One, two, three, four.

Get my shoes then out the door.

Five I'm alive, six, seven, eight feelin' great.

Nine, gonna shine, life is good I'm doing fine.

Ten, Gonna do it right then do it again.

Yeah yeah.

I look up to the sky with all the beautiful color but, there's more than just for me so gonna share it with another.

I got to show, to give, let out, I want to sing and shout.

Take a look and see A beautiful morning that turns into beautiful evening.

And together make a beautiful life.

And if you want see, then come along with me.

That's right.

Hello everyone and thank you so much for joining us.

on Experience Michiana.

We are so glad that you could be with us and I don't know about any of you, but I am so loving this nice, cool fall weather.

And when I think of the cool weather, it reminds me of things like apple pie and and pumpkin pie, and that comes just in time for National Dessert Day.

Dave had an opportunity to go to the wholesome package for those of you that may want a slightly healthier option.

And then we're going to go and figure out how does vino and Vinyasa go together?

Wine and yoga?

Well, it actually does.

And we're going to meet up with Sandy in Plymouth to find out more about that.

But right now, as you can see, we're at that, the Debartolo Performing Arts Center at Notre Dame.

And I had an opportunity to sit down with one of the dancers of Ailey II Now, that performance was last weekend.

But we just wanted to show you all the amazing talent that is available here in our community.

Thanks to the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is one dance company that I feel that everyone needs to see at least once in their lifetime.

And thanks to the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center here at Notre Dame, Ailey two is right here getting ready to perform in our community this weekend.

And we have the pleasure of having one of their dancers.

Rachel, Yo did I pronounce your last name?

Yes, you did.

Okay.

Well, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us.

I know that you probably have a heavy schedule going on with the performances this weekend, but this is your first time out here at Notre Dame.

Yes, it is.

Yeah.

So how have you.

I know you just got in last night, but how have you enjoyed it so far?

So far?

I mean, the scenery is absolutely beautiful.

There's so much nature.

This is the opposite of what it's like in New York.

Yes.

One thing I was surprised by was like the lack of sidewalks, actually.

Oh, you know, did you go out at night?

Because there's also a lack of street lights.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Because we were trying to find food last night and get around everywhere.

You have to.

You have to walk.

And that's just surprising.

No, I know.

Well, Rachel is actually from New Jersey, so we share that in common because we're both from the East Coast, although they tends to be a little bit of a rivalry between New York and New Jersey, I think there is.

Yes, but no rivalry today.

Not today.

Well, well.

Tell me, how has your dance journey?

How did it begin?

And what led you to Ailey?

Well, I started dancing a little bit later in life.

I was 11 years old when I came to ballet.

When I was younger, I tried so many different types of sports or just different physical activities.

And I was a very physical child and nothing really stuck with me until I came to ballet.

And I think because it was so challenging like I have, I haven't been challenged physically and mentally at the same time.

Like ballet did for me.

So I quit everything else and I said, Mom, I'm going to stick with ballet.

And from there I continued on and in high school I auditioned for a high school dance program, which I got into, and then that's where I discovered more modern, contemporary dance styles.

And from there, over a summer, I went to Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for a summer intensive, where I really fell in love with contemporary dance.

And then in high school, I decided I wanted to get my BFA.

And looking around a bunch of different colleges, I wanted to stay on the East Coast so I could stay close to my family.

And it's more familiar for me.

And Ailey Fordham was actually my top choice, and I auditioned and I got invited.

Yeah.

And so from there.

Now you are in Ailey, II?

Yes.

What is that like?

I can imagine as a dancer, that must be a dream come true for you.

Yeah, the story is funny, actually, because Ailey, II wasn't necessarily always on my radar.

I thought maybe I wanted to go dance elsewhere or abroad in Europe or such.

But after learning that Francesca Harper was the new artistic director, my interest was piqued again.

And this is also during a time in the pandemic where there wasn't anything really happening in the dance field.

And I auditioned for Ailey two virtually.

Actually, I was in my living room, really.

I was in my living area now.

You know, I actually studied at Alvin Ailey myself.

You know, there's a certificate program back in.

Yes, in 19??

I won't say.

And I know for myself, I grew not only as a dancer, but but as a person.

What has this experience been like for you so far?

Oh, I feel like this is I've never grown so much as a dancer than I have with Ailey, II especially this year, coming into my second and last year, comparing it to where I was in college or even just my first year.

And I think I'm definitely a lot more myself as a dancer, and I think they really encourage that in this space of finding who you are and what you can bring to the table with the different types of repertory that we do.

It's so eclectic, like we do so many different styles and dances that it gives each person a chance to find something new and everything.

Absolutely.

Now, speaking of performances, we're here again at the Debartolo Performing Arts Center.

You will have two performances here.

Yes.

And I have to tell you, the buzz in the community is very real.

Yes.

Now, we are so excited to have Ailey to here.

So tell us a little bit about what you'll be performing.

So both tonight and tomorrow night, we will be starting the show with Freedom Series, which is choreographed by our artistic director, Francesca Harper.

She created the piece last year, and it was it was really special because she was able to collaborate with all the dancers.

So everything was made in real time.

And then we have two pieces by the artistic director of the first company, Robert Battle.

The first is Takada, which is a solo, which my roommate is actually performing.

Megan King so I'm very excited for her.

She does beast.

Absolutely amazing beast?

And then the second performance the second piece is The Hunt, which is also Robert Battle.

That is quite it's a very physical piece, very like in your face.

It's like about I said about sports and kind of if the hunt is the hunt, I mean, the title itself says so much, but like when the curtain rises, there is four men on stage standing still and they're all getting ready and I don't want to give it away.

Right?

Like, I don't want to give it away.

There's a yeah, you'll you'll see.

We'll see.

You'll see.

We'll see.

And then are you also doing Revelations?

Yes, we are.

We are closing the night out with the signature classic iconic revelations by Alvin Ailey, of course.

How does it feel when you dance?

Revelations?

Hmm.

It's kind of hard to, like, encapsulate the experience in words because it's such a special one.

It's such an honor.

I have so much respect for the piece and being able to step into such deep, rich history.

I feel that every single time I perform Revelations, I'm sure, because it's almost like feeling the generations of dancers that have gone before you truly, you know?

Mm hmm.

That's something that is really amazing.

You spoke about the physical aspect of dancing.

Yes.

What is that like?

And what has the rehearsal process been like as well, getting ready for this performance?

The rehearsal process has been it's been a lot.

We have so many pieces in our repertoire and we have 12 dancers in the company and our four apprentices.

So we all have such heavy tracks, meaning that we all learn multiple roles.

Some people have are casted to do different roles for the same piece, meaning you go in for one and it's but the rehearsal process has been.

It's been inspiring.

It really has.

I think being with a new group this year and getting to dance with close friends and seeing seeing people grow from my first year especially, I think has been my favorite part to witness.

All right.

One last question.

What is your favorite piece to dance and why?

Oh, okay.

My favorite piece of dance is probably Enemy in the Figure by William Forsyth for a lot of different reasons.

First, Getting to Dance a piece by William Forsyth is he's like a dance icon, dance legend, someone I've his work.

I've looked up to for so long.

So getting to finally perform it.

Pinch me.

Dream come true the dances.

So again, I come back to the word physical because it truly is.

It's all about taking risk and the energy that you have to bring.

It's like all or nothing.

So every single time I step into that piece, I give my everything and I'm it's I'm very passionate about it.

Yes, that's wonderful.

Well, Rachel, thank you so much.

Thank you.

We are all excited to see you all perform.

I'll be here Saturday night with bells on, as they say.

So thank you again.

And we just want to thank the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center here at Notre Dame for bringing such wonderful talent here.

So be sure to check their website as well as ours experience michiana.org for more information and more wonderful performances.

So I'm here at the Wholesome Package in Mishawaka and the Wholesome Package Cafe that they have here.

It's on the corner of Mishawaka Avenue and Main Street in Mishawaka, and for some reason it has a car stuck to the side of the building.

We'll find out more about that.

I'm here with Nicole and Anna, who are the co-owners of this.

Nicole, tell me about this building.

First of all, what goes on in here?

This building is an actual actually a coworking space.

So we have it's a nonprofit.

And so with a small membership fee, you have a professional clean space with all the amenities of a of a regular office building that you can come and build your business on a budget.

Nice.

And then you have your cafe that's in here as well.

So how did you guys how long have you been open by the way, here?

We've been in this building since 2019.

Yep.

And we were members at first.

And then we were given the opportunity to take over the management, as well as running the cafe.

Now, Anna, how did you even how did you both come up with a wholesome package?

When was the aha moment of starting your own business together?

Well, we met in a kickboxing class and used to try to hit up anything that was fast and somewhat healthy after kickboxing and just get to the point where we were burnt out on everything and tried to figure out what it would take to sell healthy food at a gym, which is kind of where we started with the background that we had.

My son was born in kind of half term and I went through a lot of health coaching and different things to get myself educated.

Nicole did the same thing and she took care of her father, who passed away from cancer.

And so us meeting just kind of it just happened and it's great.

And you wanted to be able to provide healthy food that was fast for people.

So it wasn't inconvenient.

Right.

Super convenient.

Super fast.

So, Nicole, super healthy.

Yeah.

No.

And it's true.

There's no, like, hidden ingredients in anything.

Although, looking at the table here, we're going to talk about these in a few minutes.

They don't necessarily all look super healthy, but we'll find out more about them.

What are some of the foods besides these desserts that you actually do here, Nicole?

The desserts besides the dessert?

Oh, besides the desserts, we have everything from your basic meals of chicken, broccoli, brown rice in a regular portion, in a single individual portion.

We have the family portions now, and we also have a mini version.

So we just try to accommodate everybody and every appetite size.

And we have everything from those basic what we call macro meals to Mediterranean Turkey burgers and Asian chicken, lettuce wraps, grass-fed bacon, blue burgers with sweet potatoes and broccoli or your choice of two sides.

Nice.

So getting fast food does not have to mean that you feel guilty afterwards.

So October 14th is National Dessert Day, and I know that desserts are a big thing that you can do, as you can see here.

So tell me a little bit about this 1/1 of all.

Okay.

So this tray here, everything that is on here, we actually use a monk fruit erythritol sweetener.

So these are all going to be diabetic friendly as well as keto friendly for people who are going low carb or just trying to kind of watch their blood sugar to begin with.

Here we have an apple spiced coffee cake, which is super popular this time of year.

The lemon blueberry coffee cake, which is my favorite.

We have all of these different cookies here which are available.

One order of cookies comes with two cookies.

You can get up to a dozen.

You can do a variety box.

But we have snickerdoodle, a lemon shortbread.

This is our granola bar made out of our granola is just strictly nuts.

And then this actually has some sugar free chocolate chips in it.

This is a pumpkin cheesecake cookie, almond crescent cookie.

These are pumpkin bars that we started doing just on the holidays.

And now we have them all the time.

And then this is something we have special right now, which is just a spiced pumpkin mousse, which is where you can try it.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

I want to try it because it's in the fridge and it doesn't have a label on it.

I was curious what it was and I really want to try it so small.

It's hard to put labels on them, so our baristas are good at explaining them.

But please don't zoom in on my face while I do this.

See, I feel like I'm eating something bad when I eat this.

Yeah.

No, but it's not.

No, because, like, when you think of desserts, you think I'm doing something wrong, right?

But you don't have to think.

And that's why we like to do this.

Because if you go anywhere and you look at a normal piece of coffee cake, you're talking between 20 and 30 grams of carbs and a piece of coffee cake, which is insane for anybody that is trying to not have their blood sugar on a roller coaster, you know, so so yeah, that's why we like to offer this, because we really kind of found a niche because nobody else in the area was doing it.

This tray here, these are also really good desserts.

These are all gluten free.

So for anybody that has celiac or is just looking to cut out regular flour, you know, good to go.

These are actually made by our friend Abbie over at the Ragamuffin Bakery in downtown South Bend.

She's one of our good friends, and they're killer.

So these are oatmeal, peanut chocolate chip, you know, believe peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip all in one.

Yes.

These are our turtle brownies.

These are actually made with black beans.

There's no flour at all in there.

I love them.

Yes.

Super dark chocolate.

Really good with either milk or a cup of coffee.

My my favorite thing, by the way, about this cookie is is that it's actually just one cookie.

Right?

So I can just tell myself I just had one cookie.

Even though it's the size of four cookies or the size of your face.

Some.

Yeah.

Depending on the size of the package.

And I'll let nicole talk about how it quinoa bars because those are her favorites Oh, this is my favorite.

So this is a perfect breakfast or just a good source of fuel halfway through your day when you just need something to to bring it back to life.

This is only sweetened with organic banana and organic maple sirup, but it's got chia seeds and oats, dried cherries, almond butter, organic quinoa.

It's just an excellent source of nutrition and takes care of your sweet tooth as well.

And then on top of that, you've got the cafe with all of your coffee drinks, all your new fall drinks as well, which go perfect with these as well.

Yeah, yeah.

And you know, I do love pumpkin spice.

I don't try and jump on any trends.

But tell me a little bit about some of the fall drinks that you have here this year as well.

Well, always every fall, every pumpkin spice season, our kitchen gears up and they make a homemade pumpkin spice for our lattes and also a sugar free pumpkin spice.

So we can accommodate those people who are just trying to take care of their health as well if they want to come in for a speciality latte.

And we do have a quite a few different flavors of our fall drinks and but the but the pumpkin spice puree, the pumpkin spice flavor that we make is homemade and it's always excellent quality.

And I just love it.

As I said before, I love coming in here.

I love getting my food here because you can actually eat delicious food because when you grow up getting a billboard of that root and all kinds of fast food, you just feel like healthy is a sacrifice.

But when you actually come in and you see everything that you've got, you can actually feel good about eating stuff that tastes good and it doesn't have to be like, Oh, great, more lettuce.

Like, you know, it's actually good, healthy stuff.

Yeah, it is.

And you know, I noticed that when I wake up in the morning, if I've eaten well the day before, I feel so much better that next morning, mind and body, just knowing that I filled myself properly the night before, when I'm off the wagon and I get a little indulgent the day before the next day, I'm just not as optimal.

And I can always tell.

I can always tell.

The quality of your life is a direct reflection of the quality of food that you put in your body was true.

Firmly believe that I'm getting there.

I'm trying my best.

I'm trying my best now.

I know, I know there's several ways that people can get the food.

We've got the cooler.

That's right here where people can just grab options that are here, but they can also order online as well, even the deserts.

But they can order all the meals on there as well, right?

Yep.

The wholesomepackage.com is the website to get on.

We also have a grab and go cooler available at World Gym in town and country at Beacon Health and Fitness out right by Capitol and the toll road.

The biggest variety of food you're going to find here in this cooler.

And they're in direct correlation with the kitchen on an hourly basis.

So if this gets hit hard, then we're back in here with food, you know, a couple of hours later.

So nice.

So the wholesome package dot com is where you can find out all the information.

I love it.

I'm going to go and stuff my face.

I want to try that apple on now as well.

So I'm going to do that one as well.

But hey, it's great to have food that tastes good that you don't have to feel guilty about.

And you're right about what you put in is I don't know exactly what you said, but I guess quality of your life is a direct reflection of the quality.

There it is.

You put your body.

All right, the wholesome package.

And we're here at the corner of Main Street and Mishawaka Avenue in Mishawaka.

You'll see it because there's a car stuck to the side of the building.

It wasn't my idea, our same landlord, to put that helicopter on top of High Hoo Okay, that's like not anything.

Today we are in Plymouth with Sandy.

And I have to say I love that today we're not saying we're going to the gym.

No, today we are saying that we're going to the union, which is a wellness boutique.

And I kind of love that whole concept about.

So tell me, what's the idea behind not a gym but a wellness boutique?

Sandy, thank you so much for asking.

So we strategically built the union to be intimate, safe atmosphere for all people, all folks that feel like they want a personal trainer, a small group, fitness.

We do do group fitness as well, but it is all scheduled so they know what's coming rather than going into a gym, feeling really intimidated, not sure what to do or who's going to be there.

This is really a controlled environment, so they feel safe in this space.

That is really nice.

And one of the things first of all, I just want to tell you, the minute we walk in, walked in, it smells real.

It smells like health.

It really does.

But esthetically, this place is actually gorgeous, too.

And I feel like that's intentional as well.

It is very intentional.

We trying to bring in all of the elements and help it to feel very gender fluid so that everyone feels welcome in this space.

It's not too masculine, not too feminine.

We do a variety of different activities in this space and it really is for all people.

So tell us about the different activities that you do here.

Thank you.

We do fitness, of course, personal training.

We have our group fitness instructors that tie yoga cycles, strength training.

And then we also do health coaching, nutrition coaching, which is an integrative approach, bio individuality.

We don't push supplements or anything like that.

We try to really see the whole person and what their body needs.

And then we also do Reiki and acupressure, which is a very light touch energy, helping to heal the body in that way as well.

You know, you know, what I love about what you're doing here is that everyone is an individual and what will work for one person may not necessarily work for the other.

So you are really taking the health of the individual to heart.

That's right.

That's right.

Each person has a customized plan that works just for them and maybe it's their friend, their partner, or their small group that likes to come in together.

But everybody has a purpose that is very individualized.

Yeah.

Now, you've been in the fitness industry for 20 years.

What has that 20 years been like for you?

Well, there's definitely been, you know, some ups and lows in the industry for sure.

But, you know, we are still seeing some things like strength training still be a priority for for our bodies are bones are strength.

But sometimes we feel worried about what that might do to our bodies and being safe.

So helping us to walk through it with somebody that can encourage us and push us past their comfort zone but still be safe.

And we also do a lot of muscle recovery, too, to make sure that their bodies are healing the way they should.

That is really nice now.

So we're here today to talk a little bit more about something called vino and Vinyasa.

Yes.

And I say that very much about yoga, so I'm excited to find out about it.

But when I looked at the title, I'm assuming that that means wine and yoga.

That's right.

That's right.

Well, if you come up with the idea to combine the two of them.

Well, you know, I think.

Why not?

Why not?

Why not our mimosas of our mimosa and yoga is a lot of fun.

And it's you know, we started to say, what if we did it at sunset?

How fun would that be to just have a glass of wine together at the end and socialize?

We all love coming together with our friends and so Vinyasa is just a yoga flow.

It's a really gentle, it's meant for all abilities.

So even if you need to be in a chair, that's okay.

If you've never done yoga before, that's okay.

And if you like to do inversions and headstands, that's okay too.

So it's really meant to be all levels.

I like that you say that because yoga can be a little bit intimidating .

So that's where the wine comes.

kinda relaxes you a little bit more.

But as you can see here, this is where kind of like you said, the strength training happens.

But there's also a place where the yoga happen that's right.

So let's head on over there and maybe I can do a downward dog.

Maybe so.

Sounds good.

Well, here we are on the yoga mat.

And, Sandy, I just want to say again, because with that intimidation, when it comes to yoga, do you find that there are quite a few people that feel that way?

They really do.

Sometimes people are so nervous to even step into a studio for fear of that is going to be an extreme class or extremely hard.

There are 12 different types of yoga.

And so one thing that's really important to us here at the Union is that it's inclusive, that everyone feels like they they will be successful no matter what their body size type injuries, all the things that we can be safe and healthy and show them a gentle flow that feels good on their body.

That's great.

Now, I know the question that a lot of people have, is yoga a religious practice?

Is it an exercise practice or is it both?

I'm so glad you asked.

It could be very spiritual, but it is not religious in terms of a specific denomination.

So some people just choose to use the word mindfulness that is tuning into your breath, tuning into your body.

It does not have to be a spiritual practice or it does not have to be a religious practice.

It could just be a stretching flow.

Okay, I like that.

So vino in Vinyasa, you said 12 different types.

What type is Vinyasa?

Vinyasa is going to be more of a flow.

So rather than holding a pose for two, three, 4 minutes, we're just going to flow through the pose, feel the body, just move in gently, relax the muscles as they go.

Okay?

Right.

And that's something that I'm definitely looking for in my own life.

So let me get you here to do it.

I'm ready to do this thing All right.

So what are we going to do first?

So first we're going to stand in Mountain Pose.

We're just going to open the shoulders down and back, feeling the feet connected to the floor and take a deep breath in less, raise the hands overhead, just noticing the space between the hips in the ribs.

And then we're going to exhale forward, fold, pushing the hips back and gently let the chin come to your chest and just relaxing your hips.

Is it okay if my hands can touch the ground slowly?

Yep.

Absolutely.

Go to your range.

Go ahead and use your hands to the shins.

And we're going to pull up to a flat back position.

Very nice.

Soft bend in the knees.

We're going to come back to your fold and gently walk the feet back to a plank position.

And then we're going to drop the knees down and slowly hover down chaturanga towards your belly and then lift the crown of that baby cobra.

And then we're going to scoop the belly up, pressing back into a downward facing dog so your knees can stay bent.

Nice and strong arms.

Yup.

And then we're going to keep those toes all the way back to the beginning to your full soft bend in the knees and slow roll back up to your standing mountain pose.

How you feel.

That feels so good.

Yeah, good, good, good.

It really, really does.

And and you kind of feel this connection to the body, and it just seems like it's opening everything up, but relaxing at the same time that makes sense.

That's right.

Yeah.

And you can feel the warmth in your body start to connect.

And so as we do different poses, we start to connect the breath, inhale and exhale, and it just helps you to really tune into your body.

But how is a year open and what days over here?

Typically, we're always open 8 to 5, but sometimes we come as early as five or 6 a.m., depending on the client.

If they have work before, they have to get their workout in before work and same at night.

Sometimes we see a lot of kiddos, student athletes or people that work and want to come in in the evening as well.

So everybody's scheduled a little bit different.

That's great.

Well, Sandy, I have to say, I love what you're doing here.

I love how it's individualized and I love the holistic element to it.

So thank you so much for doing that.

I think I just might be a client here too, because God knows I need some help out here.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

And of course, you can register for all of our classes at the Union Wellness Boutique.

The union dot com is the best place to go to find all of our services, all of our offerings, as well as to register and schedule.

Thank you so much for being with us on this week's show.

Be sure to tune in next week for another experience.

Michiana experience Machiana is made possible in par by the Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County and the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the state of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.