Dance With Fatima Steps Into New Chapter
Gretchen Fatima Fernandez came to Belize with a love for dance and turned that passion into a growing movement. Since launching Dance With Fatima at Body 2000 Gym in 2021, the Cuban-born instructor has built a loyal following through high-energy classes that blend salsa, bachata, punta, soca and more. Today, that journey has reached a major milestone with the opening of her own dance studio in Belize City. Fernandez says the space is more than a business. It is a home for the community she has built through dance, fitness and joy.
Gretchen Fatima Fernandez
Gretchen Fatima Fernandez, Owner, Dance with Fatima
“It’s so exciting. I think this is a result of a hard work, consistency and patience and faith and focusing what do you want. I wanted to show Belizeans and everybody, because everybody’s welcome, you need to celebrate life, and that workout can be fun, too. So it’s not only a way like, Oh, it’s, it’s hard. No, it’s hard, but also it can be fun. Like, and you can enjoy it as well. And what I love about my community is not only that, it’s that we support each other. I create, I believe in collaboration. I believe in that we can support each other, and we can connect with other, and that’s part of what I create this community, right? Where we can dance, but you know, you know, you can socialize, do something different every day, and of course, do workout at the same time. Well, the classes is, I will say that it’s a dance fitness class where it’s a dance class too. Why? Because if you come here to dance, you will learn how to dance salsa, merengue, bachata, punta, soca, et cetera, et cetera. There is many, right, styles that I use in the class. It’s a, a variety of different rhythms and everything, right? So, it’s also fitness because it depends what do you want. You can come here if you say, “Well, I just want to learn how to dance.” You will learn how to dance. If I want to, “Oh, I want to burn some calories and w- my goal is, you know, the fitness,” you can have that one too. Because in that class, that dance, we do squats, we do jumping jacks, we do burpees, we do all of that, you know? But you are having fun on the same time and you don’t feel it. But when you finish the class, you already burnt around like six hundred calories without you realizing that you was doing that.”
Fatima says Dance With Fatima is now welcoming children, adults, and couples, with plans to introduce specialty dance nights.
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