As I watched the big hand on the round clock move to the number five and the small hand set in place on the number six, sweat pouring from my face and onto the elliptical, I contemplated taking this step class. I was boycotting step at New York Sports Club on 125th Street in Harlem, New York because management had let my favorite step teacher go. I was determined not to enter another step class at that gym again and stuck to my guns for a couple of weeks. But I was itching to take another high power cardio class again and had heard so many good things about this new step instructor Calvin Wiley. I was loyal to Deazie, my former teacher, who had become a friend to me over the years and felt if I took Calvin's class I was supporting this abrupt decision for her dismissal.
It was finally 6:30 PM and the class had started; I made my way off the machine and slowly walked toward the class rolling my eyes in the one-minute it took for me to leave the cardio area and get to Studio 2. To my surprise the class was filled with women, predominately black, of all ages ranging from their early 20s to 60s, they were set-up at their step and in anticipation for the music to start. My eyes immediately dart to the music station and I see a brown man with a lean body clad in a sleeveless shirt, sweats and a baseball cap that fell below his eyebrows. He was smiling and introducing himself to the first timers and then he turned around to face the music station and an upbeat techno version of Madonna's Vogue blared from the speakers. I entered the room, took a step from the back of the class and squeezed my way into a space telling myself that if the first eight count doesn't catch my attention I'm leaving. After the warm up the routine started and this was the moment of truth. As Madonna's sexy and sultry song played Calvin popped his pelvis while vibrating his behind to the beat. He flung his arms to the side in a T shape then simultaneously around his head, down his face cupping the breast area while popping his chest. He dipped low to the right and rolled his head and upper body up moving his hips in a circle as he leaned back and caressed his chest, then he moved up and down the step swaying his hips from right to left. His face was as if he were seducing each woman who stood behind him, in that moment I was sold. The steps that followed consisted of kicks and leaps, African moves and Beyonce' style booty popping. The routine was sexy and inviting, liberating, fun and captivating. Suddenly we had an audience, the men who were lifting weights stopped and moved to the wide window to watch us gyrate, women in passing looked in awe of what was happening and the energy was electrifying. When the class was over I felt like I could drop where I stood. I had a workout that was fun, effective and didn't feel like work. When I left the gym I internally made peace with the 125th Street NYSC management and made the decision to follow Calvin, that was three years ago.
Through Calvinography I have become integrated amongst a network of friends who come to his class for the same reason I do, to release and feel good about us. My weekly double dosage of his class on Wednesdays and Fridays help me to release my stress while feeling sexy and free. Calvin brings the sexy out in me and as a women I can't think of any other way to feel about myself.
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