But while driving toward her dream, she inhabited a world where her value was “completely tied into what my body looked like and what my body could do, and not who I was.”
Today, the founder of Move It Studio is helping others find value in self through movement, body positivity, and antiracism. It all comes back to dance, the place where she feels most alive.
“You can be happy and live a full life and still feel strong and beautiful. You can have a workout practice that you can enjoy. You don’t have to torture yourself to meet some standard.”
WAITING FOR 'PERMISSION'
At age 18, after attending boarding school for ballet and securing a contract with a professional company, Cleaves Rothacker was burned out. She switched gears, went to college and got an “office job.” She earned a Master’s in Nonprofit Administration at the University of Notre Dame, all the while teaching, performing, and training to become a Pilates teacher.
At one point, she was juggling five different part-time jobs including as adjunct staff at Messiah College. When a friend told her about an available space in Lancaster, she decided to take a chance on her life experience. She was watching the barre fitness trend grow, but wanted to bring more dance influence to the workout than she saw from the franchises. Another friend suggested, “Why don’t you figure out your own method?” Building on her ballet background, she opened the first barre fitness studio in Central PA. Her husband, a contractor, built a relaxing studio environment for a boutique setting.
Two weeks after opening the Lancaster studio in 2014, she learned she was pregnant. Six months after the birth of her daughter, she took a risk on expanding, opening a Manheim Township studio in 2016.
Studios moved and expanded. Cleaves Rothacker had another baby. Then, COVID-19 forced a four-month closure after opening a new downtown studio. In August, she launched a virtual platform to compete nationally.
The universe simply won’t let her embrace caution. Applying for grants, negotiating with landlords, those tasks aren’t fun. But the necessary duties create space for the invigorating ones. “I’ve gotten really clear with myself,” she says, “about focusing on the things that are energizing and inspiring to me.”
THE DOULA
In the middle of everything, Cleaves Rothacker decided to train as a doula. It made no sense on paper, she told her husband, but her heart was saying, “You’ve got to do this.”
Doulas provide physical, emotional, and informational support that helps expectant mothers have a better birth experience. Cleaves Rothacker trained through Diversifying Doulas, a program of Patients R Waiting that offers free doula services to Black and Latinx women along with training doulas of color.
“It does actually fit into the whole picture,” Cleaves Rothacker says, especially since the Black Lives Matter movement prompted soul searching. She was a multiracial woman who had benefited from white privilege, but had also been the recipient of racist behavior. She often spoke about body positivity but not about race and “what I truly believe.”
She despaired over racism in health care and the greater likelihood of women of color to die in childbirth. As a doula, she hopes to empower women through the birthing experience and instill confidence in mothers. With her prenatal barre and babywearing classes, “it’s all about empowering women.”
She is bringing inclusion to the studio. Staff train in antiracism. Nearly every brand in the Move It online store is BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) owned, woman owned, or small business. She is recruiting people of color for teacher training to help clientele of color feel safe and welcome.
“You can try to run away from yourself as much as possible–I’ve tried to do that in different ways throughout my life–but you can’t,” she says. “Embrace the fullness of who you are.”
A GROUP EFFORT
Cleaves Rothacker’s children are now 5 and 3. Her husband has been “a very supportive and consistent person and has been along for the journey.” Amid this year’s whirlwind of activity, he came home with a toy poodle puppy.
Cleaves Rothacker’s mother and sister support through their web design business. Her father invested financially. Why do they make their sacrifices?
“I guess they believe in me,” says Cleaves Rothacker. “As hard as I can be on myself, they believe in me in a way that feels unconditional.”
She has learned to trust her intuition. The pandemic unleashed an epiphany – a release of any shame “around whatever version of success I feel I need to achieve and that I feel that I haven’t. The truth is, especially in pandemic, you could follow the book and not offend anyone, and you could still fail.”
“I now have the freedom to fully embody what I want to create, and the chips are going to fall where they fall, but I now know whatever I do, I can achieve.”
Move It Studio
33 N Market Street #200 | Lancaster, PA | 717.925.9970
