US fans include Oprah and Michelle Obama. Expect an ‘inspirational’ experience, low lights, tears – and amethyst crystals
There is a place on Sunset Boulevard where Oprah Winfrey celebrated her 60th birthday and Lady Gaga her 26th. The sound system is state of the art, the room is always packed, the lighting a dusky flicker of grapefruit-scented candle. The atmosphere, according to Oprah, is “spiritual”. But there is no dancefloor, and no bar, just 55 exercise bikes screwed down in tight rows. This is SoulCycle, where you come to pedal your way to happiness.
There are 91 SoulCycle studios, all in North America, with a 92nd about to open in London, and they are to this fitness-obsessed decade what designer boutiques were to the 00s. They each have their A-list fans (Michelle Obama and the first daughters were regulars at the Washington branch of SoulCycle during their White House years). They have waiting lists (the most popular classes involve hovering over a screen to secure your place). And if you are lucky enough to outwit the list, you can expect to pay £24 for a session. Still, as status symbols go, it is cheaper than a Hermès Birkin.
An obsession with fitness, fetishised by a complex hierachy of waiting-list-only classes, heavily merched and served up with a side order of mild fantasy role-play, is one of the quirks of modern urban life. You can pay £22 for a class at Barry’s Bootcamp in London or Manchester and get shouted at while you do your press-ups, just like Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman. You can join a barre class, twist your hair into a bun and relive your childhood Royal Ballet School dreams in a dance studio as your turnout is corrected for the umpteenth time.
SoulCycle, which opens its new UK studio on Friday, ratchets up the concept of fitness-as-transcendental-experience. Every SoulCycle studio is home to a large amethyst crystal, placed next to the instructor’s bike to help dispel negative energy.
“We view what we do here as a live production,” says Melanie Whelan, CEO, over a mango, banana and turmeric smoothie from the studio’s inhouse Good Life cafe. “And it happens on the hour, every hour. The curtain goes down on one class, and it goes up on the next. We want check-in to feel a little bit frenetic. We want the class to be physical, musical, emotional and inspirational. We want everything, from the dry shampoo in the locker rooms to the retail, to be part of the experience.”
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