Hallie Becker
Appearances
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
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 SoulCycle, did their 45 minutes of cardio, and went home. You had people who would only ride with me. You had people who would only ride with Stacey. You had people who would only ride with Janet.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
Flamboyant. Clicky. 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.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
I have never seen such chaos before. 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 soul cycle class. And there was such craziness to get into the classes. I had never seen anything like it.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
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 Tribecas didn't care what had happened to people. They just cared that they couldn't get into a SoulCycle class. And then you had the polar opposite coming together in yoga to raise funds and to bring quiet and community.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
And 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 was like, you have got to be fucking kidding me, actually.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
And he called me one day and he said, Julie Rice is looking for 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.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
It was so incestuous and culty and wild and fabulous. It was every fucking color of the rainbow working there.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
Teach yoga at SoulCycle? He's like, no, no, Halle. They want you to teach. I go, well, I can start teaching right now, but 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.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
These are going to be your classes. Just go. I really did not ever complete the training.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
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.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
If I am worshiping, you know, Janet Fitzgerald, Janet Fitzgerald and I cannot be friends.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
We are in the service industry. Yeah. We are collecting money from you 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.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
Then you had relationships that would form, and people wanted to go out to dinner with the instructor. I mean, 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.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
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.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
I think a big part of SoulCycle 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.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
And again, it's because we made giant celebrities out of these regular people riding a fucking bike.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
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 bad cop, good cop.
Cult of Body & Soul
3. "Noon on Monday"
Janet would be really, really hard on you and Melanie would soften it.