Whanganui local Joana Simmons returns to put the WET in SWEAT

Joana Simmons' alter-ego, Joy. Photo / 3 Fates Media

Just when your New Year's resolutions seem to be a distant memory, the motivator who is also a celebrator is coming to town. And she's here to remind us we don't need thigh gaps, we don't need to tone up, we need the truth.

After selling out Repertory Theatre with her show Spiritual Banana, Joana Simmons, aka Pun queen and Princess of Peel Banana Jolie has made the move to New Zealand for good.

To celebrate, she is bringing another epic one-woman show and workshop to her hometown, as part of La Fiesta Festival.

By popular demand, cardio comedy cabaret show Confessions Of an Aerobics Instructor is here!

It is a high-octane workout of belly laughs. Joana, who plays her aerobics alter ego, Joy, is airing her workout and work stories as an aerobics instructor and exercising all sorts of demons from body image to activewear; gym, Jim and GIN.

Featuring original songs, high-powered pop and rock staples and full-power aerobics, it is "comedy and theatre at its absolute best". - The Upside (SA).

Joana started aerobics with her mum in the Gonville hall when she was still in primary school, and started teaching classes when she was 17. Since then, she has instructed a range of programmes at gyms all across Melbourne, including working with mental health patients. This show has been her answer to navigating body image, diet culture, exercise addiction and perceptions of strength. It is "both larger than life and deeply human" (The Upside News).

Banana Jolie has performed in a variety of genres and festivals including Splore Festival (Let's Talk About Peelings), NZ Fringe Festival (Spiritual Banana), Adelaide Fringe Festival (South Australia), Splendour in the Grass Festival (New South Wales), Melbourne International Comedy Festival (Victoria), Melbourne Fringe Festival (Putting the G'Day in Cabaret), The Village Festival, and Falls Festival (Victoria, NSW, Tasmania). She was a semifinalist with "Miss Friby (and the Fribbles)" on Australia's Got Talent.

Feel like getting in on the action? Don't like exercise but like to laugh? Look no further than Joyrobics.
Prepare to feel the deep burn in your thighs and get a solid abdominal workout of laughs when sweaty secrets are laid out to dry in Confessions of an Aerobics Instructor. The weight is over.

Confessions Of an Aerobics Instructor
March 4&5: Amdram Theatre, Guyton St, Whanganui, 7.30pm
JOYROBICS aerobics workshop
March 3: La Fiesta HQ, 75 St Hill St, Whanganui, 7pm
TO BOOK: www.linktr.ee/bananajolie