Fitness of the @HAYLEYREE3 FUTURE With a background in dance, yoga and acrobatics, Chen grew up taking traditional Chinese dance lessons at a young age in Manhattan’s Chinatown, where she was raised. During college, she pursued yoga as a complement to her dance training and was quickly hooked. After getting certified to teach yoga around six years ago, she was hired by Brooklyn Boulders, the biggest indoor rockclimbing gym in NYC. There, she honed her teaching skills, developed very popular core conditioning classes and brought acroyoga classes to rock-climbers and other fitness enthusiasts. At this time, she started moving into acrobatics and circus training as an expansion of her social life. “Soon I was dreaming of opening my own fitness studio which would have a more ‘playful’ approach to body weight strength training and offer a multiplicity of different class types and formats, including ‘open workouts’ or jam sessions where practitioners in all different sports — gymnastics, dance, acrobatics, yoga, calisthenics, weight lifting, etc. — could get together, share the same open floor space and share their skills while socializing and hanging out,” she said. “Cosmic Fit Club has just been open for less than one month, but it’s evolving into that very nontraditional gym.” Cosmic Fit Club’s mission is to cultivate the feel of a small studio within an expansive space. Their building is outfitted with 20-foot ceilings, skylights, mirrors and special lighting effects. Chen and her staff of 13 are committed to bringing together athletes and artists from all different sports and mediums to share skills and build a community. “Our creative class programming centers around a variety of movement disciplines that require no special machines and can't be found anywhere else,” Chen said. “Our philosophy is that your body is your best machine, and to this end, we've built a cool space where adults can ‘play’ as they ‘train’ and where we can teach members and guests how to explore the universe of their own bodies through playful, functional movement, to experience new worlds through special workshops and events, and become stronger, more balanced and fit!” Cosmic Fit Club is in its initial stages of being officially open, and so far, its primary client base consists of many of Chen’s former yoga, acrobatics and core conditioning students, as well as local members of the community who are a bit turned-off by traditional gym machines and gym culture. Chen describes her members as typically having an artistic and creative bent — hardworking New Yorkers looking for an escape from the stressful pressures of work and seeking an opportunity to make meaningful connections with other people. “Acrobatics, for instance, is a very close contact sport,” Chen said. “You work in groups and sometimes carry, lift and balance people you’ve only just met. Trust and communication are some of the things we promote through the physical practice of partner acrobatics, and it’s one of the social benefits our clients get for joining our studio and taking classes with me and our other instructors.” By HAYLEY BRIDGEWATER Located just around the corner from the Court Square transit hub, LIC’s newest addition to the fitness scene, Cosmic Fit Club, opened in early May and is hoping to make a lasting impression on the neighborhood — such an impression that owner/performer/yogi/acrobat Joy Chen is intending on “changing the face of fitness as we know it.” JUNE 2 0 1 7 I BOROMAG.COM 51
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