taking daily class, and can be used in conjunction with the ‘Core de Ballet’ and ‘Port de Bras’ workouts. ‘Port de Bras’ is inspired by 5 Tangos, part Scottish Ballet’s Autumn 2012 season, focusing on upper body and arm movements, with ‘Core de Ballet’ as a specialised introduction to core-based ballet exercises as a 15-minute exercise routine designed to stretch, tone and energise for the New Year.