{"id":6706,"date":"2013-05-05T12:07:56","date_gmt":"2013-05-05T10:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/?p=6706"},"modified":"2014-09-02T14:34:38","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T12:34:38","slug":"step-fitness-florence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/expat-life\/step-fitness-florence\/","title":{"rendered":"A glimpse of my B-side"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have infiltrated a part of Italian subculture that has nothing to do with art, history, or ‘high culture’. I have a secret life. A B-side. A very toned B-side, thanks to this. It’s called Step<\/strong>. The late 80s fitness revolution kicked off by Reebok has evolved, in Europe, into a complex dance choreography<\/strong> around the step, communicated with hand signals and performed to the latest dance hits played at club volumes. I get all psyched up just trying to write a definition.<\/p>\n

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Me and my mentor Giorgia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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When it gets into you, step becomes an obsession. I have been doing it for three years now, 1, 2, 3 times a week. Finally, this weekend, I participated in my first step convention<\/strong>. These fitness conventions take place almost every weekend around Italy in the warmer months, and there are people, and instructors, who travel continuously to do them all. They usually involve one or more days of step and dance fitness. Somehow, people do this for 7 straight hours without dropping dead. Here is a video of the first class I attended at the Jem Convention<\/strong> in Seano (PO), taught by the world-famous French instructor Remy Huleux<\/strong>.<\/p>\n