Get ready to dance like no one's watching. L.A. Dance Project, the dance company from renowned choreographer and dancer Benjamin Millepied, just launched an app that lets you live stream and watch on demand over 250 expert-led fitness, contemporary, ballet, and kids dance classes.
For $9.99 a month or $69.99 a year, you get access to all the workout and wellness inspiration needed to curb quarantine 15 and maintain your sanity as COVID-19 rages on. From calorie-torching dance workouts led by resident and guest teachers to a dance tutorial series, plus physical therapy tips and even wellness how-tos, the LADP app is the perfect — and more affordable — alternative to a gym membership.
"Now more than ever, we're moved to share the hope and healing power that the arts, especially dance, offer in challenging times. The app brings together the beauty of the performing arts with the physical benefits of dance–we want our users to feel like a dancer, look like a dancer, and experience the joy of dancing," says Millepied.
In addition to three new classes added daily, the app features live streams of rehearsal sessions, LADP's 10-year archive of dance films and performances, and LADP premieres.
There's even content for when you're in the mood to just watch, not whirl. Think film and book recommendations from director-writer Darren Aronofsy, as well as in-depth interviews with dance mavens like Misty Copeland and Nina Flagg.
Millepied, the mastermind behind the moves in Black Swan, teaches a 12-minute dance lesson that I followed from my living room. I'm the furthest thing from a ballerina, but his easy-to-follow directions and heartening commentary ("There has to be a constant conversation with the music. The whole point is the enjoyment you get from dancing.") made for a much-needed break from the high-intensity interval training YouTube videos I've been working out to since stay-at-home orders took effect.
My abs were on fire during a 15-minute twist and tone full-body workout with Royal Ballet of Flanders demi-soloist Nicola Wills, who teaches classes on Balletletics, a combination of aerobic functional training and ballet-inspired moves, and others like the "Couch Potato Workout," which involves a resistance band, and yes, a couch, to target the glutes, arms, and everything in between.
To try a seven-day trial, download the LADP app here.
