After a hip injury left her unable to dance professionally, Dancers Shape owner Jennifer McCamish opened her own fitness studio in Austin.[/caption]Jennifer McCamish said she knows what it is like to be sidelined by an injury.
That is why she opened Dancers Shape, a boutique fitness studio offering yoga, Pilates and barre, in the Allandale/Rosedale area nearly seven years ago, McCamish said.
A dancer and former Radio City Music Hall Rockette, the Texas native said she experienced a labral hip tear after years of performing in New York City. When her professional dancing career ended, McCamish said she went to several studios in search of a regimen of preventive and rehabilitative exercise in New York City.
She said she knew she wanted to bring all the various exercises together under one roof with high-quality, experienced instructors whose anatomy and physiology knowledge is extensive. So she moved back home to Austin to open her own studio.
“I really wanted all the forms of exercises that dancers did in one spot,” she said.
Dancers Shape offers three levels of group barre classes, several Pilates classes infused with barre techniques, a Vinyasa yoga flow class and—new to the studio this year—spin classes on stationary bikes. Private sessions are also available.
McCamish said it took her about a year and a half to open her Burnet Road studio, which features a clean, neutral-gray space with splashes of color; two workout rooms; and photos of known Austin spots, such as Guero’s on South Congress Avenue, hung on the walls.
“When I was in college, Burnet Road [was] not what it is right now,” said McCamish, who graduated from The University of Texas at Austin and added she had to “reintroduce” herself to the city when she returned from New York.
Today, McCamish said many of her clients live in the neighborhood and have become friends after months of working out together.
“I feel like this is truly a local, family-owned business,” she said of Dancers Shape.
By the fall McCamish will bring that same feel to Hill Country Indoor, a new sports complex in Bee Cave.
At the new location—slated to open by September—McCamish will have a dedicated Pilates room and a dedicated spin room, something she has been piloting at her Burnet Road location since June.
Dancers Shape owner Jennifer McCamish performed between three and six shows a day, six days a week during her time as a Rockette for Radio City Music Hall in New York City.[/caption]Life as A Radio City Rockette
Dancers Shape owner Jennifer McCamish performed between three and six shows a day, six days a week during her time as a Rockette for Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
