Believe it or not, I had never considered having my own studio. Interestingly, I had managed a studio I worked at for a brief time for free. I saw they needed help, I knew I could do it, so I did. I worked behind the scenes at other places in exchange for free classes. I had a master’s degree from a business school. But it didn’t cross my mind that opening a studio could be in my future.
Here’s something I know now, if you’re in a position that makes you frustrated because you would do everything differently, pay attention. It might be pointing you in the direction of your future. At every place I taught, I wanted to create an experience. I worked to fill in the gaps I saw at each studio. I saw the load each owner carried, especially when pay day came around. When I look back at it now, each of them was teaching me something.
In the midst of teaching at many places over the years, I had developed my own barre fitness technique. At one of the earlier Pilates trainings, I had met and connected with another former ballet dancer. We were similar aged and trying to figure out how to integrate movement in a healthy way. I shared with her that there was no barre fitness in Lancaster County, but I really didn’t want to go through another training after spending so many years of my life devoted to ballet. From what I had seen, the bigger franchises that were picking up momentum didn’t include elements of dance I felt were so important. They used the barre as a prop, advertised getting a ballet body, and taught a fitness class.
A few things were frustrating to me about this. One, you can’t get a ballet body from taking a one hour class a few times a week. To me that was an obviously misleading statement by someone who didn’t know enough to say otherwise. Two, all the classes I saw being offered were on carpet. You don’t dance on carpet! Three, the endless obsession with tucking your butt was a big training faux pas in the ballet world. Tucking and squeezing your butt, makes your quads grip, thus making them work harder and get bigger. I had spent years undoing this instruction that my first teacher had beaten into my brain. Plus, from my experience with Pilates, I knew better. I had seen the changes in people’s posture from working with them. So much of what I already taught was untucking the tail to allow for better abdominal engagement.
Seeing the obsession with barre and the ballet body frustrated me for a lot of reasons. And now I know, it was because I was meant to make my own mark on that world. When I shared these things with my fellow Pilates trainee, she put it simply, “Why don’t you create your own barre method?” As someone who was constantly needing outward permission, this concept blew my mind. Was I allowed? Was it the responsible thing to do? What if it didn’t work? Well, she quickly put those worries at rest when she shared that she had done that very thing. She had even created a manual and trained a few teachers. My mind was set.
For about 4 years prior to opening the studio, I developed Move It Barre. It was previously called Ballet Fitt. And I taught to everyone from 60-80 year olds at a retirement community to my current ballet students. I didn’t know it then, but I was workshopping what worked and what didn’t. I was experimenting with what movement vocabulary could be safely taught in a group setting while also getting a workout. I was synthesizing my knowledge from all of my training. My mom and sister would give me feedback after taking my class. If people came back and the class grew, I knew I was on the right track. If not, I shifted things. One thing I knew from the beginning, my barre method would be driven by the music. After all, dance is just that. Moving intentionally with the music. I couldn’t offer a class with background dance tracks.
Since I was teaching at so many places, and developing my barre class, I thought it would make sense to create a brand. At this point, I didn’t think I would start my own place. But I wanted to elevate all that I was already doing. My parents had purchased two Pilates reformers for me from a studio that was closing and I needed to build my clientele. The studio where I was teaching generously allowed me to store the reformers and offer lessons there (without charging me rent!). I was starting to gain a following. My sister took photos of me to start a Facebook page, and she and my mom helped me come up with a name, Move It with Marie. My goal was to inspire people to lead an active lifestyle. I was still highly critical of my own body, but I knew I was a good teacher. Even with my higher education, it seemed everyone just wanted to hire me to teach. So I had to make the most of it. I started a blog with a local publication, I was featured in the newspaper. Things started to flow.
All of these things led up to the moment when my friend mentioned the available studio space to me. To everyone else it seemed like a natural next step. I was reluctant. In my mind, the only way I could fathom opening my own space was with a partner. My dance friend and I looked at the space together in July of 2014. By Move It Studio’s opening on September 13, I had developed a plan, had the partner drop out, almost quit (until Andrew said, “why don’t you just do it?), and ran a crowdfunding campaign. Andrew did most of the work on transforming the studio to what I envisioned. My friends and my mom helped with painting. My sister developed an incredible logo. My dad gave generously to my crowdfunding campaign. My videographer friend donated his time and talent to my launch video. My friends agreed to be my models for advertising and the open house demos. And my mom and sister designed an incredible website. There were so many other people involved, and I was overwhelmed at the support.
Before launching the campaign, I scheduled meetings with people I respected in the community. One of them was Meghan McLane. We had known each other from taking classes together throughout the years. I still remember what she said when we had coffee together, “Lancaster needs a barre studio and you are the one to do it.” And looking back on that crazy two months of prepping to open ten years later, I see that she was right. I had no idea what was to come. I was terrified of failing. And, I kept taking the next step with people rooting for me along the way. This was how Move It came to be.
I spent the first 9 months of my business teaching almost every class. I was still driving up to teach at Messiah College along with teaching at Susquehanna Dance Center. I was teaching private lessons on my reformers. And, I was choreographing and organizing art openings every First Friday. And, I was pregnant. At one year in business, I had 6 teachers on staff, a 3 month old baby, and a signed lease to open an additional location. My outer world seemed very successful, my inner world was in the throes of post-partum anxiety. While others couldn’t believe how fast I lost the baby weight (I walked the runway in Velocity three months postpartum), I could only see all the areas I was falling short.
Of course, that included not being at my pre-baby size. While I was encouraging my clients, like I always had, to love their bodies as they were. To focus on what they were gaining in class, rather than what they could lose. I still expected myself to be “perfect.” I still remember thinking when we opened our second location in January 2016, that no one would come because I was so big. At that point, Paloma was 6 months old, exclusively breastfed. Andrew was working all hours including building out my studio. Again, I was terrified that I was making the wrong decision to expand. My parents encouraged me to keep going. My dad invested generously in covering the expenses to open the new location. My teachers saw me doubt myself. And they all kept going with me.
The first day we opened, we were over capacity for a 9:15 AM Move It Barre class. We stuffed over 20 people into the room. It was what felt like an instant success. Of course, there was so much leading up to it along with continued every day grinding. We had two teachers at the second location, myself and the amazing Laura Johnson. I didn’t have formal child care, but my family a babysitter helped out when I was teaching. My dear baby Paloma would not sleep. There were many days when I would be up all night, finally put her down at 5 AM. Then change to go teach the 6 AM. I’d rush home after class, breastfeed her, and wake her up so that I could drop her at a friend’s while I taught the 9:15 class downtown. Then, I’d rush to go breastfeed her again, go home and do admin work with her strapped to me, and teach at night. I wrote a blog at the time that training in ballet really prepared me for running a small business as a new mom. It did. I knew how to dig deep. I knew how to keep going. I knew how to perform.
By the time I was informed that our original studio in Downtown Lancaster had to close, the building was being sold to be torn down, I had two very successful locations. Our classes averaged at least 15 people and were often sold out at 19. People wanted what we were offering. And every week someone would share how the studio had changed their life. It was pretty amazing. I had gotten on antidepressants again when Paloma was one year old. Everything was chugging along. And the same week I found out we would need to close our studio, I found out I was pregnant.
Mambojaz Studio is Here 
Part X – Jasmin’s Story 