09/01/2026
A note from SDF founder, Jess Gleason ❤️
Five years ago today, on September 1, 2021, we opened the doors to Seattle Dance Fitness. And wow!!! What a five years it has been!
We opened in the middle of the panic of the Delta strain of the pandemic. We didn’t even have FLOORS yet, despite the fact that they were literally the first thing I ordered months before. 😂 We danced in masks, and honestly, nobody complained. We were just SO HAPPY to be back in a room together. Dancing together. Sweating together. Seeing each other IRL again. And when I say we opened this studio, I really mean WE. The DanceFam helped build this place.
You painted walls. You installed floors. You helped update the bathroom. You dealt with the GIANT headache that was installing all of our tech. You built a stage. You moved things, fixed things, carried things, cleaned things, figured things out and jumped in wherever I needed you.🥹
Our founding members AND their families showed up for this dream, and I will never, ever forget that.🫶
When we opened, between our adult and kids programs, SDF offered 19 classes a week with 8 instructors.
This fall? 40 classes a week. 16 instructors.😭🤩
SDF has grown. It has changed. People have come and gone. Programs have grown and evolved. New faces have walked through our doors and become part of this family and I am filled with gratitude because the heart of my baby has stayed the same.
My mission has always been to provide a space where people can move their bodies, find joy, feel welcome exactly as they are, and experience what happens when movement becomes community.✨
There are people who were such a big part of SDF in those early years who don’t walk through our doors anymore, and I miss them. I really do. But I’m also just so grateful that our paths crossed at all. 💕They are part of this story. They helped make SDF what it is.🙏
And then there are the people who are walking through our doors for the very first time RIGHT NOW. The new instructors. The new members. The kids discovering dance with us. The people who have no idea yet how much this place might become part of their lives. 🥹 That is pretty freaking cool!!!
I have so much gratitude for my team - past and present - who have poured their talent, energy, creativity and love into this place.🙏
For my husband and my family, who have supported a dream that has required WAY more time, energy, patience, flexibility and “can you just help me with this one thing really quick?” than any of us could have imagined. 🤣
For every person who has taken a class, brought a friend, enrolled their kid, bought a ticket, shared a post, wore an SDF shirt, danced on a Friday night, showed up for an event, cheered us on or simply believed in what we were building. And especially for those founding DanceFam members who believed in SDF before there was much of an SDF to believe in.
From the very bottom of my heart. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU! ❤️ Five years in this space. And somehow I still feel like we’re just getting started.
I hope SDF keeps growing. I hope it keeps changing, even when change can feel so very hard! I hope new people continue to find us and make this place their own. I hope we keep trying new things, taking chances, dancing REALLY BIG, laughing loudly, taking up SPACE, and showing up for each other.
But most of all, I hope that no matter how much SDF grows, it always feels like us.🫶
Here’s to the next five years of movement, community, friendship, growth, ridiculousness and a whole lot of LOVE.
Happy 5th birthday to our little studio home. 🥹
I’m so grateful we built this place together.
❤️ Jess
