Free outdoor dance fitness in Leuven: Groove turns one
Groove Fitness turns one. To celebrate: four free outdoor dance fitness sessions in Leuven - Monday evenings at the Olevodroom. No sign-up, just turn up.
DANCE FITNESS LEUVENDANCE CLASS LEUVENDANCE CLASS FOR ADULTS LEUVENFREE DANCE CLASS LEUVENOUTDOOR DANCE CLASS LEUVENDANCE TO MUSIC LEUVENFREE DANCE FITNESS LEUVEN SUMMEROLEVODROOM LEUVENUITINLEUVENHETGROOTVERLOF
Richard Ventham
7/8/20263 min read
Groove turns one: four free Monday evenings at the Olevodroom
A year ago, Groove Fitness officially became a vzw (a Belgian non-profit, for the non-Belgians reading). On paper, that meant a company number and a stack of forms. In my head, it meant one question: would anyone in Leuven actually turn up to dance to classic disco and soul with a man who'd just left 28 years of pharmaceuticals to try exactly this?
Turns out: yes. Week after week, people across Leuven have shown up to dance and gone home a little bit sweaty, with big smiles on their faces. I still can't quite believe I get to call this my job. So Groove is throwing a birthday party - and everyone's invited.
To celebrate one year as a vzw, I'm running four completely free outdoor dance fitness sessions in Leuven - four Monday evenings at the Olevodroom on the Hertogensite, and the aim is more birthday party than workout. No sign-up, no booking, no forms. Just come along. The dates are below, but first a quick look back, because these four evenings only make sense once you know what happened this year.
One year of dance fitness in Leuven (at speed)
The first year of a small vzw is mostly made of things nobody claps for. Sunday mornings in Kessel-Lo grew into the anchor. Monday evenings in the centre built a small, loyal crew. A Wednesday class looked clever on paper and never took off - I wrote about that one honestly at the time, and closing it still counts as one of the year's lessons. Friday lunchtimes at SportOase Heverlee arrived in December and, to my mild surprise, got off to a good start.
In between: a buurtfeest, a spot at De Langste Dag, and a check-in app I built myself so the admin stays out of the way (that's a whole other post).
A year of music, chosen one vote at a time
The thing I'm proudest of, though, isn't a venue or an app. It's the playlists.
If you've been to class this year, you know the Guest Sequence of the Week: every week two songs go head to head, everyone votes - in the WhatsApp groups, through the newsletter, on the socials - and the winner earns a sequence and a place in the playlist.
Do that for a year and the playlist stops being mine. Those weekly votes have added up, four times over, to a full set of music - we call them Seasons. Season 1 is where it all started; Season 4 is taking shape right now, ready for classes from September. I deliberately kept a couple of favourites in from one Season to the next, but each Season is a genuinely different playlist.
The birthday plan: four free Monday evenings
Each evening features one Season, in order. Come to all four and you'll have danced through the whole year of music, ending on the newest set. Every session runs 19:00 - 20:00 at the Olevodroom, Hertogensite, Leuven:
Monday 20 July - Season 1
Monday 27 July - Season 2
Monday 3 August - Season 3
Monday 10 August - Season 4
Four different playlists, four different nights - all chosen by the customers of Groove Fitness, and all packed with all-time disco and soul classics you'll love dancing to. Always the original records: think Chic, Earth Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang.
Everyone is welcome, and I mean that the way Groove always means it: all ages, all levels; regulars, newcomers, friends you've talked into it, and anyone who happens to be walking past. The sequences are guidelines, not rules - follow along or do your own thing, both work. If you can sway roughly in time to music, you'll be fine. And because this is Belgium: the dancefloor at the Olevodroom is covered, so we dance rain or shine.
If you've been curious about Groove, there will never be an easier way to try dance fitness in Leuven than this: free, outdoors, no commitment, and a different playlist each week if you fancy coming back.
And if you're one of the people who voted these songs in over the past year: thank you. Groove literally wouldn't be the same without you - these are your playlists, and I can't wait to dance them with you.
See you at the Olevodroom on Monday 20 July! 💃🕺🪩
Richard, Chief Groove Officer 🪩