PLAY // Fit + Fierce Locals to Watch

(L to R) Audrey Malek, Alix Montes and Sunny Miller.

PHOTO BY KIMCHI PHOTOGRAPHY

Onstage, on the mat or on a bike, these fit and fierce athletes embody D.C.’s culture of health and wellness. After showing off their muscle and might for the camera, Audrey Malek, Alix Montes and Sunny Miller sat down with us to share their thoughts on how they hustle. Read on for their take on staying fit during a pandemic, diversity in their fields and passion for their athletic pursuits.

Dance + Drive: Audrey Malek Goes Confidently Into the Unknown

WORDS BY M.K. KOSZYCKI // PHOTO BY KIMCHI PHOTOGRAPHY

I’ve loved dancing forever” is something Audrey Malek states often. Sure, the dancer and studio company member at The Washington Ballet loves other things: participating in creative photoshoots and experimenting with makeup, to name a few. But the spark in her eye when she talks about her chosen medium, art form and career path is evident.

Malek’s dance story starts like many young kids’ introduction to the sport. Her parents placed her and her sister in dance classes growing up. Her passion for dance grew alongside her talent, eventually leading her to ballet. Transitioning from casual childhood dancer to studio company member at one of the world’s preeminent ballet companies is not the norm, but Malek made it her reality after a revelation about her love of dance in her teens.

“I did take a few ballet classes, but they weren’t as structured as a classical ballet academy. Growing up, I really didn’t have that background until the first summer intensive I went to at 13 with Dance Theatre of Harlem. That was my first real sense of, ‘Oh, this is what it’s like to be in a ballet school, to train every day and put on pointe shoes.’ I’ve loved dancing forever, but that was my first sense of, ‘I think I want to be a dancer when I grow up.’”

Malek set her sights on making that dream come to fruition. She attended summer intensive classes every year and danced almost every day at her hometown studio. At 17, she attended the International Association of Blacks in Dance’s (IABD) first annual women of color ballet audition in Colorado.

“I remember at the end I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is going to be so embarrassing if my number isn’t called for anybody.’ It was called by two different companies, but it’s not like they give you a contract right then and there. It was more of, ‘We like you and if you take a company class with us, a private audition or another audition, then you have a one up.’”

One of the companies that called on Malek was The Washington Ballet. During her senior year of high school, she auditioned for a summer program and got in with a scholarship. Malek decided to “go headfirst” into her training at The Washington Ballet, and aspired to join the company instead of going off to college.

“I thought, ‘Okay, I have a full scholarship to this summer intensive. I’m going to go there, work my butt off and get into the school.’ That was my plan. Not in a self-absorbed or cocky way, but in a motivational way, thinking, ‘Yeah, I’m going to make it.’”

Fast-forward to today, and Malek is a member of the studio company at The Washington Ballet. While she worked hard to develop her raw talent and techniques, she also pushed herself to develop another skill: confidence.

“When you’re shy and don’t have confidence, it shows in everything. I’m here for a reason. [The Washington Ballet] brought me here and promoted me. I’ve been in the studio company now for a couple of years. If I’m here, I better take advantage of that, put myself to good use and work hard. And who cares what other people think?”

This confidence she’s developed is well beyond her years, and something people spend their whole lives working toward. Malek says her director and teachers believing in her plays a huge role in the way she now believes in herself, too. On Instagram, she posts videos of herself dancing, doing makeup and posed in perfect form at different spots around the D.C. area. In all of these, Malek’s confidence is not only apparent, but contagious.

Malek’s also been using the strength of her voice and her platform to speak truth to the changes she wants to see in the dance world, especially when it comes to race.

“I think it’s going to be a long road,” she says of ballet world becoming a more accepting space. “But I guess it’s good that with social media, Black dancers, white dancers and all dancers can talk about [issues], which is a positive.”

Ballet is a competitive sport: a craft that relies on not just physical strength and ability, but also grace. It’s an art from with a complicated mix of skills. The self-discipline and confidence that has driven Malek to success is no accident, so what drives her to master these elements?

“It’s being fearless, going for it and really pushing yourself to your limits. Even during this quarantine, it would be so easy for all of us to just sit down [and] watch TV – which I’ve been doing sometimes and that’s cool – but also, it’s important that I remember that I am a dancer and I’m not letting anything get in the way of that.”

Despite accomplishing so much since she attended the audition that catalyzed her career, Malek has even more high hopes set for herself – and the ballet world – that she strives to accomplish every day.

“I feel that the ballet community evolves the slowest, because they still incorporate so many traditional ballets and costumes with [only] pink tights and shoes,” she explains of the prevalent issue of ballet costumes and shoes using fair skin as the default, and not reflecting the diverse races and skin tones that make up modern dance companies.

Similarly, Malek recently used her platform to speak out about a ballerina for engaging in blackface in the hopes of spreading awareness that this is still something happening in ballets today.

“I just hope people don’t stop talking about it.”

As for advancing herself, Malek says, “I hope that I become a principal or at least a soloist in five years’ time. I believe that anything can happen. I’m going into my third year of being part of the studio company, and it’s really been an experience growing here. Even though the pandemic is happening, I can’t wait for all these opportunities to happen. I feel like I can really use this time to grow within myself and my priorities.”

The slowdown of the world at large, particularly in the performing arts, hasn’t slowed Malek at all. With her sights set on a bright future, Malek shows that honing your craft and cultivating your self-confidence can take you far – and adding sheer talent to the mix doesn’t hurt, either.

Keep up with Malek on Instagram @audgemalek and visit www.audreymalek.com. For more on The Washington Ballet and how to support them and their artists during the pandemic, visit www.washingtonballet.org or follow @thewashingtonballet on Instagram.

Alix Montes Brings Diversity + Inclusion to the Yoga Mat

WORDS BY LANI FURBANK // PHOTO BY KIMCHI PHOTOGRAPHY

Earlier this year, Alix Montes received a piece of advice that shaped his outlook on coping with the pandemic. He was told, “If you want to train like an athlete, you should also rest like an athlete.”

This insight from Ashley Speights, founder of The Phyt Collective physical therapy practice, has helped him find perspective and gratitude while staying home.

“My metaphor for quarantine is that I’ve seen it as sort of an off-season in all aspects of life,” Montes explains. “The work doesn’t stop altogether, right? But there’s a little bit more balance. You focus a little bit differently. You work on different parts of your game.”

Though he’s not a professional athlete, Montes has been active his whole life and is currently a yoga teacher and a Lululemon ambassador. From a young age, he was on the move.

“I didn’t play a lot of video games growing up – I didn’t have any – so I was always playing outside, running around, riding a bike, swimming competitively,” he recalls. “It always helped me stay grounded. I think fitness has always been a great way for me to release stress and keep a clear head.”

Montes has kept hold of that commitment to fitness through his adult life, balancing his job as an advertising professional at Wunderman Thompson with his work teaching power vinyasa classes and his own workout regimen of yoga and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). He sees creativity as a common thread.

“I work in what’s considered a ‘creative’ industry,” he says of strategic marketing. Similarly, with teaching yoga, “There’s an element of creativity, in terms of little things of how you decide to sequence a class, how you decide to cue a pose, or even how I decide to sequence a playlist and why I choose certain music to do certain things.”

Montes first encountered yoga as a sixth grader attending a class with his mom.

“I remember I fell asleep for five minutes at the end of class and I woke up thinking, ‘Why is this better than any night of sleep that I’ve gotten recently?’ I went to heaven and back.”

He eventually became a regular practitioner, and says he appreciates the challenging nature of the practice.

“I know people think of yoga as just stretching. Maybe you’re not lifting some heavy barbells and dumbbells, but almost more challenging than picking up something heavy is learning how to use your own body and how to leverage and tap into the strength that you already have, and learning control and body awareness.”

He says yoga is something that anybody with a body can do.

“I think the perception is usually, it’s people who are either really fit or really slim doing yoga. Yoga isn’t about getting a pose to be aesthetically pleasing, but it’s more about your own personal growth within the practice.”

While yoga is by nature a practice based on acceptance, that isn’t always the reality in modern boutique studios.

“A lot of Black people don’t feel comfortable going to yoga studios, mainly just because they feel isolated. It’s also not marketed well to people of color, or they don’t feel like they belong, whether that’s actually the intention of the people in the studio or not. I think there’s positive intentions in a majority of yoga studios, and I’m going to go wider and even say boutique fitness spaces. However, I don’t think the impact matches the intention.”

That’s what inspired Montes to start two yoga initiatives focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. Tan the Mat began as a simple hashtag – a nod to “The Tanning of America” by Steve Stoute.

“He talks about this process of ‘tanning,’ which is the impact of Black culture and specifically hip-hop culture, on American pop culture,” Montes explains.

Montes initially used the phrase “tan the mat” to call out the need to diversify yoga. A fellow yogi, Sabrina Depestre, loved the concept and wanted to collaborate. Soon, and with the help of another friend, Erin Levy, Montes and Depestre brought the idea to life with a series of yoga classes with DJs.

“The goal was using music to bring people together to practice yoga.” A second initiative, Vibras + Vinyasa, played off the idea of music as a connector, but with a focus on music from various cultures.

“I like Latin music a lot. I’m from Miami. I also am from the Caribbean. I like dancehall, I like reggae, I like Afrobeats, I like reggaeton, and I would play that in my sculpt class.”

He collaborated with colleague Yahel Sánchez-Gress to launch yoga sculpt classes with an international soundtrack, DJ’d by Danny Hajjar.

“It’s the mix of music. It’s predominantly Latin, but then our DJ, he’s Lebanese, [Sánchez-Gress] is Mexican and I’m Haitian. It’s like the United Nations.”

Both platforms put an emphasis on authentic connections through culture, so they have yet to take things into the virtual space. They have considered outdoor classes, but Montes is trying to remain cautious.

“The thing we’re trying to be conscious of is making sure we’re not creating another pull for people to easily get complacent and forget that there is still a pandemic going on.”

In any class he teaches, Montes makes an effort to create an inclusive atmosphere for people of all races and body types.

“I’ve always done my best to try to make people that I don’t see represented feel comfortable in my classes. And that’s regardless of race. When I see Black people in my classes, I do my best to make sure they feel comfortable. When I see people that don’t have the typical athletic body type that a lot of people aim for, I do my best to make sure they feel like they belong in my class, just like everybody else.”

He’s witnessed barriers for people of color, like getting “the suspicious eye” in high-end athletic apparel stores and Black women feeling like they have to justify their presence in a yoga studio. In order to build more inclusive communities in the boutique fitness world, Montes wants to see the emphasis taken off of body image and instead put into an appreciation of culture and traditions.

“You can hear people say things like, ‘I want to burn the most calories possible,’ or ‘I need to make sure I get a good workout.’ There’s pressure to have this body image and I think that’s really detrimental.”

Montes believes bringing culture into the conversation can serve as a more productive focal point.

“When it comes to fitness, I think that there’s so much of the aesthetic that comes from hip-hop culture [and] Black culture. But often, you don’t see that culture represented within the studio space. In terms of yoga, what we do is just a fraction of what the actual intent of the practice is. I don’t always use Sanskrit in my classes, but I try to honor the practice. And when I do, I try to do it authentically.”

He says there is a deeper culture to yoga than what he’s studied that has significant meaning.

“That doesn’t mean don’t teach yoga. I still experiment with different sequences. I play my fun music, we have fun messing around with inversions, but just making sure that there’s an appreciation and an awareness for the culture that it came from.”

He says he would like to see systemic changes too, like studios making an effort to hire and mentor people of color, and taking a hard look at where they open locations.

“I’d love to see a studio take a chance and go to a neighborhood before the Whole Foods gets there, before people stop calling it sketchy. There’s an appetite for fitness there.”

Learn more about Montes and sign up for his weekly yoga class on Instagram and Twitter @alixmontes, @tanthemat and @vibras_vinyasa.

Sunny Miller Talks Community, Connection + Sweat

WORDS BY KELSEY COCHRAN // PHOTO BY KIMCHI PHOTOGRAPHY

Sunny Miller is a woman on a nonstop journey to the top. Six years ago, Miller moved from New York City to D.C., transitioning from the hospitality business to fitness. And like many of us this year, Miller found herself unable to go to work due to the pandemic. But, instead of waiting for things to return to normal or for a new opportunity to present itself, Miller made her own opportunity and launched her new online workout program: SunnyMaeErryday.

“When you’re pressured to change and pivot like a lot of us have been during quarantine, you don’t waste your time,” she says. “You just do it. I can’t sit still or wait for things to happen. I have always just made them happen.”

Initially, Miller moved to the District at the behest of SoulCycle, which was looking to expand their market to the DMV. Miller pedaled her way to the rank of master instructor in no time at SoulCycle, gaining a loyal following. Once the pandemic shut down SoulCycle’s fitness studios, Miller found herself at home without much to do. At first, she enjoyed the downtime that quarantine allowed. Even when she began to miss her SoulCycle community, Miller was unsure if at-home workouts were the way to go.

“I didn’t want to become a part of the at-home workout hustle at first because I was like, ‘Everybody is doing it. This is overwhelming. We’re in the middle of a pandemic. We can all just bake banana bread and relax. We don’t need a six-pack right now.’ But then I just really missed the connection I had with my community, so I started to host some Zoom at-home workouts for free a few times a week.”

These initial workouts were not meant to be a replacement for Miller’s day job, but rather a way to bring normalcy back into her life as well as the lives of her dedicated followers.

“I’d been doing [the at-home workouts] to stay active, to stay connected, to keep a routine because so much of my routine was completely lost during the pandemic,” Miller explains. “So many mornings, we would start our day sweating together. So many evenings, we would sweat out whatever happened at the office together. And then all of that was just gone. It was a way to create that routine and bring wellness back to our lives – not just physically, but mentally.”

Miller does not see herself as a “crazy fitness buff that only eats lettuce and chicken,” but rather as someone who loves to make people feel good. To Miller, getting in a good sweat is less about burning calories and more about getting energized, moving and being with other people. However, Miller is also a businesswoman. She saw the realities of the pandemic and decided to take her passion for fitness to the next level.

“With Covid not going anywhere, I just thought to myself, ‘How can I turn this into a business?’”

In a matter of three weeks, Miller created and launched her website and received a tremendous response. Her monthly memberships sold out within two weeks of the launch, and her classes are filled with her loyal community. Miller’s program promises a whole body workout with her high-intensity interval training. Her workouts are high-energy and quick, giving you time to squeeze in a session between Zoom meetings – just be prepared to towel off afterwards.

We need to start individualizing health and wellness. Not everything works for everyone.

“The workouts are difficult, but it’s fun, quick and a really good sweat. I have not found that really good sweat with any other workout.”

Miller is bringing people together in more ways than one. In addition to her website, she is working on a second project with another fitness trainer to bring workouts to the differently abled.

“We need to start individualizing health and wellness. Not everything works for everyone. I’ve been doing a trial class for adaptive athletes teaching a handcycling class for people with disabilities who don’t have access to boutique fitness. We’re developing an online platform where people with all different physical and intellectual disabilities can have access to boutique fitness that other people do.”

Miller explains the need for equal access to fitness programming cannot be filled by just encouraging differently abled people to join a fitness club, but that the workouts must be carefully created with different needs in mind. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for adaptive athletes to find fitness programs that meet their needs while giving them the same sweat that Miller chases. She hopes to carve a space with her work for fitness enthusiasts who happen to be differently abled.

“These options need to be the same quality as those of an ablebodied person, and right now that just doesn’t exist. I would love to be able to make fitness accessible to anybody who wanted to take a class and have it feel as though you’re just as connected as anybody else.”

In a time where the world must stay connected from afar, Miller’s words ring truer than ever. Everyone deserves to be connected, whether for a quick 30-minute workout with their favorite instructor or otherwise. Miller’s dedication to bringing people together from all walks of life over the mutual enthusiasm for fitness is what sets her apart from the crowd. Her new business venture is successful not only because she is a savvy businesswoman, but because she puts her people first.

“These past few months have been about transforming and changing with what is going on in the world, so continuing to be with the community that I’ve created is number one for me.”

Interested in joining Miller for a workout? Visit www.sunnymaeerryday.com for her class schedule and details on her monthly membership. Follow her on Instagram @sunnymaeerryday to stay up-to-date on all of her projects.