Melody DanceFit will hold its final event at Emo's Austin on Thursday, November 12. Doors open at 6 p.m., and a portion of proceeds from Melody DanceFit Live will benefit Dress for Success.
Founder Melody Afkami appeared on CBS Austin's We Are Austin with host Sierra Waggoner to discuss the event. Melody DanceFit says it has held large events at Emo's over the years; the November show will be its last there before the venue closes.
From a Ten-Person Class to Sold-Out Venues
Afkami launched Melody DanceFit in 2015, according to CultureMap, after setting out to build a fitness dance class that wasn't serious — something rooted in humor, playfulness and silliness rather than rigid choreography or perfection. What began as a small ten-person class quickly grew into events of a hundred-plus people that sold out venues around Austin, per Melody DanceFit's own account on its website. The brand says it was the first dance fitness business in Austin to rent out local concert venues and bars in place of a traditional studio, a claim made on its mission page.
The studio's venue-based format has been in place for years, as the Young Women's Alliance has reported. Melody DanceFit describes its classes as open to all experience levels, with upbeat music and easy-to-follow moves. Afkami told CBS Austin that participants can follow along and move at their own pace.
Dance as a Tool for Stress and Connection
Melody DanceFit's mission materials present dance as a way to support mood and reduce stress, and describe empowerment and mental health as part of its programming. The studio also offers Dance To Heal, a virtual six-week program combining self-paced lessons with group connection calls.
Melody DanceFit posts programming updates on Instagram. The account describes itself with the tagline “Founder. Dancer. Speaker. Shake that ass, it's science-backed.” and says its programming aims to help people release burnout and stress, per its Instagram page.
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Proceeds Will Benefit Dress for Success
Afkami says she has volunteered with Dress for Success for 15 years. Melody DanceFit says a portion of proceeds from the November 12 event will go to the organization, which supports women with professional attire, career-development resources and other tools aimed at economic independence.
Dress for Success Austin has described Melody DanceFit's community-building approach in its own language, saying the studio cultivates an uplifting community to increase joy, per the nonprofit's event page. Melody DanceFit also offers one-hour classes centered on releasing pressure, grounding participants in their bodies and regulating the nervous system through what it calls the somatic modality of dance, according to its live-events page. Afkami has taken that message beyond Austin's bars and venues, too, having taught at conferences and festivals including SXSW and Austin City Limits Music Festival, per the Melody DanceFit website.
Dress for Success and the East Riverside Setting
Dress for Success Austin says it has served more than 19,000 women in Central Texas since 2003, through referrals from more than 100 nonprofit and government agencies. Its Path to Employment program pairs participants with a trained mentor for a six-week career-readiness course, according to Dress for Success Austin.
Separately, the City of Austin says the East Riverside corridor has seen significant growth and investment over the past decade, and that a Project Connect light rail line is being designed there. The city is also working with the community to update the corridor’s Vision Plan and Regulating Plan; its planning page does not connect those changes to Emo's plans.
Tickets for the November 12 event are available through MelodyDanceFit.com under the Events section. For longtime attendees, the night offers a chance to dance through one more send-off at Emo's before the venue shuts its doors — and to put some of that energy toward a cause Afkami has backed for years.
