Instead of the workout clothes typically worn to teach her fitness classes, Betsy Marlow entered State Gym armed with friendship bracelets, glitter shorts and bejeweled hair Monday night.
Marlow, a senior studying kinesiology and health, helped Recreation Services host a fitness event inspired by Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour from 8–10 p.m. Monday. The event featured four types of exercises set to Swift’s greatest hits and free friendship bracelets.
Each exercise from the event was led in a 20-minute session, allowing participants to rotate between classes while also rotating between music eras.
One of the classes focused on jump fitness, with music taken from Swift’s debut album and “Fearless” album. Participants had the opportunity to break a sweat on top of trampolines with exercises like jump squats and jumping jacks.
Selena Pineda-Martinez, a sophomore studying pre-athletic training, said the jump fitness class was one of her favorite sessions from the night because it was a unique type of exercise she had never done before.
Pineda-Martinez registered for the event because she loves Taylor Swift and she loves fitness, making the event a perfect pairing.
“I think this event really brought some good energy,” Pineda-Martinez said. “I think [Marlow] got a lot of people out, and I think it was really fun.”
Additional sessions from the night featured a pilates class accompanied by songs from “Lover” and a Cycle Fit class set to the “1989” album.
For Georgia Karner, a freshman studying aerospace engineering, the best class of the night was Cardio Dance, which was backed up with tracks from “Reputation.”
“I really liked the energy in Dance Cardio,” Karner said. “It was just really hyped the whole time.”
Marlow, a fitness instructor for Recreation Services and organizer of the event, led the Cardio Dance class. She played the same audio used at the Eras Tour concerts and let some of Swift’s dance moves inspire her choreography.
Though Marlow enjoyed the entire set list she led at the event, one of her favorite moves of the night was a body roll used in transitioning from “Don’t Blame Me” to “Look What You Made Me Do.”
“Everyone got into the body roll,” Marlow said. “The faces of everyone when they started doing it and feeling themselves in it is everything I could ask for in making choreography.”
Marlow created the Eras Tour fitness event and presented it to her supervisor after the idea came to her late one night. She attended The Eras Tour in Minneapolis over the summer and was looking for a way to bring a similar experience to campus.
“If Taylor Swift can create an entire album off her midnight thoughts, I can make an event off my midnight thoughts,” Marlow said.
To help set the environment for the night, Marlow wore elements of the outfit she took to the Minneapolis concert, which was inspired by Swift’s Reputation album. She spent the night in snake earrings, green eyeshadow and black-sparkled sneakers.
Recreation Services also provided each registered participant with a friendship bracelet, and they encouraged people to also bring their own bracelets to trade with others.
Trading friendship bracelets became a popular trend throughout Swift’s Eras Tour based on the lyrics to a song from her 2022 “Midnights” album, which read, “So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.”
Karner came to the event with 20 glow-in-the-dark friendship bracelets to trade with other participants, which included trading away a “Paper Rings” bracelet to Marlow.
Karner, a big Taylor Swift fan, said all 80 spots for the event were filled when she first tried to register for the event. However, she revisited the website five more times until a spot had opened up for her to grab.
Though the event attracted Swifites across campus, it also gave fitness-focused students an opportunity to quickly experience a variety of classes in one night.
Madison Kirkland, a sophomore studying public relations, and Sydney Olson, a sophomore studying graphic design, consider themselves casual Taylor Swift fans and attended the event to try out the various fitness classes.
“I think Rec Services should do more stuff like this,” Kirkland said. “I think it’s a way to get more people involved and try something new. We thought this was a cool way to try a bunch of different workout classes.”
Marlow said she would love to host a similar event in the future if the opportunity arises and that she is thankful to have been part of the experience. She is also grateful that Rec Services was able to bring her idea to life.
“[The event] was everything I could have hoped for and more. Everyone came out, and they got such amazing energy going,” Marlow said. “They were singing and dancing and all the things that I could have hoped for.
