The Recent Resurgence of Dance-Based Fitness Is as Much About Catharsis as Cardio

That moment shimmers to mind on a Sunday morning at Dance Church, where the mood instead is public exhilaration—dozens of congregants spread out in a downtown Manhattan studio, jamming to Blood Orange and Grimes. The idea for the class started in Seattle back in 2010, with choreographer Kate Wallich seeking a “place where I didn’t have to worry about technique,” she says of a guided structure built around pelvic drops and arm pulses amid freestyle bursts. The COVID shutdown sparked a quick pivot to digital; now, with a recent $4.7 million seed round, there is a membership model in place and in-person classes reopening across tentpole cities. “The elevator pitch used to be, ‘It’s the dance party you wish you had last night,’ ” Wallich says. Now, you can add: sanity saver, newfangled aerobics, a way to process grief. “One of our future goals is to be in the health care system,” she continues, envisioning Dance Church as a mix of therapeutic uses. But as I walk jelly-legged out of the room, it already feels like medicine: worries drained from my mind, airways alive, feet firm beneath me.

The Recent Resurgence of Dance-Based Fitness Is as Much About Catharsis as Cardio

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