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Update: Inner Diva Studios
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Photo by Sara BehunekCherie Williams thinks that being a diva has gotten a bad rap.
"Being a diva means loving who you are and loving your inner person," she said.
It is this positive interpretation that Williams wants the women who attend fitness classes at her center, Inner Diva Studios, to embrace.
Williams opened Inner Diva last January after she moved to Austin and was unable to find a facility that lived up to her favorite spot in Chicago.
"Our niche is really the pole fitness," Williams said. "But we get a lot of people coming in for Zumba," a dance workout choreographed to Latin and international music.
In addition, Inner Diva offers classes in go-go dancing, contact kickboxing, hula-hoop and chair tease, among others.
Danyelle Eddy, one of the studio's 12 instructors, said she thinks Inner Diva has been successful because the studio provides a safe place for women to find—and flaunt—their femininity.
"Here, they don't feel like they're working out. They're making friends and feeling beautiful and confident and comfortable, so [weight loss] is just happening without them realizing it," Eddy said.
And as class sizes increase, Williams said she is thinking about opening a second location, likely in South Austin.
"It's exciting," she said.
Inner Diva Studios, 10401 Anderson Mill Road, Ste. 104, 918-3482, www.innerdivastudios.com
