 About Marla
Marla Patterson, owner/operator of Heartbreaker Dance & Fitness has been involved in fitness all her life. She was a competitive gymnast, and at age 9, she competed in a division of the Olympics in Winnipeg , placing bronze on the uneven bars. She started coaching gymnastics at age 13, and completed a National Coaches Certificate Program thereafter. At 18, she to become a certified group fitness leader at the University of Saskatchewan and has been teaching fitness ever since.
Marla has taught a variety of fitness classes over the years including all types of strength, cardio, and resistance training. Being a fitness instructor has opened the doors for Marla to expand her horizons her own fitness regime.
In 2005,she completed her first half-marathon.” Running is now a big part of my own fitness program-its therapeutic.” says Marla. And when pole dancing was presented as a new and exciting way to work out, Marla jumped at the chance. “ I am always up for something new!” she says. Heartbreaker Dance & Fitness was born from the pairing of Marla who designed and taught Shake Your Booty, and Sydney who had a portable pole business. “The idea just made sense to me that we should have a pole dance and strip aerobic studio. I didn’t hesitate.” Sydney and I put the wheels in motion and we opened within about 6 weeks.”
Heartbreaker Dance & Fitness started in October 2005 with 2 instructors and 3 classes. It has now expanded to have 8 instructors and 19 different classes, and it won’t stop there! Marla quit her full-time job, took over as sole proprietor and now dedicates her life to fitness and the studio. The fitness classes are the backbone of the business. “I introduced elements of group fitness in the pole and strip aerobics classes and the ladies just wanted more!” Says Patterson.
Based on the demand, this started the infamous ‘Boot’ylicious Camp. This is a fast paced, energetic, and extremely tough workout that uses weights, resistance, and strength components that would make most people cry. The classes have been selling out quickly and it is not slowing down at all! “ The response has been so positive” says Patterson “I am constantly looking for new and exciting ways to challenge these women to help them achieve their goals.” One way Marla has been helping is in the creation of the wildly popular Bikini Contest, “I always have a waiting list for this!” notes Patterson. “The results that these women get are just phenomenal! They always thank me, but ultimately they are doing all the work.”
Marla’s idea of a vacation is a weekend away in Calgary, to train with Jen Hendershott, a former Ms. Olympia and fitness model which is coming up in January 2007. “ I am counting down the days-I have had this booked for months!” says Marla “I keep learning, so my members can keep learning. There is no end to what you can do in fitness.” |
 About Dana
Dana started working out at Heartbreaker Dance & Fitness January 2009 when she participated in the Bikini Contest, placing 2nd runner up. “My goals were not weight loss, but simply to get into the best shape that I could!” Dana has worked out for a long time, and always thought she was going hard, until she took Bikini, and has never looked back! In two years, she has worked out harder than she ever has, learned about nutrition and what her body needs, to running her first 5 km and placing first, starting a Saturday morning run club, to becoming an instructor, and now part owner of Heartbreaker Dance & Fitness.
But that’s not where it all started. Dana has such a diverse background in her career, that she has a lot of experience to offer, even though not all related to “fitness”, her experience is very complimentary to the fitness industry.
Dana has always been a hard worker, and in her early 20’s, she was interested in working in the aesthetics industry, where she ended up managing 2nd Look Studios for about 2 years, then went on to work as a Director at 2nd Look Academy of Modelling where she helped teach Self-Improvement and Modelling classes to girls, coordinated fashion shows, as well as modelled in fashion shows. Then her direction took a completely different route, when she found herself working in the business world - coordinating a Career Fair which led to a job at Entre-Corp Business Development Centre where she stayed for eight years working with youth to develop and start small business ventures. Her first year with Entre-Corp, she caught the small business bug, and started her own retail business which she operated for about a year and a half.
Once children came along, Dana transferred her skills to work on projects from home, such as proposal writing, project coordination, event planning, and grant writing, which she did for 5 years.
Once her children were in school full time, it was time to venture back out into the outside working world, and again found herself shifting between the fashion and beauty world and the business world, and finally landing where she is today, which is a combination of the two. “I really consider myself to be a people person. I enjoy meeting people, helping, and encouraging people with their goals, and developing relationships with them.”
Dana’s goals within Heartbreaker Dance & Fitness is to focus on developing specialty classes such as Kickboxing, Yummy Mommy, Dangerous Curves, Kids Classes, Spin Classes, Sweat Free Workouts, Yoga, Pilates, Pole Fitness Classes and Burlesque, and helping and encouraging women to reach their goals, whatever their goals may be!
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