Professional dance and fitness instructor Craig Scull is gearing up for another offering of Homorobics, his six-week workout class as part of Way Gay U at William Way LGBT Community Center.
Scull, who holds a bachelor of fine arts in dance performance and choreography from Temple University and is a certified group-fitness instructor, is artistic director of Scull and Bones Dance Company. He said he was inspired by Jane Fonda and other diva celebrities to present a “sassy” and easy-to-follow workout that includes cardio, strength training and dance.
Just don’t confuse this class with some of the big-name fitness crazes you see on commercials these days.
“Zumba is really popular right now but I don’t like Zumba,” Scull said. “I don’t know why. It doesn’t have any character to it. It’s just blah. I’m not a fan. What I try to do with Homorobics is make it fun so when people are there, they feel really confident and feel like divas by the end of the class. That’s my aim with the class now. A lot of people try to make workouts fun but they don’t create this atmosphere where people get to be a character and be silly and have a good time.”
And to that end, students in the Homorobics class are encouraged to wear any and all shades of ’80s-inspired workout wear to compliment the look-at-me atmosphere of class.
Scull added that you don’t have to be built like Jack LaLanne to get the full benefit of his course, as it is geared to all fitness levels.
“I gauge every time we start,” he said. “I watch as I’m teaching. If people are having trouble, I tone it down a bit. If it’s looking too easy, I pick it up a bit. I gear it to what people can do.“
Scull said he’s found that making the class fun, more so than focusing on the physical nature of the activities, helps to get return participants.
“It’s never going to change that people don’t like to work out, especially when you feel it,” Scull said. “When you make it fun, it is something you look forward to. One of the other aims of it was I wanted it to be a social experience, so that people are going to come back because they want to see people in the class that they know and they want to see the instructor and they want to see what’s going on in their week. That keeps people motivated more than the exercise part.”
Homorobics runs Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30 p.m. May 1-June 5 at the William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St. For more information, call 215-732-2220 or visit www.homorobics.com.