Finding Yourself in a Fitness Community

Sign me up!

When I was a very little kid, I did not. Stop. Dancing! (Why walk across the room when I could tap there?)  Dancing came so innately that when my preschool began offering a creative movement class my parents rushed to sign me up!

I joined Ballet Arts Minnesota’s creative movement classes in elementary school and then the professional school at age 7. That school, and my joy at being able to dance there, dictated my weekend and after-school schedule until I was about 13 years old.  My studio was definitely my home-away-from home given the amount of time I spent there. But something didn’t quite gel for me about the community I was immersed in.  

While I was still enjoying being a kid and going to camp and trips with my family, my fellow dancers were going to the Boston Ballet’s Youth Summer Intensive. They would return to the studio light years ahead of me in the Fall. My body was also changing in ways that made the balletic movements more difficult. That then made going to class feel more like a chore and no longer an outlet for fun, inclusion, and creativity.

I remember every time the girls were sent to change into our pointe shoes after warm-ups at the barre, the other girls were all focused on how fast they could tie their ribbons (as we were being timed). Then there was me. I was always staring at the boys who got to use that time to work on huge jump and leap combinations. I wondered Why am I trying to squish my toes into these painful boxes to twirl around while they are flying in the air being powerful, joyful and having so much fun?  It was all I could do to hold myself back from joining them.  And I said, Ok, I need to find a place where I can do more of THAT!

So, I decided to explore what else was out there in the dance world. I took the elevator from the first floor of that arts center all the way up to the 4th floor, and there I found the world of modern dance. While we were pirouetting to the piano on the 1st floor, on the 4th floor they really moved from the heart. It was incredible! 

This group of people didn’t move the same or look the same, but were inspired to tell their stories through their whole bodies and with massive energy and vibrancy! Without naming it at the time, I had found my community.

Finding My People

For the next few years in that 4th floor dance school of modern, jazz, hip hop, and world dance, and through my years at The Arts High School, I just never. Stopped. Dancing. 

Later, after getting my degree in dance, I started teaching and performing around the DC area, but it was a move for love (Hi, honey!) that took me to Ann Arbor, MI. Well…those lovely, open-minded  academics let me run wild when I told them I was a dance and fitness instructor and ready to bring classes to campus. “Cardio Yoga”? Sure! “Hip Hop?” Yup! “Yoga Box”? Why not?!

Then this random new class came on the scene…Zumba, I think it was called. ;-)

Believe it or not, I wasn’t actually that impressed at first. Still, I could see how much everyone else loved it, so I knew there was something there. Then, when I saw the opportunity come up for certification I decided to go for it. 

MIND. BLOWN!  

Dance Fitness My Way

I had so much fun!!  Suddenly I realized the class experience relied so much on the instructor. The teacher made the class. The style, the music, the steps, and the energy could be as locked in and literal as that first class I took (the one I wasn’t so in to), or I could play with it, use my background and expertise and expand what I offered to become my own world of dance fitness.  And so when that same love-of-my-life and I moved to SF, the city and I were ready to dance.

Dancing through milestones together

The intergenerational community on campus was an incredible gift I came quickly to appreciate.  My classes range in age from about 20-90. I’ve had so many women dance in as singles, get married, have babies and come dance it out post-partum with me…I can’t even count. (Truth: one woman came to class ON her due date, WITH her doula, just to get things going!) I danced my way through my own two pregnancies, too.  There’s no doubt my community made that transition easier. 

A lot of life outside the studio happens in 10 years, too. We’ve danced our way through a heartbreaking number of national tragedies.  Dance is its own kind of therapy and coping mechanism. While I always appreciated the personal expression aspects of dance, I don’t think I fully grasped how the events happening outside the fitness space would come roaring through us with such ferocity when we named a tragedy together and chose to express our love through our shared movement. The outpourings have often been tearful, but always strong and incredibly moving. 

My current fitness community has grown to become something beautiful and precious – not just to me, but for one another. No matter what’s happening at an individual level, people show up for each other…to check in, catch up, and sometimes just to smile and nod…”Hey! Yeah, I see you there, friend!”  

My goal is always for people to come in and get a straight up, super fun, kick-ass workout. But, if people happen to need an emotional outlet opportunity that day, I hope to give them a safe space within a loving community (in person and online) that feeds and frees their soul.