If you take a stroll down Main Street any given evening, you may pass a building full of lights and color, with high-energy music and enthusiastic participants sweating it out as they dance and step their way to fitness.
Dance2Fit with Sylvia has been around for over a year now, but the journey began years earlier, when Sylvia Hammons took her own first dance fitness class. These classes combine movements that strengthen key muscle groups with a good dose of cardio and set them as routines to heart-pounding music numbers. Hammons, however, didn’t know much about it until she gave it a try.
“Suzi, who teaches with me now, taught my first class at the Y,” she says. “I told myself, ‘if I don’t make it through this class, that’s okay.’ When I tried the class, though, I loved it.”
Hammons took classes for about a year and was encouraged to get certified to teach dance fitness classes; she wasn’t sure at first, but in the end chose to get certified in Dance2Fit and begin teaching at the Y herself. She lost about 80 pounds as part of this fitness journey, and through outside and internal encouragement, she realized she was ready to turn this into her own business.
“I took a jump for it about a year ago,“ she says. “The creator of Dance2Fit posted a picture on her Instagram page that said ‘Be the Woman Who Decides to Go For It,’ and I was just ready to be that woman.”
Hammons and her husband looked for buildings that would work well; they found their current Main Street location and realized the floors were already perfect and turning the space into a dance fitness studio wouldn’t require extensive remodeling, though some projects certainly were required.
When classes began, the studio began to gain colorful decorations and personalized touches, mostly in the form of pictures of every day’s class participants. Now, photos blanket the walls around the large mirrors, showcasing what Hammons calls the family picture wall:“We are a family; after every class I say, ‘we’re going to take our Dance2Fit family picture; come on over!’”
Construction on Main Street during the first year of operation was a major challenge to the studio; even when difficult parking and navigation kept people away, Hammons didn’t cancel classes, knowing that the few people who came really needed that fitness time.
She made a very honest video on Facebook Live to encourage the Dance2Fit family to come on out in spite of the construction. The video had more than one thousand views by the next morning, and the response from the community was immediate: packed-full classes, suggestions of marketing resources and strategies, and statements of support on social media poured out.
As she has weathered the highs and lows of making her dance fitness studio a success, Hammons has gained valuable insight about running a small business.
“Collaborate with other small businesses; cross-promoting events on Main Street has been great,” she says. “There is a camaraderie between small businesses, and we really are all in it together.”
She also recommends the resources available through the Chamber of Commerce and the Butler County Small Business Association, which helped her get questions answered and learn about everything she needed.
In her studio, Hammons encourages her participants to focus on the three rules: have fun, be loud, and no judgement. The lack of judgement, she says, is part of the key to helping anyone and everyone have a great time at a dance fitness class.
“I have people who tell me how welcome they feel here,“ she says. “You can’t do it wrong; you are moving! What brings people back, however, is the people they meet.”