Chaos (performer)

Chaos is a certified yoga instructor, personal trainer, dancer, and burlesque performer from Michigan. She is a member of the Pin Up Girls burlesque-cabaret company in Los Angeles and has her own line of workout videos: Yoga For Indie Rockers, Pilates For Indie Rockers, and the forthcoming Burlesque Workout For Indie Rockers.^[1]

Chaos started dancing at the age of 3 and was teaching dance by the time she reached high school. She expanded her studies to include yoga and pilates while attending Western Michigan University, then relocated to Fort Lauderdale to attend The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. While in Fort Lauderdale, she studied Hardbody yoga under her mentor Tari Rose, who encouraged her to become a certified yoga instructor.

Chaos developed her own style of yoga workout that incorporates elements of Hardbody yoga, Bikram yoga, Pilates, and aerobics. She found that the usual rainforest/chanting music associated with yoga lacked the energy needed for the vigorous workouts she'd developed. She began testing a variety of musical styles with her classes and quickly discovered that rock music and yoga workouts went surprisingly well together. The mix became increasingly popular; students commented that the classes were more fun, and Chaos observed the students were working harder in class. This eventually led to the Fitness For Indie Rockers line of workout videos that Chaos developed with award-winning filmmaker Matt Pizzolo. The videos are distributed by HALO 8 Entertainment, Ryko Filmworks, and WEA.

Some yoga devotees have questioned the combination of rock music and yoga. Chaos told Big Shot Magazine:

"If listening to indie rock helps you dig deeper into that warrior or pushes you to do one more downward dog push-up, well then I say keep on rockin'!"

A broad spectrum of musicians supported the new approach to yoga workouts by contributing their own music; artists such as Kevin Devine, Alec Empire, Jet Lag Gemini, Crash Romeo, The Dillinger Escape Plan, House of Fools, Pelican, Enduser, Ladyfinger (ne), Criteria, Edgey, Paulson, Sorry About Dresden, Roses Are Red, and more.

Alec Empire told Plug In Music:

"Believe it or not, we are all into yoga since years. I remixed Björk's song "Jóga" a while back. I loved the idea of indie rockers doing it to my song! The image of yoga being some hippie new age ambient thing is very outdated by now...the techniques helped me to focus my energy...my music is only about energy..."

In addition to fitness instruction, Chaos performs with the Pin Up Girls burlesque-cabaret company in Los Angeles.

References

External links

• http://www.yogaforindierockers.com Official Yoga For Indie Rockers site, redirects to MySpace
• http://www.myspace.com/thepinupgirlshow Official Pin Up Girls site, redirects to MySpace