In addition to perfecting their downward dog and learning to stand on their heads and hands, the more than 130 students and Dartmouth community members in Marie Fourcaut's yoga classes might also pick up some French.
Fourcaut, however, is not a typical instructor. Her style of practice, which she coined "myoga," is a French play on words. The French pronunciation of the letter m' makes the sound of the word for "love." The word therefore means "Love Yoga."
"I'm not teaching a specific style of yoga that's not me. I teach for my students," Fourcaut said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "I have themes, I prepare my classes, but I always leave the door open for improvising. I always ask my students for requests, because not everyone is at the same level of endurance and flexibility."
Fourcaut's style and personality has helped her develop a following in the Dartmouth community.
"I would definitely recommend her as a teacher, I love her," Brook Jackling '10 said. "I went to Boston this summer, and she's better than any of the teachers there."
Fourcaut's love affair with yoga began with dance. Born in the French colony of Algeria, Fourcaut took her first dance class and learned the Waltz. She then studied ballet for 20 years in Paris.
At 56, Fourcaut could easily pass for a decade younger. Within the pale green walls and clean hardwood floors of Room 181 in Alumni Gymnasium, she has been instructing yoga classes for five years.
With a soft French accent and a dancer's poise on her mat, Fourcaut spoke of her early career in the world of ballet.
"After high school, I could not go to college and dance, so I made a choice, and I don't regret it," Fourcaut said. "But I was thrown right into the working life, I was teaching and performing."
At 23, Fourcaut was one of the first students in a French culture exchange program that sent her to Manhattan, where she learned new choreography and soaked up the nightlife.
She returned to France invigorated with the new styles of dance she studied, using barefoot and modern techniques, she said.
"The world of ballet, in the old days, could be very cruel," she said. "I learned with modern dance I had more freedom it was liberating."
It was after this point in her life that Fourcaut had her first brush with Dartmouth. She and her then-husband, a choreographer, joined Pilobolus, the acclaimed dance company established at Dartmouth in 1971.
Leaving Paris, Fourcaut moved to Connecticut with her husband and son, where she lived for 23 years. In her years there, she divorced, remarried and had two more children.
At the suggestion of a Pilobolus member, she decided to turn to personal training.
"I fell in love with the yoga practice," Fourcaut said. "The transition from a dancer to yoga was natural."
Fourcaut, however, longed to live near her sister in Hanover, so she left her following of students in Connecticut and decided to start over again at Dartmouth, she said.
She became involved with the Fitness and Lifestyle Improvement Program at Dartmouth, gradually increasing the number of classes she taught. Fourcaut now teaches 10 classes and does yoga for more than 18 hours a week.
Her students come from all the strata of Hanover demographics locals, professors, staff and students. She currently has 137 participants enrolled, 50 of whom are Dartmouth students, according to Hugh Mellert, director of the Fitness Center and FLIP.
Fourcaut began to stand on her head during an interview with The Dartmouth.
"I like to be upside down, I like inversions," she said. "When you're upside down you see life in a very different way"
Fourcaut said that while she does not have a favorite yoga position it changes with the seasons she enjoys hip openers like "warrior" and "pigeon."
As yoga has become more popular, Fourcaut's classes have become increasingly diverse. She is now involved with several varsity programs, and this will be her third year working with the women's cross country ski team. Last year she worked with the downhill skiing team.
"It's really fun to work with athletes because they have amazing discipline and listen," she said. "My challenge with them is to allow themselves to relax more while they are physically involved."
Fourcaut described the diversity of her students as her "treasure."
"My teaching is not just for one group of people it includes different ages, different professions, different genders," she said. "After a week or two, there is a magic moment when the group works together ... A great part of my job is to witness people evolving, people getting more relaxed."
Anyone who claims to be chronically inflexible is welcome to join her classes, she said.
"If your mind is open, the body will follow," Fourcaut said. "We criticize ourselves, and we are often our worst enemies."
