Valentine’s Day Eve just got sweatier.
UF RecSports is hosting free Valentine’s partner yoga and salsa classes Thursday at Southwest Recreation Center.
The serene yoga and sizzling salsa experiences are open to any student or RecSports membership holder and significant other or a friend. Attendees can also choose to be matched with a partner at the event.
The yoga and salsa special events will last from 8:30 to 10 p.m. in activity rooms one and three, said Raphael Konforti, a fitness graduate assistant at Southwest Rec.
Only one participant is required to register for either event, but those bringing a friend must include their partner’s information.
Konforti said that in addition to exposing new people to group fitness, the Valentine’s events are great for regular participants who attend yoga and dance classes like Zumba and hip-hop fitness.
“There are a lot of poses that you can’t do when you’re by yourself that you can do with a partner,” Konforti said.
Southwest Rec’s coordinator for fitness programs Leah Dupuie said partner salsa allows participants to “express your dance style in a different way.”
Camille Baumrucker, an 18-year-old UF health science freshman, said she and her friends go to regular yoga sessions at Southwest Rec “a couple times a week” and are looking forward to Thursday’s yoga event.
“It sounds like it’s going to be fun to step outside of our comfort zones and try something like partners’ yoga,” Baumrucker said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 2/11/2014 under the headline "RecSports goes romantic with V-Day partner yoga and salsa"]