Colorado Springs woman buys, rebrands downtown boutique fitness studio offering barre, Pilates classes

Sometimes it takes a while to figure out our exercise style.

But when we do, it can grab ahold of us and change our lives.

Five years ago, Samantha Kelly wouldn’t have guessed she’d be the new owner of a boutique fitness studio in downtown Colorado Springs. She recently purchased Barre Forte, at 115 N. Tejon St., Suite 110, and rebranded it as One Body Fitness Studio.

“You get one body to take care of your entire life,” Kelly said. “You don’t get to redo that so you better take good care of it. You get one class to give it your all, one move to work your core, one move for your glutes. You can do anything for one second, one minute, one hour. You can do anything. That’s become my motto through working out here.”

But working out didn’t come naturally to Kelly at first. It took years and a lot of trying on and discarding other forms of fitness. Intense weight lifting and cardio made her body hurt. And the yoga studios she visited didn’t offer her the human connection she sought.

“It was so important to have accountability,” she said, “where I could make friends and people would miss me and check on me. I would know if I didn’t show up they’d be like, where were you?”

But then she tried a 30-day promotion at a local barre studio and fell in love with the workout. However, there was still one large problem.

“I went there for 30 days and nobody talked to me,” she said. “It was so weird. I thought that’s how it was supposed to be. In 30 days I made no friends. Nobody knew my name and I knew nobody else’s name.”

That simply wouldn’t do for Kelly, who needed bonding along with her barre. So she tried a new studio, Barre Forte, and eventually started doing 10 classes a week, going twice a day. She loved the space, the workout, the people and the changes she saw in her body.

“After three weeks of working with Shilo Alvis (the former owner), my body was a shape I’d never seen before,” Kelly said. “I told her I felt like a superhero — my shoulders are broad and my waist is cinched in and I have these big round hips now I never knew existed.”

She became a “real-life influencer,” she says, evangelizing the benefits of barre, a group fitness class that marries small strengthening moves with the use of a ballet barre and ballet-inspired movements. Barre can help with back, knee and ankle pain, she told them, and improve pelvic floor and core strength.

Alvis noticed her passion and sent her to get certified to teach. Kelly did that for about four years when Alvis again approached her, but this time it was to buy the studio as it was time for her to move on.

“It was a no-brainer,” said Kelly, who worked in nonprofits for 15 years before becoming a real estate agent. She also co-owns a construction business with her boyfriend and another partner. “I tell her every day I cry a little bit from joy. That this is mine and I get to use it to make people’s lives better, and it’s so enriching to me to work for myself and be able to love people in this capacity.”

The 1,200-square-foot studio also offers Pilates and has four reformers and other Pilates equipment, circuit training and yoga classes. The studio will offer a new running club in June and strength training classes in the future. Classes are offered daily, about five on weekdays and two on Saturdays and Sundays.

Two memberships are available — one for Pilates and one for barre, circuit training and yoga. Discounts are available for military, first responders, doctors, nurses, those who work in the Downtown Partnership corridor, and those who care for special-needs adults and children. New patrons can purchase their first class for $10.

Client April Rice popped in for her first class in 2019 and stayed even when the pandemic forced the studio to shift classes online. She likes the way barre helps her build core strength and all the other tiny muscles the workout taps into. The low impact exercise has helped improve her running and weight lifting.

“Running and other activities put a strain as we age,” she said. “I love that it’s a place you can get through an injury and get through emotional and physical ailments. It’s not just a workout. It’s mental health for me also.”

The studio is partnering with Special Kids Special Families, a nonprofit that serves children and adults with disabilities, and offers a free community class at 10 a.m. on the first Thursday of the month for special-needs adults or any special-needs caregiver. And throughout the summer the studio will do free barre classes every other Saturday at 9 a.m. on the patio at The Well.

Rice appreciates the strong sense of community Kelly and the instructors cultivate: “Having someone know your name and being excited you’re there and missed you when you’re not there,” she said. “When I travel for weeks it’s always such a welcoming return.”

Classes attract clients from all walks of life, Kelly says, including hard-core Olympians and one man who wanted to be able to hike down into the Grand Canyon and back up.

“The tiny muscles, the connective tissues, the flexibility, the core strength, everything supporting those bigger muscles, the ones we love to use to swing around weights, that look really good in the mirror — we definitely hit those muscles, but that’s not what this is about,” Kelly said. “This is about living a long, happy, healthy life and staying mobile well into our retirement years.”

Contact the writer: 636-0270