SoulCycle: Sydney

Who

Sydney MillerSoulCycle instructor, New York

From

MiamiSix years at SoulCycle

Her ride

A DJ setEDM, house, dance music

Schedule

15 classes a weekPlus two of her own

At home

StanleyBoxer, five, on Instagram

The film

3-minute docufilmSoulCycle, 2018

Sydney Miller is from Miami, teaches SoulCycle fifteen times a week, and wants every rider to feel like they’re at a DJ set. When we filmed, she was also teaching a little Pilates class of her own, twice a week, called HOUSEWORK.

When she auditioned for SoulCycle she had no fitness experience at all. She was a rider who just loved coming to class. Six years later she’d built a following and developed her own method out of it, and that, she says, is what she’s proudest of.

SoulCycle•Instructor docufilm•2:58•2018

The final push

Her music is electronic: EDM, dance, house. Her favourite part of any class is the last run, the moment everyone just goes for it and the energy is as high as it can possibly get.

HOUSEWORK is based in Pilates, with extra HIIT and bodyweight moves, and every movement is choreographed to the beat. You work the muscles a bike class doesn’t reach, while still moving to the music.

That twice-a-week class kept going. Sydney went on to turn HOUSEWORK into its own brand, with an app, pop-ups in Miami and a flagship studio in New York. You can see the very start of it here.

The Syd Squad

The best thing about being an instructor, for her, is the people. A group of riders who started with her right at the beginning named themselves the Syd Squad a long time ago. These days they’re friends with each other outside of her and outside of SoulCycle, which she thinks is the best part. Their notes and photos cover her fridge.

Off the bike

When she isn’t teaching, she’s sleeping. Or hanging out with Stanley, a five-year-old boxer with his own Instagram, @stantheboxer. He’s very photogenic. His dog walker takes great pictures.

The instructor profile

Alongside the film, we shot a portraiture loop of every instructor against a white backdrop, made to sit beside their name and story on their SoulCycle profile. This is Sydney’s.

Her best piece of advice, which she admits she should follow more: don’t get caught up in something thirty steps ahead. Make the best of where you are and take the next step. See you on a bike, or a mat.

Our Instructor Portrait Series

Sydney’s film is one of a whole series of instructor portraits we made for SoulCycle: Charlee, Karyn, Sue, Claire J., Sam Y, Jenny, Victoria, Emily T, Samantha Jade, James, Francis, Laurie, Melanie, Trammell, Mike Press and Souereya. Each one is a different person and a different ride, filmed the same honest way.

ServicesDocumentary·Branded Content·Editing·Color