Joelle from At Your Beat
Loved by the likes of Vogue, Evening Standard and Refinery 29, At Your Beat was founded by Joelle D’Fontaine to make dance accessible and fun. This all-inclusive community can be found across London and New York proving anyone can dance.
What inspired you to open At Your Beat?
I had worked for several dance spaces and the last company I worked for was always saying “Be Beyoncé,’ and I was like this is so wrong telling people to be someone else. So I thought I’m gonna help people realise that to enjoy most things in life you have to do things at your own pace, At Your Beat. And that was that!
What does At Your Beat embody and what 3 words would you use to describe it?
We have a triangle that represents what every At Your Beat class embodies - Supportive, Inclusive and Extravagant. These 3 are ingrained in our DNA and every member grows to embody all these attributes.
What does community mean to you?
Community is the main part of AYB. We call everyone the AYBfam because cities can be lonely. It’s important to let members and instructors know that we don’t just teach fitness or dance classes we are a family. We are like the city we live in all-inclusive. It’s about #DiversifyingFitness, we always make sure our prices are accessible to all and include everyone. We promote being extra - it’s not “showing off” it’s absorbing the energy in the room, everyone wants to see that.
What’s one thing you would say to someone who is afraid to try a dance class?
I’d say have you tried anything new before? It’s basically starting a new language - you will do things wrong a few times but that’s ok because you’re a beginner. We have to get ok with being a beginner. Most people in the class are looking at the teacher, nobody is watching you make mistakes, they are watching you grow and that’s amazing.
At Your Beat is diversifying fitness with dance classes across London. Ready to shake it? Try a series of dance sequences to killer beats with a variety of themes (we love Peaches and Scream) with ClassPass.
