Classes in Edmonton

Members at Curves, a fitness center designed exclusively for women, rotate around a circuit of hydraulic resistance machines that have been designed to work with female bodies and promote weight loss, protect against osteoporosis, and deal with arthritis. An experienced trainer is always nearby to help manage participants’ machine manoeuvering and muscle making. Instead of fiddling with weight stacks and losing momentum, the hydraulic machines use your own body weight, fitness level, and aerodynamic water bottle to create resistance that matches abilities, decreasing the risk of soreness or injury. Because traditional lift-and-lower motions create bulky muscles, each machine uses push-and-pull motions to create toned, lean muscles perfect for crushing a grapefruit without looking like you can.

Learn Photography Canada's James Lam wasn't born a photographer—it was something he fell into after beginning a career as a mechanical engineer and travelling to Australia to work as marketing director for a national charity. But once he picked up the camera and learned its ins and outs, there was no going back. He fostered his passion and travelled around the world photographing landscapes, architecture, wildlife, and people until he could photograph an apple off a man's head from 20 paces.

Today, he leads students of all levels on photographic journeys of their own throughout Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. As groups wander along photogenic streets, snapping images of architecture, urban wildlife, and people, James and his fellow instructors demystify digital SLRs by explaining aperture, white balance, and ISO. The team also explores photography further, expounding on techniques such as night photography and creating panoramic photos so that patrons can study the entire interior of a bank at once before robbing it.

Brandy and Sandro Dominelli, professional musicians with accolades such as a Juno nomination and a performance at the Taste of Edmonton, have gathered a who’s who of area musicians at their family-oriented music school. Each instructor boasts university experience in music, including master’s degrees and time spent at the Paul McCartney School of Music and the University of Germany. Together, the instructors help everyone from newborns to adults share their love of singing and playing the guitar and piano in age-specific courses, including developmentally focused Kindermusik classes for kids aged 6 and under.

A program created by the Edmonton Hispanic Cultural Society, Dancing with Little Stars introduces participants to salsa dancing during 60-minute classes that set easy-to-follow routines to fast-paced Latin beats. New moms can choose to dance with babes in arms or take to the dance floor alone while their newborns nap in cozy car seats or challenge other infants to do the worm. In addition to its fitness benefits, the program encourages socializing between moms both on the dance floor and after class.

Founded 29 years ago with a single, small club, World Health expanded its healthy presence across Calgary with today's 7 locations. Ultramodern equipment and friendly staffers fill each hub, supplementing a variety of group fitness classes and personal-training sessions with flexible membership options. In Revs and Revs Plus classes, bike-mounted students pedal through aerobic drills before slow-downs allow for safe speed-bump crossing and heart-rate recovery. Fight-inspired Kick classes coalesce self-defence moves from karate, boxing, and kickboxing; Breathe’s gentle combination of yoga, Pilates, and tai chi beckons internal peace with flexibility and balance exercises. For a solo workout session, personable trainers customize sessions that chase each individual’s fitness goals. With the help of a personal trainer, exercisers often note a greater sense of motivation and accountability, improved fitness and nutritional knowledge, and biceps that literally take the shape of pistols.

StillPoint Healing Centre greets physiques with holistic massage, acupuncture, yoga classes, and workshops for nurturing the body and mind. Skilled yogis shepherd sun-saluters to peace of mind with a slate of sessions, such as classes for beginners, advanced dynamic-flow sessions, and sunrise meetings for early risers and insomniac owls. The centre's registered massage therapists and acupuncturists ease aches with five distinct massage modalities—such as deep-tissue, hot-stone, and Thai massage—and the precise placement of microfilament needles. Benefits range from stimulation of the circulatory and lymphatic systems to relieved tension to improved range of motion, which can help when running backward to stare at and still escape from an attractive ghost.