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- [00:00]
Ariana Grande
Hi, I'm Ariana Grande.
- [00:02]
Cynthia Erivo
Hi, I'm Cynthia Erivo, and you're listening.
- [00:04]
Ariana Grande
To the Broadway Podcast Network.
- [00:05]
Cynthia Erivo
Visit VPN FM to discover more.
- [00:12]
Stevie Santangelo
Abercrombie's vacation essentials are 25% off right.
- [00:16]
Cynthia Erivo
Now, and Spotify listeners are getting an.
- [00:18]
Stevie Santangelo
Extra 15% off with code Spotify AF. Abercrombie's perfect pack means denim shorts, your favorite swimsuit and top tons of boho dresses.
- [00:28]
Cynthia Erivo
So book the trip and use code Spotify AF for an extra 15% off through June 9, 2025.
- [00:34]
Stevie Santangelo
25% off vacation essentials is valid in US and Canada through June 9, 2025. Applies to select styles as indicated.
- [00:40]
Cynthia Erivo
Price reflects discount. With a Venmo Debit card, you can.
- [00:43]
Stevie Santangelo
Venmo more than just your friends. You can use your balance in so many ways. You can Venmo everything.
- [00:48]
Cynthia Erivo
Need gas?
- [00:49]
Stevie Santangelo
You can Venmo this.
- [00:50]
Cynthia Erivo
How about snacks? You can Venmo that.
- [00:53]
Stevie Santangelo
Your favorite band's merch.
- [00:54]
Cynthia Erivo
You can Venmo this. Or their next show. You can Venmo that. Visit Venmo Do Me Debit to learn more.
- [01:05]
Stevie Santangelo
The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp bank and a pursuant to license. My MasterCard International Incorporated card may be used everywhere. MasterCard is accepted. Venmo purchase restrictions apply.
- [01:14]
Hallie Becker
The community was wide, large and varied. I mean, you had people who just came in, they didn't give a shit who was teaching. They just wanted to say that they went to Soul cycle, did their 45 minutes of cardio, went home. You had people would only ride with me. You would. People only ride with Stacy, people only ride with Janet. Then you had relationships that would form and people wanted, you know, to go out to dinner with the. I mean, it was just, it was like any hero worship. And you had the whole front desk situation and, you know, somebody going, don't worry, I'll get you in. We made it. This monster, this beautiful fucking monster of a whole bunch of bikes in a dark room with a bunch of people that just wanted to feel better. And make no mistake, it was a magical time. But they're like anything. There's always, when you peek behind that curtain, Professor Oz, there's shit going on.
- [02:18]
Jess Rothchild
This is the Cult of Body and Soul. Episode three, Noon on Monday. In this episode, we're taking a peek behind the curtain of instructor auditions and the elusive training program. Plus the cult of personality the brand thrives on and the chaos it can breed.
- [02:38]
Chris
You know, at the time, getting picked to be an instructor was this Holy Grail kind of a thing, right they were very, very particular about who got into the training program. And if you got a spot in that training program, like, you were it. Like, you were the shit.
- [02:54]
Jess Rothchild
Chris performing career had ended and he was now running a dance company. This was his first class.
- [03:01]
Chris
And I was terrible at it. I was absolutely terrible at it. I kind of loved, hated it. Because here is this thing where, like, the instructor looks so amazing and, like, they're writing to the rhythm and I'm a dancer and I'm like, I should be able to do this. Like, why can't I do this?
- [03:20]
Jess Rothchild
Dancers tend to be perfectionists. So he could not handle being bad at this one thing.
- [03:26]
Chris
I went back because I just. I couldn't be bad at it. Like, it wasn't an option. And to be honest with you, like, I would have panic attacks on my way to the train. I was like, I don't know that I can physically do this. You know, I was used to pushing myself as a dancer, but again, like, I was not in dancing shape. It wasn't like I was still performing. And I would literally, like, have to talk myself into going to class because I would start walking to the train and I'd be like, oh, my God, I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this. I'm gonna die on that bike.
- [03:59]
Hallie Becker
And he called me one day and he said, julie Rice is looking for CR Crazy people to ride the bike. And I said, who is Julie Rice? And he said, are you fucking kidding me? Hallie? She and Elizabeth Cutler own SoulCycle.
- [04:10]
Jess Rothchild
Unlike Chris, Hallie Becker was already a sought after personality, having taught yoga in Manhattan at festivals and retreats around the world.
- [04:20]
Hallie Becker
I go, what do they want me to do? Teach yoga at SoulCycle? He's like, no, no, Hallie, they want you to teach. I go, well, I can start teaching right now, but if I have to ride that fucking bike, there's just no way this is happening. And that's exactly how I felt. I didn't even make it through the training. They were so. They were like, all right, just go. Just go here. Tuesday, Thursday, 12, 15 and 63rd. These are going to be your classes. Just go. I really did not ever complete the training.
- [04:48]
Jess Rothchild
While Halle was fast tracked, Chris had to will himself into performing the art of SoulCycle. He, of course, was eventually asked if he would like to audition. And so the auditions begin.
- [05:02]
Chris
There was a lot of nervous energy in the room. I remember we had to do, like three songs. So we, like, got up on the bike. They would Just, like, put the music on and we just had to go and teach. No direction, no, like, nothing. I don't know, 30 seconds or a minute to, like, teach their song. And then they would switch the song, and you'd have to switch your whole vibe immediately. You picked your own music. So, like, I went in there with Gavin DeGras, P. Nk, and, like, Beyonce. It was like kind of like a whiplash. It was fun. I think it was, like, one of the most fun audition experiences I've ever had.
- [05:35]
Ariana Grande
Well, the earth shattered beneath our feet when Janet left. So many of her tribe were, oh, my God, where's she going? She's going to a place called SoulCycle in New York City, which we knew nothing about. Oh, but we would. We would.
- [05:51]
Jess Rothchild
This is Stevie Santangelo. She was a master instructor at SoulCycle for eight years from 2012 to 2020. Stevie was my gateway to a lot of SoulCycle lore. It was through Stevie that I first learned the name Janet Fitzgerald. See, Stevie worked for Janet at Body and Soul back in la. I introduced myself after a few weeks, and she asked me to dinner after class, just the two of us. I quickly got her backstory that she had moved to New York for SoulCycle after 20 years in Los Angeles. She actually wasn't a fitness instructor at all, but a professional chef with a passion for spin. For her 40th birthday, they offered her a job at Body and Soul, which would alter the trajectory of her entire career.
- [06:41]
Ariana Grande
Like, how the hell am I supposed to teach these classes? And she gave me the single best piece of advice I've ever gotten, which is teach it the way you want to take it. Don't cater something to them. Do the thing that you really want. Play the music that you really believe in, because if you love it, they love it.
- [06:58]
Jess Rothchild
Stevie witnessed how SoulCycle West Hollywood put all of the boutique spin studios out of business. So it wasn't a surprise that Janet was in LA with Julie Rice scouting for talent.
- [07:11]
Ariana Grande
I also had in my head, I'm good. I've got a great career. I have a house. I didn't want for anything, but in the back of my head, I'm like, God, this is so good. I don't know if I could do that. Like, I really didn't know if I could do that, because that is a hell of a lot of physicality six days a week, and to knock it out of the park every single time, and it scared me the right way. I don't know if I can do it. I don't know If I can. And then they started to say this stuff that really perked my ears up. SoulCycle is a really great place to work. You'll be insured, you'll have a 401k, you'll be taken care of. You're being hired for your talent. And I was like, you know what? After being an indie contractor for this many years, it is tiring. And I have no intention to purchase my own studio and have a triple net lease and deal with insurance and deal with employees, none of it. I don't want that overhead, but I definitely want to do what I want to do, how I want to do it. So I auditioned along with a bunch of other people. It was nerve wracking because my favorite instructors from LA were there along with Janet, which is always a terrifying prospect if you're a new instructor.
- [08:17]
Jess Rothchild
Because auditions can happen over several weeks, people had to wait to find out if they were accepted into the training program.
- [08:24]
Ariana Grande
All of us sat on our hands until the, you know, the fourth of July. Nobody, not one instructor, not one leaked out any information as to whether we got it or not. And now at the time, that was the top of the bar to work at SoulCycle, it was the top of the fitness bar for numerous reasons. And we can get into that later. But to get a nod was like getting a nod from the Academy. And for the first time in a long time, I was nervous. I'm like, oh my God, what if I don't get it? I was like, I'll be okay. But I was like, I really wanted this. And so on the 4th of July, through a letter and an email, congratulations. I still have the letter at home. You've been welcomed into the program and pretty much you leave in a month, we leave in a month.
- [09:03]
Chris
But then it's kind of like you're kind of waiting for your life to start at that point, right? You're kind of like you're so excited about this thing that you just accomplished that. I think from my audition, only two, like, of those, like 30 something people that were in the room, I think only two of us were accepted into the training at that point. And they were also scouted people. Like one of the people that was in my training group, Janet was like, he was Janet's waiter. And Janet was like, do you want to be Soul Cycle instructor? Like, come, come to this audition. Like, she just like plucked him out of the restaurant.
- [09:38]
Jess Rothchild
The training program was now somewhat codified. It took place between eight and 12 weeks, three days a week. It was a mix of lectures, drills, and you were expected to ride frequently.
- [09:50]
Ariana Grande
We had to really work to go to training. We had to work to stay in training. Practice choreography. Practice riding on the beat. Practice riding on your opposite leg, which is. We try to ride on the left, not the right. We were encouraged to make it, but not have a yard sale of emotion. We had to practice saying things as we were riding. To be able to ride fast and hard and do all that and be able to articulate something is difficult. So we practice that we practice. What if there's somebody in row, whatever, who's doing their own thing? How do you reel that in? And Janet's great at that. When to leave you guys alone. When to leave you guys alone. And there's a point where. Where you ride, you ride. You do all these different textured movements. But when to not talk. Wait, why am I talking? Wait, why am I talking? Because you want to give people room to arrive at themselves. I make sure you have the quiet time.
- [10:51]
Chris
A lot of the way that we were taught how to maintain control over the room was to be really specific with what we were saying, how we were speaking the language that we were using. There's this idea that it's just like going up on a bike, being cute, like doing the workout and like, spouting off mantras, and that's not what it is.
- [11:14]
Ariana Grande
They taught us how to do that, how to create space. We do not manage or manipulate. We give you a space where you can ask all of the questions.
- [11:24]
Chris
And it's not just about cueing in and out of choreography. It's also about the tone that you're setting. It's about helping them create a purpose and an intention for themselves in the room. So I think when we're taught to kind of be that discerning about the way that we're leading, that's what fosters that ability to be able to have control over the room.
- [11:48]
Ariana Grande
And I. None of us are therapists. In fact, a lot. We're ex attorneys. But having that plain speak was key. And we kept getting groomed. It was a terrible word. We kept getting encouraged how to access more and more of that language, to speak more and more of that truth, and to give you more and more space.
- [12:08]
Stevie Santangelo
There's many layers to why someone became obsessed with someone at SoulCycle. Many, many layers. But it's very powerful when someone can see you. And I made sure that the instructors were trained in a thoughtful, mindful way to make sure that everyone in that room felt seen and part of something.
- [12:28]
Chris
And then we would have other different kinds of workshops. Like, we had to do a CPR class, like branding and Hospitality, which was, like, super cool to be enmeshed in the culture of it, like, how it all started. Some of the other top instructors would come in to give us workshops, like Lori Cole. I remember we did, like, mic training, but then it also, like, turned into her taking pictures of, like, all the supplements that she was taking.
- [12:54]
Jess Rothchild
Unlike fellow studios like Barry's Boot camp or boxing gyms, SoulCycle does not require their instructors to be certified in personal training or group fitness. So you could have an entire career at SoulCycle and still not be qualified to take on personal training clients or teach at a competing studio. So the degree to which your soul instructor knows about human anatomy, physiology, and exercise science is pretty unclear.
- [13:22]
Hallie Becker
I think a big part of Soul Cycle and the training program was if they liked you, you were going to make it. They liked me, the company liked me. And I think that's a big piece of the training, because if they don't like you, it's going to be ugly. Your career is going to be tough. Yeah, there was definitely favoritism and pecking order. And again, it's because we made giant celebrities out of these regular people riding a fucking bike.
- [13:53]
Chris
Yeah. So the riders are either going to want to be you or fuck you was essentially the message that we got in training.
- [14:02]
Stevie Santangelo
What we do on the bikes is very sexual. It just is. It feels erotic. You moving your body in the music, the sweat and the candlelight.
- [14:21]
Chris
What we now know as a parasocial relationship that we're having with all of these people on the Internet. It wasn't like, make sure you're, like, seducing your riders. Like, it wasn't coming across that way. It was more about, understand your position in this room.
- [14:35]
Stevie Santangelo
A lot of people were sexually attracted to their instructor, you know, so, like, I used to tell him, like, everyone, stay grounded. They either want to be you or do you. Okay? And you can ride that line. In between.
- [14:50]
John Stein
I was working on a screenplay to.
- [14:52]
Chris
Describe my life as Soul Cycle.
- [14:54]
John Stein
Looking back, there was a lot of Coyote Ugly energy of, like, appear available but never be available.
- [15:00]
Stevie Santangelo
So they were being exposed to what felt like these mini concerts, these mini experiences. Of course, they're, like, obsessed with them. You know, the lights were dark, the music was loud, the energy was high. When you do find that and it hits, it is like you're flying.
- [15:17]
Chris
And there was really this expectation that we were, you know, turning ourselves into these, like, athletes who could do this job. And it was a very. It's a very demanding job. I think that, you know, the breaking down just kind of happened as a result of the schedule that we were keeping. I never really found that they were in our faces trying to, like, break us.
- [15:41]
Hallie Becker
What I think was lacking in that program, which is always what's lacking because it can't be taught, is finding your authentic voice. And you find your authentic voice through your stories and your background. I think that through your stories and your background, you become the teacher that you were meant to be. And I think that SoulCycle Janet was sort of. Sort of bad cop, good cop. Janet would be really, really hard on you, and Melanie would soften it.
- [16:12]
Chris
They wanted us to, like, kind of cut the bullshit. Like, they would call it, like, dipped in soul. Like, someone who had just been, like, such a thing fanatic and, like, had found their person and, like, was sort of, like a carbon copy of the person that they aspired to be. And so I think there is a level that, like, we needed to be broken of habit. We needed to be broken of our idea of what we thought this thing was so that we could actually do what it really is. And it's not this frivolous thing that we're doing that we can just, like, look cute on the bike.
- [16:45]
Jess Rothchild
Dipped in soul.
- [16:46]
Chris
Dipped in soul.
- [16:50]
Stevie Santangelo
When I say dipped in soul, we don't want an instructor dipped in soul. Meaning, like, I don't want to take the voice that you've been using at Barry's Orange Theory, your yoga class, just like anywhere else you've taught. I don't want you bringing that instructor voice into soul cycle.
- [17:08]
Cynthia Erivo
Slapping the method on top without saying it.
- [17:12]
John Stein
I think there's this side of, well, you have to look good on the bike.
- [17:15]
Jess Rothchild
Drew was with the company for eight years, starting at the front desk and.
- [17:19]
Cynthia Erivo
Later an instructor even broader than sexuality.
- [17:23]
John Stein
It's about, like, what's attractive in a class, whether that's your availability, your vulnerability, your speech pattern, your body. There is a very gray area that I'm kind of comfortable with because I grew up doing, like, theater and musicals, and, like, you're playing with emotion.
- [17:44]
Chris
You're playing with experience.
- [17:46]
Stevie Santangelo
What I was asking for was a giant ask. And so when they gave it and then their room filled up, and then people became obsessed with them. I'm sure it was a lot of energy to handle.
- [18:02]
Chris
There wasn't a lot of talk about how to deal with that kind of attention. There was a professionalism that was pushed on us about, like, our role in the room and how to be, like, in control of the room and command the room?
- [18:19]
John Stein
How do you build a community? How do you grow a, like, group of riders to get to know each other, to get to know you, to want to come back every week to.
- [18:29]
Chris
Take the same class from the same person? We have a very specific role that wasn't necessarily about, like, seducing the rider so much as it was, like, creating an atmosphere and an environment for them to, like, feel really comfortable and relaxed and engaged in what we were doing. And with us, you know, a lot.
- [18:50]
Stevie Santangelo
Of us had stalkers. A lot of us had stalkers. There was one point where I was, like, talking to my doorman. I'm like, listen, under no circumstances, anyone to be sent up to my apartment today. Like, we all had to go to HR a million times over to just, like, get people removed from our classes. I mean, like, people were obsessed in the beginning.
- [19:11]
Chris
They're very much like, just stay on the bike. Don't. Don't try to get on and off the bike. Like, just stay on the bike. Teach from the bike. But as we start to get more comfortable with ourselves and with being in the space, there definitely is that encouragement to start connecting more. Right. Like, there's a lot of ways to, like, connect with the writers that you can't really do from on that podium. Right. You want to get on the level with them. You want to look them in the eyes. You want to seek people out.
- [19:38]
Jess Rothchild
They finally attempted to document the training program because they were hiring a lot of new instructors.
- [19:44]
Stevie Santangelo
For the first time ever, I had to create a manual, because before, it was just, like, I'm hanging out with these kids, and I'm going to make sure that they're the best. But, like, there was no formula to it. I mean, there was in my head, but, like, not really, you know? And so we made a handbook, and we had a training group in Tribeca, and we gave one to each of the trainees. And that night, Julie Rice texted me and said, get all of those back and don't ever hand it out again. It just dawned on her. She was like, that. She can't have that material out in the world. And really, our department trained the entire industry because if you didn't make it at Soul Cycle, and a lot of them didn't, then they went on to teach at Cycle Bar and Flywheel and all the rest of them, or a gym or wherever. So we. We've touched and trained. I consider most of the industry, once.
- [20:38]
Jess Rothchild
You complete the training program and perform several community rides, you are officially placed on the schedule. Getting people to place a $35 bet on an unknown entity is an impossible proposition. So the company would get creative by having them substitute extremely popular instructors classes with the hope that people wouldn't cancel. They usually would. Chris was offered to debut his class on one of the most popular days of the year.
- [21:07]
Chris
So my very first class on the schedule was December 31st of 2013, New Year's Eve. I got the assignment that my first class was going to be a New Year's Eve class. And watching that class fill up on the back end to the point where it was a completely sold out class was kind of mind blowing for me. That like my first class on the schedule was going to be like a completely packed room because at this point you're like, you're not used to teaching to that many students, people. And so I just remember being so absolutely like nervous that I could throw up, like when the energy in the room was just so high because it was like New Year's Eve. Like everyone was there to like get in there, like last workout of the year. And it just felt so magical to be able to be like on the schedule for the first time in that way because I think I had an out of body experience just like being up there for the first time where the reins have been handed over to you. Like up until that point, there's been somebody like watching you over your shoulder.
- [22:26]
Cynthia Erivo
Yeah. So Monday at noon.
- [22:29]
John Stein
Noon on Monday.
- [22:30]
Cynthia Erivo
I mean, Monday at noon. It's like, what a rush.
- [22:34]
Stevie Santangelo
Noon on Monday, it was like bracing for war.
- [22:37]
John Stein
Noon on Monday is not a thing anywhere else. It never was before and it never will be again.
- [22:45]
Jess Rothchild
Noon on Monday is an expression that yields both panic and delight by folks. It's the time when classes for the week open for booking, servers would crash, the site would freeze, people would freak out because the website could not handle the volume of traffic.
- [23:01]
Stevie Santangelo
We had all the phones set up, ready to go. We had a fully staffed midday shift. So the midday shift is when there's no classes, just busy work maintenance. And we'd have a full staff with the phones and emails and classes ready because classes would fill up, wait lists would start, people would call to book their bikes.
- [23:22]
John Stein
You know, it's so funny, I remember when the noon on Monday tank tops would sell out in five minutes. You couldn't even grab them. You could not get your hands on them. Noon on Monday. And you would. If you lived in certain parts of New York City and you ran in certain circles and you went out in that tank top, even like to a club, everyone would know what the fuck you're talking about.
- [23:49]
Cynthia Erivo
The panic on Mondays at 12 o' clock was sort of insane. So when you talk about the cult creation. Yeah, I, I wanted to take who I wanted to take. I wasn't taking just any Saturday, 9:30 class. I was addicted to Lori, I was addicted to Stacy, I was addicted to Janet. And I think the instructors that can cultivate that. It's pretty genius when you think about it. I mean, again, it's their own business too, right? It is their own business. They are the celebrity. They're managing their own path. And some of them do it really well and some of them don't. So the ones that have done it really well are selling classes out. They're still on the schedule, they're still making it happen. I'm sure it's exhausting.
- [24:38]
Jess Rothchild
When you walk through the doors of Soul Cycle, you are immediately greeted by the front desk staff.
- [24:44]
Hallie Becker
Funny, flamboyant, cliquey, overworked, underpaid, gossipy. The front desk was the first moment of the riders experience at SoulCycle. So to me, and it's an excellent question, the front desk personnel were also mostly actors, dancers, singers, Future teachers, wannabe SoulCycle teachers. They were fabulous and magical. As magical a lot of them as those that were on the podium.
- [25:18]
Jess Rothchild
Front desk staff and studio managers interviewed for this project have chosen to remain anonymous.
- [25:24]
Cynthia Erivo
We were obsessed. And then my friend ended up working the front desk and he was like, oh, I think they're hiring if you're looking for a job. And so I loved riding and I loved being there. And I was like, well if I can and ride for free, like obviously I'm gonna work there. Just being in love with the culture of it and the classes made me want to work there.
- [25:46]
Stevie Santangelo
Once upon a time you used to be able to call the studio, give them your information and have the studio book you in. And people loved it and they used it because it was like it was a direct line to the front of the line.
- [25:59]
Cynthia Erivo
What I saw more was just really wild entitlement from riders. Like, I mean we had specific riders that we knew that were an issue and we would see their name on the list. Like to come into class and it's like, all right, who's dealing with them today? And it was just like being treated like we were not human beings sometimes. Like truly it was crazy. Like just coming in, being so I'm always on this bike, like, why am I not on this bike? I was moved. It's like you weren't moved. We literally didn't move you. It was always a thing. It was like throwing things around the studio, like yelling. And it was always like, why isn't this person being banned?
- [26:42]
Jess Rothchild
In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast. Over the course of 48 hours, wind, rain and water left hundreds of thousands of units Yorkers without power and limited access to food, drinking water and health care.
- [27:00]
Hallie Becker
I have never seen such chaos uptown, west side, east side, for people to try to get into classes. It was chaotic. You thought people were going to actually expire because they didn't have their fucking SoulCycle class. And there was such craziness to get into the classes. I had never seen anything like it.
- [27:24]
Jess Rothchild
All apartments and office buildings below 14th street were left without electricity and power. The downtown epicenter of tribeca was scrambling to reroute their classes uptown.
- [27:37]
Hallie Becker
And on the flip side of that, I was doing charity classes with my yoga teacher, community for Hurricane Sandy. So you had the 1% screaming because the Tribeca, they didn't care what had happened to people. They just cared that they couldn't get into a Soul Cycle class. And then you had the polar opposite coming together in yoga to raise funds and to bring quiet and community. And it was, that was the most wild thing I'd ever seen in my life. People fighting to get in the doors and into classes. Because God forbid, screw the disaster. I want Bike six. I mean it was I I was like, you have got to be kidding me.
- [28:21]
Ariana Grande
Actually, this episode is brought to you by State Farm. Knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want is a great feeling. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. From streaming to shopping, prime helps you.
- [29:01]
Jess Rothchild
Get more out of your passions.
- [29:03]
Cynthia Erivo
So whether you're a fan of true crime or or prefer a nail biting.
- [29:06]
Jess Rothchild
Novel from time to time, with services.
- [29:08]
Cynthia Erivo
Like Prime Video, Amazon Music, and fast.
- [29:11]
Jess Rothchild
Free delivery, prime makes it easy to.
- [29:13]
Cynthia Erivo
Get more out of whatever you're into or getting into.
- [29:17]
Ariana Grande
Visit Amazon.comprime to learn more.
- [29:28]
Jess Rothchild
People who love spinning are often competitive, discerning and successful, or at least have access to money. They also have very high standards. Perhaps why clients in tribeca and the Upper east side felt so entitled is because they were Willing to throw money at the problem. For those willing to pay double the price of class, you would have access to the concierge department called Super Soul, which booked your classes up to six weeks in advance. Plus, you got priority status on waitlists and invitations to exclusive events. For somebody riding four times a week, this is costing well over $10,000 a year.
- [30:12]
Cynthia Erivo
People that were part of the program where you would kind of have a dedicated team at corporate to help you book bikes early and things like that. And that also carried a lot of weight worth people being like, well, I pay extra for this. And I'm like, okay, that's great. But that still doesn't give you the right to treat people like we're garbage.
- [30:31]
John Stein
I remember being in Calabasas at an.
- [30:33]
Cynthia Erivo
Opening and somebody came in and was.
- [30:34]
Chris
Like, can you park my Tesla?
- [30:36]
Cynthia Erivo
And I was like, I don't even know how to drive a Tesla because.
- [30:38]
John Stein
It was like, I kind of a new car at that time.
- [30:40]
Cynthia Erivo
I was like, I don't want to take that responsibility. We are.
- [30:44]
Chris
We are a culture of yes. At SoulCycle, which I've taken that into my other careers, like a culture of yes. But sometimes we would say yes to.
- [30:50]
Cynthia Erivo
Things that I would always tell my.
- [30:51]
Chris
My team.
- [30:52]
John Stein
I'd be like, sometimes a no is the yes.
- [30:57]
Chris
Gotta find your no sometimes before you find your yes. And not everything can be a yes.
- [31:02]
Stevie Santangelo
We had a genuine science to these classes where especially these master instructors, they had their riders, right? The instructor knows where they like them. So some days, every Sunday ahead of Monday at noon, we would have our staff go through one instructor's class and hold all the front row bikes, which is not normal. It wasn't part of anyone's job description. It was specific to this one instructor where we'd hold every single front row bike. This way, that instructor could pick who rides in the front row.
- [31:34]
Jess Rothchild
Stevie can analyze the psychology of what your SoulCycle bike says about you.
- [31:39]
Ariana Grande
Like, you can break down the Soul Cycle classes. Row one, you don't have to do anything. They're already in the front row. They're totally comfortable. They know their shit. Second row is the row of indecision. Like, they probably can go to the front row, but they really want to stay anonymous somehow. And then the back row is. I call it the smoking lounge of SoulCycle. Because you've got really talented people. They know their shit. Sometimes they just want to be left alone. But they also, because the third row is elevated, they like to watch the entire room. They have the best seat in the house. And Then to the right and left of the podium, the sidebar. Honestly, they are the closest to me. They're also exhibitionists because they really want to be up there and seen.
- [32:21]
Stevie Santangelo
Imagine you're in the SoulCycle app looking at a class Monday at noon. What we would do before that class opened up to the public, we'd go through and hold. There's no rider on the bike, it's just blocked. It's like when you look at the airline and you go to pick your seat and there's some seats that have X's on them and they tell you, there's no one sitting here, we're just holding the seat. We'd go through and block every single bike in the front row. This way, the instructor could come in before class on Tuesday morning and pick who was going to ride in the front row based on how well they knew the rider or how strong of a rider that person was.
- [32:56]
Cynthia Erivo
And I know a lot of people who said, oh, I. Laurie Cole, she's. She's mean. No, she's not mean. She's trying to make you the best writer you can be. My husband used to take her and get tortured and like, he'd be like, I just love when she tortures me. Right, because she's teaching you how to become a better writer.
- [33:11]
Stevie Santangelo
I mean, listen, it was so dramatic at one point. You're working with divas who created the industry in the first place, right? Lori Cole, Stacey Griffith, they plucked everyone out of Los Angeles.
- [33:26]
Hallie Becker
It was so incestuous and culty and wild and fabulous. It was every fucking color of the rainbow working there.
- [33:36]
Stevie Santangelo
She wanted it to be exclusive. She wanted people to earn their way up to the front row, whereas most instructors really don't care. If you want to be in the front row on your first class, it's not preferred, but do you, rock star, get up there.
- [33:48]
Jess Rothchild
The energy of each studio took on the vibration of the instructors and regulars. NOHO and the West Village felt chic and light and sounded like a mix of hip hop and house music. The Upper east side, west side and Tribeca were chaotically entitled and sounded like hall and oates meets top 40. Williamsburg was the forgotten stepchild. And as for the Hamptons, well, that's another proposition altogether, which we'll get into next episode.
- [34:23]
Ariana Grande
As noho was opening, the neighborhood was transitioning really at a breakneck pace. It was a little quiet at night, a little, you know what's out there at night. But on the sidewalks prior to the studio opening, someone. Someone had spray painted yellow wheels that Went from one place to the studio, then from the train to the studio. I don't know who could have painted those yellow wheels, but that was we're coming to town. And it didn't take very long because there were students and people in the neighborhood that did want a place to move. And let me tell you, if your studio was great, it is a direct result of your front desk and your manager and your asm. A direct result.
- [35:05]
John Stein
So the very first time that I went to SoulCycle was late August of 2014, and I have to tell you, I was completely transfixed. And I had had a very colorful life up until that point, you know, having worked in politics and government for 20 years. To say it was spiritual is perhaps overstating it, but it was. Was close.
- [35:27]
Jess Rothchild
It was close for me. Stevie is an eccentric, mystical creature who was always a bit unknowable, but she saw me. She understood and validated my intense craving for movement and adventure. She had the letters for More and Less tattooed on her left and right fingers. To this day, I can visualize that writing on her hands as a way to self regulate. She also introduced me to some of my closest friends you'll hear in this episode.
- [35:59]
Cynthia Erivo
To be honest, I'd never seen anybody like her before. She was so unique and different from the world that I grew up in, the world that I was currently even living in in New York City. She had dreads. She had a bunch of tats. She had these bright, bright green eyes. There was something about her that was really bewitching. And I just signed up and didn't really think too deeply about it. I just knew there was something special about her and I needed to know more.
- [36:30]
Jess Rothchild
Sumi and Ahmed are among the deep community I found through Stevie. While Ahmet first went to Seoul with friends, it was actually Sumi's therapist who suggested she try it. Sumi had been struggling with compulsion and OCD related to body issues, and her therapist was an original 72nd street rider.
- [36:50]
John Stein
So I think to understand any instructor in particular, and Stevie in particular, we first need to lay out just a little bit of context about Soul Cycle. I think everyone understands that it is a relatively elite thing. It has been out of reach for a lot of people. And what that means in our society is that SoulCycle is very, very white. And so as a person of color, as a queer person who was often sometimes the only person of color in some of the classes, but in many classes, one of just a very few now, there were a lot of instructors of color. The instructor Roster was maybe more diverse than the actual writers. Stevie was someone unique. So obviously, as a person who is a person of color, who has had a very varied life, Stevie bridged all of these gaps, Right? Also, she was older. She wasn't 25 or 30. You could tell that she had had a lot of life experience. She was willing to talk about that life experience. But when Stevie's magic was just right, you felt like you were walking into a room that was a little bit of a sanctuary, and that in taking care of yourself, is the only way that you can sort of go out and deal with the world.
- [38:13]
Cynthia Erivo
And I remember very, very distinctly sitting in the back row, and when she came out and she got on the pedestal and she got on the podium and she got on that bike and she commanded the room, every fiber in my body was paying attention to her. And it was not something I had ever experienced. And I wouldn't say that it was spiritual or sexual, but maybe it was something in the between. So I think it was interesting to have that kind of reaction to a woman, as a woman who is, you know, fairly straight all the things, but it was a button that got pushed in my brain, and I needed to keep pushing that button.
- [39:00]
John Stein
But I did get the impression that Stevie, in putting out energy, where she was basically telegraphing, I am here for you to access me, and in you accessing me, I am sort of quieting or I am soothing a part of you that is vibrating anxiously for something. And I do think that that is something we all found in her in our own unique ways. I think a lot of people who look at group fitness, especially SoulCycle, from the outside, think of it as this quote unquote cult or have thought of it at times. I think that that requires a little bit of unpacking, and some of that is a little bit unfair and lacking in nuance. But if you got hooked and you found the right instructors, right? So in my case, this is rike. In my case, this is akin. This is Stevie.
- [39:55]
Cynthia Erivo
And when I left, I mean, it was. It was next level. And I signed up immediately for the next class and the next class and the next class. Like, I just kept going.
- [40:05]
John Stein
The way she began the classes, the way she ended the classes, where the wheels were turning on the bikes everyone had clipped in, and she was asking everyone to warm up, but there was no music. You could hear the soft spinning of the bikes, which itself creates an environment. She wanted everyone to know that we were gonna do this together. And it was not rushed, it was not stressful. You knew she was gonna push you, but she was trying to calm you down. Immersing in the experience. I mean, every time I walked out of her class, I felt like almost a new person. That rush. And so I wanted that. I wanted more and more and more of it.
- [40:48]
Ariana Grande
It's a room of people who don't know each other's last names in the dark. We're on a bike. You're going nowhere. But we went everywhere. We went everywhere. I saw such emotional, physical, and spiritual landscape in every single class.
- [41:03]
Jess Rothchild
I always thought meditation was this sexy thing other people were able to do. But physically locking my phone away, walking into another room, and letting somebody take the wheel of my thoughts became a moving meditation.
- [41:18]
John Stein
Stevie definitely attracted writers who were on a search for something. And, you know, she wanted to create a community of her own writers, and she invested in that.
- [41:30]
Chris
Right.
- [41:31]
Jess Rothchild
She wanted a relationship with you.
- [41:33]
John Stein
Yes, yes. She wanted a relationship with you. She remembered she. If you told her something, she remembered felt deeper than a surface level interaction.
- [41:45]
Cynthia Erivo
But she also would like, pick up on, like, all these, like, little nuances about, like, the class or her riders or just the overall behavior of what was going on in the class. Like, I very vividly remember being in West Village with her, and I was riding up for her on the podium.
- [42:01]
Jess Rothchild
John Stein is also in our Stevie clique. He's literally the top rider at Seoul with over 6,000 classes taken.
- [42:10]
Cynthia Erivo
And she's standing up on the podium next to me and she sees a bunch of couples in the class. And again, this is like heyday soul cycle 2015. Every class is sold out. Your instructor is the be all, end all for you. And she looks around and says, I see a lot of couples out here today, and I just want to put this out there, decide who gets the Soul Cycle instructor. When you all break up and I'm on the podium and I like, literally just start to laugh because you don't want to be in that room with the. With the ex after you all break up if it's the same instructor.
- [42:45]
Jess Rothchild
Stevie was at the height of her powers on Monday nights at 8:30pm Yeah, 8:30 at night. She was handed the shittiest time slot possible, and she transformed it into church. Stevie called it family night because it was the one class where you knew you would see the entire cast of characters. We would then have dinner together as a family at the iconic NoHo eatery, Five Points on Great Jones Street, Monday night at 8:30.
- [43:15]
Cynthia Erivo
That's rough. Like, that's. That's rough. After like your first, first day of the week of work, right? Especially in the winter, like 25, 30 degrees outside, like you're getting home at 10pm at night. And there were very rare, barely any open bikes in that entire class. It was sold out almost every single week. And you had people from every single walk of life there. So like myself, like standard working in business. You had lawyers there, you know, they're up early the next morning. You had people working more in like real estate. You had more like the theatrical artists, like community. Everybody was there. And that was mostly because of Stevie.
- [43:52]
Jess Rothchild
I always wondered if some of the incredible energy of the no host studio was within the world walls. See, that location on 4th between Broadway and Lafayette was the former home of the legendary tower record store for 20 years. Just like soul, tower records was another starting place for many creative spirits who needed a job.
- [44:14]
Cynthia Erivo
I think what was really special about The Monday at 8:30 class was that it was family night. You know, that was what Stevie called it. And, you know, and if you were really in the inner family, you would get tapped to meet her afterwards and a drink or have a snack.
- [44:30]
Ariana Grande
No one wanted that spot. I wanted that spot because I would like to work out at 8:30 at night. And I cannot be the only nut who feels that way. And so I dug my heels in. It started with a few people, got bigger and bigger, bigger.
- [44:44]
Jess Rothchild
Sumi and I used to say it was the best happy hour in the city.
- [44:48]
Cynthia Erivo
There definitely was a ritual about going to class and what happened after class. Right. So it sort of started off in a smaller way on Monday nights where, you know, I will never forget the first time Stevie tapped me. She came up to me a couple of minutes before class and she tapped my hand. It was the first time she had physically touched me. And I remember it quite well. And she said, hey, are you available to come out and have a meal with us afterwards? You know, it's family night. And I was like, oh, yeah, sure. And I, you know, tried to play it cool. I definitely wasn't, but I thought, yeah, of course, it was one of those things when we walked in, you know, she was the lead rock star and we were her acolytes and we were really a known entity. People saw us in the neighborhood, they knew we were wearing soulcycle clothes. I mean, my brother called it the manson family, which I didn't think was really the nicest way to reference it, but I know what he meant. And you know, and she was a celebrity. People would like, you know, in the neighborhood, people Would see her and wave at her. You know, I would watch sometimes people surreptitiously taking pictures of her. I mean, you know, all sorts of crazy things. I think it just highlighted how special everything was. And I think she loved celebration. Right. So when it came time to have a holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas or New year's, we were even doing that together.
- [46:25]
Hallie Becker
We confuse because we have these people that we see all of the time. But the truth of the matter is, is they are there for themselves and you are there to support and teach them. And that is not friendship. That is client, teacher. But you have to be available. Both sides have to be available, you know, and also friendship. Only equals can be friends. Only equals can be friends. If I am worshiping, you know, Janet Fitzgerald, Janet Fitzgerald and I cannot be friends.
- [47:01]
Cynthia Erivo
It was like we were all kind of working in tandem, I think, for her and with her, you know, And I think that's where the line started to get a little bit muddy. But I think the first time I realized that things were maybe like, gosh, what is happening here is when I did my year end financ and I looked to see how much money I had spent on soulcycle and I. I will not share that number right here, but I will tell you that that number is somewhere between 6,000 and $9,000. It was something like that. I think. I think it was $8,000. And I wasn't traveling with that money. I wasn't investing that money. I was spending that money to spend time with Stevie. And I felt that that was my number one priority.
- [47:52]
Hallie Becker
We are in the service industry. Yeah. We are collecting money from you to. For you to feel good, to heal, to sweat, to surrender, to show up, to grow up. And, you know, it's an honor to serve. And sometimes those barriers blur.
- [48:09]
Cynthia Erivo
It was like when things started to. When the cracks started to appear. Right. And inevitably the cracks are going to appear, and they appeared outside of the studio. Not in the studio. Right outside of the studio. Things started to happen. There were inconsistencies. Maybe there were things that were happening that didn't add up. And I wasn't quite sure what was happening. And I knew that I wasn't getting the full story, But I also was nervous about my place in the group. And I didn't want. I didn't want to. I didn't want to upset the apple cart. So I think I would just look the other way a lot. And I think that's also part of being in a cult. Right. Is when you can't Call it out. You're like, well, that doesn't seem right, but. La la la la la I. I want to keep doing this. I don't want to let it go, you know? Or maybe it's just. Maybe it wasn't a cult. Maybe it was just a really bad relationship. And by the way, I never really drank cocktails until Soul Cycle. I was a total wine drinker. That was all I ever drank. But Stevie didn't drink wine. She drank cocktails. So the next thing I knew, I learned how to make all the classic cocktails. I learned everything there was to know about Negronis and Manhattans and martinis. It was just not what I drank at all. And then all of a sudden, I was a cocktail queen. So, so crazy. I know. It's so up. It's like, look at all the therapy I've been in to figure this out, you know? Like two cherries in a pot I know how to cling to you.
- [49:56]
Ariana Grande
Like.
- [49:56]
Cynthia Erivo
To pe up in a I know oh how to be to you oh, it's my second nature, baby to want to know every little thing about you it's my second nature, baby to want to know every little thing about you it's my second nature to love.
- [50:23]
Ariana Grande
Every.
- [50:23]
Cynthia Erivo
Little thing about you too To Jerry.
- [50:30]
Jess Rothchild
Cult of Body and Soul is created, executive produced and narrated by Jess Rothchild Sound design by Caitlin White Theme song and original music composed by Elizabeth Ziff Two cherries by the band Betty how.
- [50:45]
Cynthia Erivo
To fly with you oh, it's my second nature, baby to want to know every little thing about you it's my second nature, baby to want to know every little thing about you it's my second nature to love every little thing about you Come on, come on come on, come on, come on Want, come on want to know yeah, I want come I want to feel yeah, I won't come I want to love and don't you know I won't come I want to know I won't come I want to feel yeah, I won't come I want to love La la la la la la la la la like two cher I know how to cling to you like two bees up in a pond I know how to be near you oh, it's my second nature, baby do you want to know Every little thing about you? It's my second nature, baby to all the to know every little thing about you it's my second nature to love love every little thing about you To.
- [52:24]
Hallie Becker
Jerry.
- [52:31]
Jess Rothchild
For even more culty soul content, definitely follow me on instagram @jesse nyc.
- [52:46]
Cynthia Erivo
Hello, and welcome to the Cheese Wheel Podcast, your new favorite podcast about hyper fixations gambled on a wheel. In this podcast, we are covering anything that we want to talk about, but the problem is we don't know what we're covering every week, and it's something new every time. And I am joined by two of my co hosts. Andrew DeWolfe.
- [53:05]
Hallie Becker
Hello.
- [53:06]
Cynthia Erivo
Hello. I'm happy to be here. And Liz Esten.
- [53:09]
Jess Rothchild
Hello.
- [53:10]
Cynthia Erivo
Also very happy to be here. And this show is weekly, and every time someone else brings something to the table that's a little bent, we're gonna be covering anything and everything, including Chaperone's new album, Spy Kids, and the film version of Waitress. We're gonna have a new episode every Friday, and you're gonna see the vast arrays of interests we might have. Andrew, what might be one of your choices? Oh, I mean, I could pick something like, I don't know, famously bad movie Miami Connection, and we could have a good time watching something that I love that's kind of terrible. Or I could pick something incredibly good, like. Like Jacob's Ladder, which is my favorite movie of all time. Incredible. And, Liz, what about you? I don't know. I go something like A Walk the Dewey Cox Story, so I can talk about my favorite comedy since Jess didn't let me do it on the old podcast. Well, funny you bring that up. In case you're wondering what happened to Musical with Cheese, we ended that show. But the show's still here and living on in season one. So if you want to go back and listen to our backlog, that's still here, but right now, we're just the Cheese Wheel. Please keep on listening. We got a lot of fun stuff to come, and we hope that you like what we're doing.