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'Sexy Is Empowering, but Ratchet Is Liberating': South Side Dance Teacher

 E'A Williams the founder of Be Fit Tri Fitness Studio aims to get people fit and help them heal.
E'A Williams the founder of Be Fit Tri Fitness Studio aims to get people fit and help them heal.
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DNAinfo/Andrea V. Watson

BEVERLY — Women don’t leave a South Side dance and fitness studio the way they came in, said the owner.

Be Fit! Tri Wellness Studio, 1836 W. 95th St., just celebrated its one-year anniversary this month. E’a Williams, 39, a Beverly resident, said it was always her dream to open her own dance and fitness studio. She offers a variety of classes, which she hopes are transformative and soul-healing, from yoga to “ratchet” Wednesday classes, where dancers can “twerk, pop and shake” their stress away.

“Sexy is empowering, but ratchet is liberating,” she said.

The dance/fitness studio offers boot camps, yoga, personal training, massage therapy, nutrition counseling and dance fitness classes. People can sign up for suspension training, crossfit, kickboxing and more. She said she likes to offer cultural dance classes such as Afro Beat, capoeira and West African dance.

 E'a Williams the founder of Be Fit Tri Fitness Studio aims to get people fit and help them heal.
E'a Williams the founder of Be Fit Tri Fitness Studio aims to get people fit and help them heal.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Andrea V. Watson

First-time customers can pay $5, and, if they bring a friend, the deal is two for $10. Walk-in customers are always welcome, she said.

All of the dance classes are meant to be fun and operate as a release to outside stress factors, she said, but they also provide healing.

“I’m naturally a counselor and a healer, so in any class, whether it’s bootcamp to yoga to belly dancing to chair dance to a massage, everything taps into your mind, body and soul healing,” Williams said. “I just want people leaving out of here feeling fully healed.”

Williams has always danced, but she went to school for physical therapy and psychology. After finishing at Howard University, she became an emergency medical technician.

As a young adult, she worked at different gyms and hotels as a massage therapist to support herself through school. She said that when the licensing laws became more strict, she decided to pursue her artistic dreams, so she went to New York City to work on film and production.

Eventually she returned to her native Chicago, and moved to Beverly. She grew up on the North Side, in Uptown.

“I wasn’t about to open up shop all the way on the North Side because we don’t need any more on the North Side,” she said, adding that the South Side is broken and needs unity and healing.

She works closely with the Auburn Gresham community, occasionally offering free fitness classes.

“I just want a place where people who want to heal or get that feeling, or people who didn’t even know it was missing because they came in here because they want to get ready for their birthday, but they walk out and realize that was a whole cultural and spiritual experience,” she said. “When you walk in, I hope you feel the love and warmth of the place.”

Be Fit! Tri Wellness Studio is open Monday to Friday, with limited hours on Saturday. For more information, call 312-315-4977.

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