Reposted from NPR. Heard on Morning Addition reported by Sean Rameswaram:
Seeing a great work of art might quicken your pulse, but now New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is hoping you’ll break a sweat, too. The Met is currently offering a “Museum Workout” — part performance, part workout, part art tour.
On a recent morning, 15 of us gather in The Great Hall before the museum opens. We line up behind two tour guide dancers — both wearing sparkly cocktail dresses and sneakers. A guy with a portable speaker stands nearby.
He presses play, and with disco propelling us forward, we power walk, we punch the air, we daintily jog through the otherwise empty Met at 9:00 in the morning. There’s a lot of light, a lot of antiquity … and some stink eye. Museum security looks like they’ve never seen anything like this.
“We were approached by the Metropolitan Museum to make a dance,” explains Monica Bill Barnes, one of the workout leaders. “We counteroffered, and asked to make a led tour that’s a workout.”
Barnes’ dance company wanted to get people moving in the Met — and jumping jacks and yoga poses seemed a lot easier than teaching amateurs a complicated dance routine. Read the fully story here. Go to Met info here.
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