My first months of dance fitness in Leuven

My first months of dance fitness in Leuven

If you only saw my Sunday class, you’d probably assume I’ve got this whole “new business” thing nailed.
If you walked in on a Wednesday afternoon, you’d see a very different picture.

This is an honest look at how the first few months of Groove Fitness have really gone in Leuven: the full rooms, the awkwardly empty ones, and what I’m changing next so this stays fun, sustainable, and worth showing up for.

Sundays: the anchor that proves the idea

Sunday is the day that tells me this wasn’t a ridiculous plan.

Every week there are at least ten people, often more. It’s not always the same ten, which is exactly what I want: a mix of regulars, friends-of-regulars, and people who’ve finally decided to see what this “disco fitness” thing is about.

There’s a proper sense of movement now. People disappear for a bit, then come back. New faces show up. Recently a former colleague messaged to say she was coming and skipped the free trial completely, going straight for a multi-class card. That kind of quiet trust lands more than any like or comment online.

If this keeps building, I can see a point where we’ll need some sort of booking system or even a bigger room. I’m not rushing to add admin for the sake of it, but it’s reassuring to have a “future problem” that involves not enough space for all the dancers.

For now, Sundays are my proof-of-concept: grown-ups, great music, simple routines, a good laugh, and that lovely moment at the end where everyone leaves looking slightly pink and a lot more relaxed.

Mondays: smaller, but with real potential

Mondays are different: calmer, smaller, but quietly promising.

I’ve got a couple of people who look like they’ll become proper regulars, plus one absolute superfan who turns up on multiple days, including the new Friday trial. I’m half-worried she’ll clock up more Groove minutes than is medically recommended, but clearly it’s doing something right for her.

Numbers are nowhere near Sunday yet, and that’s fine. The city-centre evening slot feels like a slow-burn: not a stampede, but not a dead end either. We’re at the “modest but real” stage, which is exactly where most good things live before they suddenly look “established” from the outside.

If Sundays are the big weekly party, Mondays are more like a cosy mid-evening gathering: smaller circle, same music, same principles, just less noise and more space to breathe.

Wednesdays: the “clever idea” that isn’t landing

And then there’s Wednesday.

On paper it sounded great: a relaxed afternoon class where caregivers could bring kids along for free, move a bit, and start the evening in a better mood. I remember thinking, this is the clever one, this will fly.

Reality: not flying.

A few people have tried it. One or two have come back. Some weeks there’s one other person and me. Some weeks there’s nobody at all. I can’t send out a survey asking, “Why aren’t you coming to my class?”, so I’m left guessing: is it the time, the location, the midweek chaos, or just that everyone wants to go home and lie down?

The real cost isn’t the hall hire. It’s the mental hit of repeatedly walking into a mostly empty room. With ADHD, that sort of thing doesn’t just sting in the moment, it eats into the rest of the week. And I need spare energy for the people who do show up. It’s hard to dance to disco like you mean it while also quietly doing maths about whether this is a terrible idea.

So I’m being sensible: unless something dramatic shifts, Wednesday will stop after Christmas. It’s disappointing, because the concept still feels good on paper, but forcing it to work would drain energy from the classes that are already growing.

The upside is that now I know: not every “smart” idea needs to be kept alive. Some experiments are useful precisely because they tell you where not to spend your time.

Phase 2: collaborations, Friday lunchtimes & events

If phase 1 was “try three weekly classes and see what happens,” phase 2 is about making smarter bets.

First, collaborations. I’ve already been turned down by one gym. On paper it was perfect: great facilities, ideal daytime slots. In person, the vibe was very serious and very polished in a way that just didn’t match what I’m building. Groove Fitness is relaxed and a bit daft at times; it’s not a place where you feel watched while you sweat.

On the other hand, I’ve had interest from an organisation for older adults, via their sports section. That feels much closer to the people I really want in the room: 60+ folks who still like good music and want to move in a way that feels enjoyable, not punishing. If we get that partnership right, it could open up a whole new group of people who wouldn’t walk into a standard gym class.

Then there’s the new Friday lunchtime experiment at SportOase, a large leisure centre in Heverlee. I’m running a couple of free trial classes in December to see what happens. The idea is simple: a lot of people work from home on Fridays, or do 80% contracts, or take time off. Offering them an early start to the weekend at 12:00, with disco instead of another coffee, feels worth testing.

There’ll be posters in the building, actual humans walking past the hall, and people who’d never find me on Instagram. Even if only a handful come at first, I’ll learn more from those sessions than from another week of guessing behind a laptop.

If it works, brilliant. If it doesn’t, we tweak and try the next idea.

Keeping it sustainable: systems, credits & new sequences

A lot of what keeps this whole thing going has been happening behind the scenes since day one, where absolutely nobody claps at the end.

Right from launch I knew I needed a proper credit system, not a notebook and hope. So before the first class, I built the original version in Airtable: scan people in, see who’d come, track how many credits they had left. It worked, but the structure was messy and I was about to slam into the free-tier limits.

Over the autumn holidays I rebuilt the whole thing on a different stack with a much cleaner design, using AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to chew through the technical bits. It still tracks who comes, manages credits, and keeps everything tidy, but on my terms and at basically zero cost.

Why does this matter to anyone who comes to class? Because boring systems work is what lets me keep the fun bits actually fun. If I’m buried under spreadsheets and logins, I’m not going to turn up on Sunday morning feeling playful and relaxed. I didn’t leave corporate life to recreate it with rhinestones.

The same goes for choreography. I’ve refreshed six sequences and I want at least another six in regular rotation for January. Some routines just need tightening; others need fully re-learning so I’m not thinking too hard while I teach. To keep things interesting, I’ve started a “guest sequence of the week,” where people vote on which new routine we try. It gives me a way to test material and gives everyone a small sense of ownership over what happens in the room.

Slowly, the class is becoming less “my project” and more “our thing.”

Where this is heading

So where does all of that leave us?

• Sundays are strong and still growing.

• Mondays are smaller, but with a core that’s worth investing in.

• Wednesdays have done their job as an experiment and will retire gracefully after Christmas.

• Phase 2 is all about smarter collaborations, testing a Friday lunchtime slot at SportOase, and using nerdy systems to keep my head clear so I can focus on the dancing and the people.

What’s become very obvious is this: there is a place in Leuven for dance fitness that’s built around joy, good music and a no-pressure atmosphere. I see it every Sunday when people who “don’t really like gyms” are suddenly comfortable in a sports hall, laughing at themselves and staying for a chat afterwards.

I’m still fine-tuning the details – which days work, which partners fit, which sequences really land – but the core idea is solid. Grown-ups, disco & soul, simple moves, a room where nobody cares if you get the steps wrong.

If you’re in or around Leuven and any of this rings a bell, you’re very welcome to come and try it while it’s still in this early, slightly experimental stage. First class is free, the routines are forgiving, and the bar for “can I join?” is very low: if you can sway in time to music, you’ll be fine.

I’m excited to see what the next few months bring: more regulars, more music, more people realising they actually do like moving when the vibe is right.

Richard
Chief Groove Officer 🪩