In an average fitness class, running shoes and ponytails are standard. To work out in the Vixen Army, recruits wear wedge sneakers (they’re recommended in the What To Wear section on the website along with a favorite lipstick) and let their hair down.
“Serve hips for dinner, then add gravy,” she yells to them, swiveling and gyrating, running her hands down from her hair to her torso. The class follows her lead, cheering and screaming out the lyrics to Pitbull and Flo Rida songs as the air in the room fills with heat and humidity, the mirrors fogging, shirts flying off. (Wait, arewe in Florida?)
Welcome to the Vixen Workout, the dance cardio phenomenon that’s the opposite of your mom’s Zumbaclass. Jones brings together women of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds, and inspires them to let go—and get sweaty, sexy, loud, and off-script in a way that is unheard of in the average uber-choreographed dance workout.
Launched in 2013, Vixen started in Miami (the city is good at inspiring dance cardioworkouts) and now has close to 40 classes per week across South Florida— from Boca Raton to West Palm Beach—plus packed daily classes in New York City (where they’re a budget-friendly $18). It launched in Chicago recently, too, and in August, Jones will launch an official teacher certification program “so we can go nationwide pretty quickly,” she says.
