See also: - YogaDates delivers asanas and amore to Denver singles - Yoga Rocks the Park starts rocking the park again this weekend - Queens of the Stone Age at Red Rocks in August
Exercise isn't a new development at this celebrated amphitheater, which draws gaggles of locals, tourists and music fans annually. For decades, Red Rocks -- which is owned by the city and operated by Denver Arts & Venues -- and its surrounding Denver Parks and Recreation-managed trails have doubled as insanely beautiful, rigorous locales for outdoor exercise enthusiasts.Hundreds of individuals and several workout groups meet regularly at Red Rocks to brave the 393 stairs. Right now, for-profit groups are not required to pay to use the facilities -- although that could be changing. "We're looking at what DPR is proposing for its new policies," says Dan Rowland, spokesman for Arts & Venues, pivoting around the question of whether his agency also has plans to alter its current, free-for-all policy. (Parks and Rec has proposed charging organized exercise groups for use of the parks.)
The HealthONE Red Rocks Fitness Challenge was created in 2010 as an Arts & Venues program designed to get people out to experience all the amphitheater has to offer by providing more than 300 participants and fourteen personal trainers exclusive access to the facility for one hour each weekend for three months. "Red Rocks is a great concert venue," Rowland says. "But we want people to know it's there for other programs as well."
The fitness challenge was so successful that the city decided to add a yoga program, too. "I do yoga myself and can't imagine a better setting than Red Rocks," says Rowland. Starting August 3 and for three following Saturdays (August 10, August 17 and September 7), a slew of yoga instructors from Denver-based CorePower Yoga will guide all levels of yogis (there's space for up to 2,500 participants) to 50 shades heights of zen.
Each hour-long, drop-in class starts at 7 a.m. (doors open at 6) and costs $10. Pay at the door; cash is preferred, credit is accepted. One dollar of your admission fee will be donated to the Whole Planet Foundation, a Whole Foods Market micro-lending program designed to support impoverished women in 57 countries around the world. Don't forget to BYOM.
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