Inspiring Conversations with Aurelia Carvajal of @The Spot Dance & Fitness

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aurelia Carvajal.

Hi Aurelia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m the owner of a Small Family owned dance studio named @The Spot Dance & Fitness. I’m a 40 years old mother of five beautiful children. My unexpected journey started mid January 2021. A person I had known was going through tough times due to the pandemic and couldn’t keep up with her small business and offered me an opportunity to become my own boss. At first, the original idea of a small business didn’t go as planned. I was very hesitant this just didn’t seem realistic to me. To top it off, I was dealing with some serious health issues since 2019. With the support from my family, I decided to invest what I had into making this dance studio the best that I can. My main focus was to give my oldest son Angel a dance studio to call his own. He’s been dancing since he was nine years old. And seeing the impact dance has had on him opened my eyes to what he can bring to the community of La Puente. We wanted to offer a place for other children to feel welcomed, a place for children to come and just be themselves judge free. There’s so many different styles of dance to learn it’s such a beautiful way to express yourself just by feeling the rhythm and beat of the music. Our goals for the studio is to grow within the community and bring a variety of dance and art. I grew up in Boyle Heights and there wasn’t many options or opportunities for dance besides folklorico. Along the way, we have met some amazing people from the community. They have given us guidance and support. We have also grown family-like bonds with some of our dance families. We are excited to expand and grow with the community.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Just as things were picking up and we’re getting more involved with the community in September, we had an accident at our location. Someone had drove right through our studio wall luckily nobody was there or injured but it has caused us to lose a lot if business. Till this, we are still waiting for repairs.

As you know, we’re big fans of @The Spot Dance & Fitness. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a small family-owned dance studio. We want to give the children in the community a place to call home as far as giving them a place to be themselves. We offer a variety of dance classes from Hip-Hop, Ballet, Polynesian, Belly Dancing to old-school Break dancing. As we expand, we look forward to offering after school support and expand with teaching urban street art.

What were you like growing up?
As a child, I loved to dance and sing. Once I was like ten years old, I had become a tomboy, I was raised with male cousins. We didn’t grow up in a good area so in middle school, I became very rebellious.

Pricing:

• $25-$80

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Thespot_dance_fitness
• Facebook: The Spot Dance & Fitness
• Other: https://linktr.ee/TheSpotDanceAndFitness

Image Credits:
Mural Artist: David Calvillo IG: thundr_one