Dancing Without Sin: Fayetteville woman moves the community with fitness and faith

Stephanie Brown Kegler of Fayetteville has long used faith-centered dance fitness to move the community. She's taught thousands of classes at area recreation centers, local churches and online — but now she has a place of her own.

Kegler's Dancing Without Sin Movement Center opened March 2 at 208 Campbell Ave., a 2,500-square-foot home built in 1910. Kegler, 53, leads groups of up to 50 people in dance and resistance training to a mix of traditional gospel songs, gospel hip-hop and rap, she said.  She also offers personal training sessions and meal preparation services.

Kegler plans to host a slew of events at the center: small business Saturdays, where attendees can shop local vendors after a workout; a lip-synching competition; and a formal dance where attendees can get dressed up for a fun night out.

Kegler, who is a full-time housing property manager at Fort Bragg when she’s not on the dance floor, said she started as a Zumba instructor in 2009. Six years later, she started her business, Dancing Without Sin, to promote wellness in the Christian community, she said.

“It’s to try and get more of our church folks moving,” Kegler said. “When you give them gospel music, they’ll do anything they need to do to get healthy.”

Her classes, however, are open to anyone who wants to put on their dancing shoes and shake their hips in a positive environment without alcohol and expletives, she said. Kegler has led blind people, children, seniors and Muslim women in movement, she said.

Kegler, who is a member of New Beginnings Christian Church on Reilly Road, plans to offer a certification program for "movement ministers,” to bring Dancing Without Sin-style fitness classes all over the state and the country, she said.

“The goal is to get the whole world moving,” Kegler said.

More:Meet the Fayetteville doula fighting to improve Black maternal health, infant mortality rates

More:Just dough it: Three women making the Fayetteville-area food scene sweet

Moving the community

Kegler said her hashtag and mantra #MovePeople has a double meaning — it encourages people to get off the couch and move their bodies, but also to take action to improve their communities, she said.

“There’s always something you can do,” she said.

Dancing Without Sin holds an annual September event, Health & Fitness Cancer Awareness, she said. Last year, it raised $2,800 for Cancer Phi Free, an organization that supports women with breast cancer and their families, she said. This year, the event will be held Sept. 16 at John D. Fuller Recreation Center.

Kegler said she also shows up for her community through food.

Since 2010, she has cooked a Thanksgiving meal for residents of Randolph Pointe, the Fort Bragg apartment complex for single soldiers that she manages. Recently, she said, she cooked a meal for 20 of Dancing Without Sin’s closest supporters.

“I don’t love to cook, but I love to serve,” she said.

With a location of her own and support for her mission, she plans to keep moving the community, she said.

“I thank God,” she said. “It’s just amazing I was able to pull this off.”

Reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at tshook@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Dancing Without Sin is Fayetteville's newest fitness center