Forget bright, flourescent gym lighting,  machines you have to wipe DNA off of, and the sounds of man grunts and heavy dumbbells dropping to the floor. Fly Dance studio is your own personal nightclub and fitness escape. Darkened for sultry ambiance with colorful club lighting to enhance the feeling of being out on the town with your best friends, Fly Dance studio is a retreat from the outside world where you can exercise/dance like no one is watching.

“We do fitness the fun way,” say co-owners Kari Schroeter and Stacey Marks, both certified group instructors. “Both our studio layout and fitness classes are designed to make clients feel as if they’re in a crazy-fun nightclub and having the time of their lives!” Once you’ve stepped foot into the room with light-bulb letters spelling out, “‘You So Fly”’ on the wall adjacent to floor-to-ceiling mirrors, you’ll be hardened to go back to dragging your feet on the treadmill at the gym and putting earbuds in to watch the TV screen above playing reruns of Friends. Schroeter and Marks’ hip-hop playlists keep the vibe alive and high in all of their classes—classes that are offered in three types of fun formats: Throw Down, Dance2Fit and From The Top.

If you prefer to get the blood pumping and break a sweat to Biggie Smalls instead of meditative yoga music, then Throw Down’s unapologetic, hip-shaking classes may be the down-and-dirty workout you’ve been shamelessly searching for. In From the Top class, test your memory and coordination by learning a combination and dancing repetitively to a variety of music from then and now. You’ll match the music and step to the beat with a constant change of pace that keeps you on your toes, increases your heart rate and, by the end, has you breathing heavier and challenging your memory retention.

“These classes activate memory recall, as clients perform the hundreds of dance routines we’ve choreographed in our studio over the years. The more our clients attend class, the more likely our dance routines become second nature and allow for some serious booty-shakin’ fun.” You’ll step back into the parking lot smiling, sweating and having burned over 800 calories. The confidence boost, alone, Schroeter and Marks say, is a major impact, and innately comes with mastering new steps and skills. “Our goal is for every client to leave class incredibly sweaty and in a much happier mindset than when they first entered our doors,” the trainers say. “We are all about building strong bodies and sharp minds.”  SRQ