It’s finally here!
Hiiii! How’s your Monday going? Hope you’re enjoying the day so far!
This morning’s planned run turned into a nice walk instead. My legs are still sore from Saturday! It’s the kind of sore that didn’t seem like it would be going away when I started running, so I just kept it slow and enjoyed the scenery. My legs were grateful, especially since it’s an intense teaching and training week.
One of my current favorite breakfasts:
A breakfast cookie with the classic ingredients + a container of yogurt instead of the almond milk. It’s a great way to amp up the protein content, especially on very active days. I’ve been adding frozen berries and storing in a jar in the fridge overnight, so the next morning, all I have to do is grab and eat. I make them for Livi without the protein powder, too. She loves her little parfaits 🙂
Some exciting news this afternoon:
The DVDs took quite a while to be pressed and wrapped by the DVD company, and we were anxiously awaiting their arrival. Then, 27 boxes arrived on Sasha’s doorstep this Friday.
We worked hard to create this workout and are so excited to have a tangible product to share with all of you! We’re so thankful to all of our amazing dancer friends (Cameron, Sara and Elizabeth),
the talented drummers (Clif, Swami and Jeff),
Grant, Luke, Matt, James and Tom for their help in making Soli Beat what it is. Grant has such a unique vision for creating films, and we loved having his expertise and artistic eye in bringing our dream to life. The way he filmed and edited Soli Beat is pretty mind-blowing… We went over to his house a few times for final edits, and while I have a hard enough time with iMovie, Grant had multiple layers and screen images going at once, and would quickly crop and delete things like it was NBD. Pretty cool stuff.
Editing magic:
A few people have asked for the steps we took into making Soli Beat and what went into it, so here’s a bit of a nutshell version.
-Choreographing and planning. Sasha and I spent quite a few hours developing choreography, progressions, and rhythm patterns to make the dances fun, easy to follow, and effective so that you get a good workout without feeling like you’re “working.” One of the most challenging things about dance fitness is that if you don’t know the movements, you won’t get a good workout. For Soli Beat, we repeat the moves often, so you have time to really become familiar with the moves and make them bigger (burning more calories) before continuing on. As a class participant and DVD lover, I personally get annoyed when I hear the instructors talking too much or saying the same things over and over as I watch the DVD multiple times. This is why we did the instructional portion separately. We break down the moves for each dance very slowly, and you can practice as much as you need to before trying it with the drummers. If you have done it a couple of times and know the moves, you can just click the “live class” option and dance your heart out to the drums. We give visual cues and you follow along! This gives you a chance to really listen and feel the music. You can do the whole class, or just bits and pieces to get in a shorter workout.
Here is a 2-minute snippet of the DVD, for an idea of what to expect:
So fun <3
-Business stuff. To create this project, we needed to make multiple payments for cast, musicians, filming and products (DVDs, mailing supplies, etc). To make things easier, we started an LLC and a business checking account.
-Practice! We had quite a few practices and rehearsals with our dancer friends to make sure everyone felt good with the choreography. It was a great chance to us to brainstorm ideas together and see what really worked in a class setting. The beauty of this workout is that you don’t have to do the moves perfectly. Just be safe, move, and have fun with it.
-Photos. We wanted beautiful images for the DVD and our website, so we enlisted the help of James Patrick, who does photography for a variety of fitness magazines. We were already familiar with his work and thrilled for him to take our professional photos.
Setting up:
-Testing. We went to the Movement Shala with Grant a few times to test out lighting and sound equipment. We were so stoked the first time we heard the digital recording of the drummers– the acoustics are incredible. We were really happy that it worked out, especially since we love the tranquil yet energetic space and the owners (Jade and Alok).
-Filming! We had two filming nights: one for the instructional portion and one for the live class. Each one took about 5 hours, but almost everything was filmed in one take.
-Website, store and graphic design. Matt, Sasha’s husband, designed our logos and website. He did a truly beautiful job!
-Ordering, packing and shipping. Since the DVDs are here, we can get them shipped out and on the way as they’re ordered. If you pre-ordered a copy, it’s in the mail on the way to you! A few people have already let me know they have their copies 🙂
Please click here if you’d like to pick up a copy for yourself or a friend <3
I wanted to thank all of you so much for your support with this fun project. I love creating short workouts to share on the blog, but I am so excited that I was able to finally create a full class, with the help of my lovely friend Sasha. We really hope you love it!
Thank you also for your support and for reading this little blog. Every day I’m thankful that I get to do what I do, and that I have all of you to hang out with 🙂
xoxo
Gina
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Congrats, again Gina! This is such an accomplishment and you should be really proud. This might be the perfect gift for the holidays coming up!
This is so exciting!! Congrats Gina! I’m glad to see that all your hard work is paying off! You should be so proud!
Congrats!!! You should be so proud of yourself .. you are AWESOME!! 🙂
wow, thank you!
What a process! But the end result looks amazing!
Congrats! You must be so proud 🙂
Thank you for sharing the process. Looks like a lot of work and a lot of fun. Congrats and wishes of continued success.
Congratulations! I got really happy watching the clip 😀
And OMG- Sasha is a BEAST!!! Beast of course meaning: energy to spare, passionate, gorgeous, wild woman…You two are a great duo. Gina, you make it seem more approachable, more possible, for a non-dancer to ACTUALLY dance, and Sasha just radiates energy and makes the viewer WANT to jump up and dance. Truly a dynamic duo!
haha i have a girl crush on sasha 🙂
Lol!! Right?! I’ll get in line…
Someone get that woman a blog so her fan club can cyber-crush!
Congrats Gina! I pre-ordered, super excited for the arrival! 🙂
yayyyy! thank you so much for ordering 🙂
Wow, you have a beautiful place to run!
Looks and sounds like a LOT of work to get a dvd – but congrats on getting it done and ready to ship!
Jay Scott
How wonderful to see all your hard work come through! Congratulations! I am jealous of your running pic at the beginning of this post. I am dodging cars in the neighborhood mostly! 🙂
YAY, congratulations!
Wow, I am so excited to get mine! It looks like so much fun! Congrats on a great achievement!
thank you!!! hope you enjoy it 🙂 xox
Congratulations Gina! I would love to order a dvd, but do you ship to Canada? I couldn’t find any info on the website when I went to order.
Thanks! 🙂
Nicole
we do! if it doesn’t work when you try to order, send us an email (sagedancefitness@gmail.com) and we’ll get it sorted out
xo
Hi Gina. I tried to order the dvd at the weekend but it said that you could not ship to the UK 🙁 Do you have any plans to ship to the UK in future. It would be great if you did! It looks great.
we can definitely ship to the uk! send me an email sagedancefitness@gmail.com and we’ll get it figured out
xo
Is there any chance that you could ship to Italy as well?
Yay! Congratulations! This is too exciting and looks like so much fun. I can’t wait to try it 🙂
Congrats!!!
Looks like a lot of planning and hard work went into this! I am sure it will be a success!
thank you, lovely!
Please tell me your LLC is “Dance Salad, LLC” 🙂
This is so cool, and I’m so happy for you and Sasha! It’s been so fun reading your “little” blog and watching things change and grow over the years.
hahaha i wish!!!
thank you- i appreciate it so much <3
xo
AHHH congrats!
OMG the move you guys do at the 25 second mark is one of my favorites to do in Zumba class! I totally forget that other people are in the room sometimes. 🙂 I can’t wait to get my copy!!! 🙂
Congratulations! That’s so awesome and you must be so proud of yourself!
Congrats Gina!!!!
Congratulations Gina! You should be so proud of what you have just accomplished!! The video looks amazing and so much fun!!
xoxo,
Brie
thank you, brie!
Awesome job Gina!!!! This must be so exciting for you! It’s so cool when you exactly what you set out to do. Congrats!
YAY! I’m so excited! Can’t wait to try it out! 🙂
i’m excited to hear your thoughts! xo
Congratulations! Today is my birthday so I pre-ordered it for myself weeks ago as a fun b-day present. I can’t wait to get it!
yay!! happy birthday to you! hope you love it 🙂 xoxo
Congrats Gina! I know how hard it is to work on a project and seeing you make your VERY own DVD makes me want to kick my ass in gear! You are such an inspiration to me, you have Liv, you work, you cook, you create + have an amazing blog! You rock! Lots of Love C
wow, thank you so much!! xoxo
So very happy for you both what a great accomplishment, thanks for sharing the info in how it was produced. That 2 minute clip made me want to move, you all looked like you were having fun.. I preordered and cannot wait to get mine. I even have the outfit to wear while I dance to the beat of the drums.
Hey Gina! Any idea if you’re going to be shipping to Canada anytime soon?
Hi Gina!
I’ve been loving your blog for quite a while now! Congrats on the DVD – what an awesome accomplishment.
I have a question for you about nutrition and diet…recently I’ve been experiencing a wide range of symptoms that I believe to be linked to a gluten sensitivity. I do not have celiac, but my doc suggested going gluten free for several weeks to see if I have a gluten sensitivity. I know you’ve mentioned that you’re sensitive to gluten and I was just wondering: how did you discover your sensitivity and how do you manage it? I’d be very grateful for any advice and insight since I’m brand new to the gf world! Thanks!
Beth
Congrats!
Yay! I am SO excited to rock out to this tonight! You guys worked so hard on this and that is so evident.
Zumba looks like a lot of fun but I fear I’m not coordinated enough to keep up with it! I love dancing but the one cardio dance DVD I did went way too fast and was really hard to keep up with.
Love the open road pic to start off the week. Very appropriate! Everyone should start their week with a clean slate and a fresh perspective. Very cool that you put together this DVD project too! So inspiring, you make everything sound like a lot of fun. 🙂
So happy for you!! Congratulations, Gina!
I was so happy to see my email that my copy is on it’s way! Can’t wait to try it out 🙂
So exciting!! Congrats 🙂
holy cow!! this looks so unbelievably fun! i pre-ordered a while ago, but i guess i missed the trailer somehow. cant wait to get it!!
yayy! you should have your preorder very soon if it isn’t there today 🙂
hope you love it!