Last month we learned the odd news that Madonna and her business partner/manager Guy Oseary were planning the launch of a franchise of gyms around the world called Hard Candy Fitness and today we get to see photos from the official opening of the world’s first Hard Candy Fitness center in Mexico City, Mexico. The opening, which took place last night, not only featured Maddy and Guy on the red carpet for the ribbon cutting ceremony but it also featured her Madgesty teaching some fitness dance moves to some of the lucky attendees of the event. Here are photos of Madonna on the red carpet at the Hard Candy Fitness opening last night and some deets from the event:

[Madonna] attended a ribbon cutting ceremony dressed in a black and white striped dress and thigh-high boots. The star said she chose Mexico City because it was a stop on last year’s Sticky & Sweet tour, which grossed $408 million and she liked the energy of the people. The gym’s name, which shares the title of her last album, she said, is the perfect combination of ‘hard body’ and ‘eye candy’. ‘It’s a sexy name that gives you the opportunity to have fun and to build strength as far as the imagination will allow,’ the singer said. ‘She chose the graphics, colors, the machines,’ said Chris Dedicik, general director of California-based New Evolution Ventures, Madonna’s partner in creating the gym. ‘She has weighed in on the choreography of all the classes and given them a twist to make them more dynamic, more special and to better reflect her style.’ Members can do cardiovascular exercises on five types of advanced-technology machines chosen by Madonna, many with individual viewing screens and iPod docks. The yoga instructors are trained in various styles of the ancient Indian art, inspired by the knowledge the singer has accumulated in her travels. The yoga room will also have a special wall used in Iyengar yoga, one of very few in the world according to Dedicik, with ropes and steps to help people with less physical ability. A balcony outside will feature plants and Zen-style decor, all at the singer’s request. ‘If any of you have seen my shows, you know that I don’t skimp on them and the same is true for the gym,’ she said. ‘We spend what it takes to make a globally first-class gym.’ Membership runs 2,000 pesos a month, about $160, generally in line with what the best gyms charge in Mexico City … It’s not exactly the first location one might associate as the chosen spot for a grand gym opening from the Queen of Pop. And one might have thought there may have been other more worthy projects she could have put her very famous name to. But as it is, Madonna has opened the doors to her brand new Hard Candy gym in Mexico City, and treated a hand selected troupe of new members to work out with her. Standing at the top of the class in head-to-toe Nike fitness gear, the superstar led a group of 20 hand-picked members through a routine to music by Paul Oakenfold, the DJ who opened her tour last year. And there is no mistaking who owns the gym. A huge mural of Warhol-esque images of the Queen of Pop greets each client as they walk through the sliding doors. The 30,000-square-foot building is located in the city’s upscale Bosques de las Lomas neighborhood.

Oh Madonna … this whole gym thing is just … weird. But, undoubtedly, she will make millions from this latest venture and likely with minimal work required. She picks out a few color swatches, shows up for a ribbon cutting ceremony and goes home with millions in her pocket. I guess it’s kinda genius. After the jump, check out photos of Maddy leading a troupe of folks thru some of her work-out dance moves and get a peek inside the world’s first Hard Candy Fitness center …

I personally have zero interest in any of this Hardy Candy Fitness nonsense and would MUCH rather Madonna work on the release of her next album … but I’m sure there are a great many rabid fans out there who would love to pay for the privilege of attending a Madonna-themed gym. These Hard Candy Fitness centers are planned to open around the world … so we’ll have to see how many do open and how long they will last. In the mean time, I’ll just be over here … anxiously awaiting the release of new music from Madonna … which will hopefully happen sometime in the next year … I hope.

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]