.png)
The Well
The Well is our sanctuary for considered wellness celebrating the people, brands, and businesses defining modern wellbeing, and curating the foods that nourish your skin, body, and mind.
The Drop
Where movement meets meaning with SaltDrop NYC founder Dino Malvone, Peninsula’s global wellness voice.
By Dino Malvone
Why Did We Make It Homework?
It's back to school season for grown ups. Here's the case for skipping the assignment and getting your joy back.
FIRST, HELLO
My name is Dino, and I found my path at 34. Before that I waited tables for seventeen years. I worked in book publishing. I taught negotiation. I sold clothes. I sold real estate. I was a lot of things before I was this.
Then I took a Barre3 class. They didn't even have a studio in New York yet. They were popping up at a dance studio in Midtown, and I was obsessed before the first class was over. We fell in love with each other from the get, and I somehow ended up in their promotional photos, which is funny, because when I auditioned to actually teach, I didn't make the cut. I went back a month later and got in.
Their first New York studio opened in the West Village that August. I taught my first class there in October of 2014, so this month makes twelve years. A year in, I was running that studio, and I ended up in a lot of their online workout videos. In 2019 I started my own company, SaltDrop. In 2022 I opened a room for it near Astor Place.
Here's what I'm not. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a scientist. I don't have a supplement line, and nobody is paying me to tell you about theirs. What I have is twelve years of standing in front of rooms full of people while they try to feel better. I've watched every trend walk up my stairs. I've watched what people stick with and what ends up in the back of a cabinet.
So here's the deal with this column. Most of what gets sold to you as wellness gets tested in New York first. Every month I'll tell you what I'm seeing, what's worth your money and your time, and what isn't. And I'll tell you the truth about myself while I do it.
"Nobody talks that way about something they love. That's how you talk about homework."
The Rhythms of Movement
FIVES AND TENS
At Barre3 I was trained on top 40 and counting by fives and tens. The music was wallpaper. The numbers had nothing to do with the song. You were doing math next to a speaker.
THEN CAME SARAHROSE
She's the person who taught me how to hear music. Later she helped me architect SaltDrop. She changed my life. What she showed me was this: almost every song you've ever danced to is built in eights. Four of those eights make a phrase. Thirty two counts.
At the end of the thirty two, the song does something. You already know this feeling—it's that second in the car when the chorus comes back around and your hand hits the steering wheel right on time. You didn't count to get there. Your body just knew.
"Once the music was doing the counting, I was free to actually manage the room."
Everybody's back in a routine. New planner, new class pack. It's back to school for grown ups. Listen to how we talk about moving our bodies. I have to work out. I need to get my steps in. I've got to make up for the weekend. I was bad this week.
Nobody talks that way about something they love. That's how you talk about homework. Somebody assigned it, somebody's grading it, and you're behind. That was me with my fives and tens. The workout was a list. Get through this, then this, then this.
This is what it sounds like now. The phrase is about to turn, and I ride the last eight down with the song. I'm not keeping score up there. I'm saying out loud what the song is already doing. Once the music was doing the counting, I was free to actually manage the room. I can see who's struggling and who needs the other option. I can see who's about to have a great day.
The Front Row
I have a client who's in the front row any time she can get there. And I am obsessed with what happens to her face. It feels so good in her body that the joy shows up on her face before she can do anything about it. It's monumental to me. That face is the magic we used to find by accident. Nothing you can wear on your wrist will ever measure that.
No Fall Program. Sorry.
So I don't have a fall program for you. I'm not going to tell you to dance in your kitchen for ten minutes a day, because then it's homework again. This season, while everybody else is handing out assignments, I'll just tell you the song already knows when to change.
I quit doing the math. I let the music count for me. You can too.
Dino Malvone
"Nothing you can wear on your wrist will ever measure that."
