This hasn’t been the 100-meter dash competition; this has been more like a 100 steps career rounded by mountains, ups, downs, rocky roads, falls, and wake-ups. We’ve succumbed to changes and external crises that have proved our strength and adaptive skill. We’ve arrived at our blog #100, and we’re so proud of that; that’s why we take the opportunity to share with you our history told by Lili Barrera, StepFlix’s creator. By her hand you’ll know the reasons why we exist, how we become the source of complete entertainment and one of the biggest dance & fitness studios, let’s start this journey 😉
I’m a professional dancer and a certified Pilates instructor. I started dancing and doing Pilates 15 years ago as part of therapy to help me recover from severe rheumatism that has manifested in my body since I was 12 years old. Dancing not only helped me recover my muscles, but it also became my passion, then my job, and later on, my business.
I first started belly dancing and I fell in love with it, to the point that I left my job and became a professional belly dancer, teaching and performing all over Miami. A bit later, I started Tango dancing as well as Aerial dance and Latin rhythms: Salsa, Bachata, Zouk, Merengue and Samba. At the same time, I continued doing Pilates for my own well-being. Since I became a certified teacher, the owner of the studio where I did my certification, pushed me to teach; I then combined both dancing and Pilates. I worked for many hotels such as The Mandarin Oriental & Viceroy Hotels, as well as studios all over Miami.
Things were going great until the economic crash of 2008 when many studios and restaurants closed. The idea of having an online dance & fitness studio occurred to me, and that’s how StepFlix was born. I built a video-library of dance & fitness classes, organized by styles and difficulty levels, to teach people how to dance and stay in shape, by providing them sets of exercises.
I sold my apartment and invested all the funds to create the business and website; StepFlix was doing well, but marketing is very expensive, especially online marketing, so the company ran out of capital and it seemed that I had no choice but to close the business. One night, I prayed to God to guide me in what to do and how to do it and the Holy Spirit gave me the idea to start providing dance and circus shows for events. Almost every instructor StepFlix has, is also a performer. Our first show was a mix of belly dance, samba and flamenco for an art walk night in Wynwood. Then, I started reaching out to people I personally know, plus businesses such as galleries, restaurants, shopping centers, hotels, etc … offering our services and little by little we grew to where we are today! StepFlix has a wide variety of entertainment services for private and corporate events.
It has been a great learning experience, an opportunity to discover and cultivate my talents, as well as to have amazing relationships with both people I work with and clients. Our goal is to make our clients’ events ones to remember, providing them with the best service from the booking to the post-event feedback.
I guess all businesses go through ups and downs until they find their path. In my case, the online studio provided me all the experience I needed to have an entertainment company today. I started thinking of having an online business and life made me adapt on the way, so I could survive and find my path. The biggest challenge was and is to maximize our resources to get exposure in the right market. Today, StepFlix has become an entertainment company that provides more than online dance classes; StepFlix is the source of complete entertainment for any corporate or private event.
The key to success has been to be persistent, organized, focused and committed to my dreams!
Life is not a straight line, it’s a mountain full of ups and downs, surprises and unexpected situations, like covid-19. Our online dance and fitness classes have grown tremendously since 2020, and thank God we were prepared when that pandemic hit, so we have been providing tons of online dance series, as well as Pilates and workouts sets through our StepFlix Youtube Channel.
I personally feel grateful and very fulfilled to see my dreams come true as well as being able to help people. We upload new video-classes everyday, have more than 70 professional renowned instructors worldwide and an excellent behind the scenes team who allows us to keep up with our dreams to help people to learn how to dance and stay in good shape. Today we have about 90,000 subscribers who take our online lessons on a daily basis.
StepFlix provides a wide variety of entertainment services for private and corporate events: dance shows, circus shows, flash mobs, shows for kids, choreographies, dance classes, DJs, live music, photography and video production. We are a very talented and committed group of dancers, choreographers, circus artists, musicians, DJs, photographers, videographers and video editors.
We listen to our clients, take their visions and customize our shows to provide them with the best entertainment services for their events!
We offer many dance style shows: Capoeira, Belly Dance, Flappers, Flamenco, Salsa, Rumba, Samba, Bachata, Ballroom, Polynesian, Bollywood, Bhangra, Hip Hop, Cha Cha, Tango, Tap, etc … We can mix styles and create a customized show!
For circus acts, we offer: acrobats in aerial silks, lyra, net & trapeze, adagio, hand balancing, head perch balancing, hand-to-hand, contortion, Chinese-pole, mimes, magicians, jugglers, circus characters, stilt walking and stilt jumping.
For music needs, we have specialized DJs who can spin a wide variety of genres from pop, rock, lounge, Latin music, hip hop, top 40s to Bollywood & Bhangra hits. We also offer live music: from solo musicians to complete bands in all music genres.
We have packages of private dance classes & choreography for first dances at weddings, sweet sixteens or any occasion our clients would like to dance a specific routine or take some lessons to learn or improve their dance skills.
And last but not least, we also offer video production, photography services, and video animations. We also have packages to fit your event, preferences, and budget.
We continuously update our shows, costumes, music genres, etc … to be up-to-date with trends, always taking good care of maintaining our quality standards, as well as the classic elegance that has distinguished us from other companies. When it comes to entertainment, there is a fine line between exotic, sexy and vulgar.
Our big dream is to have our own theater production where we can tell a story through dance, circus, and music; we are not there yet, but God willing, perhaps one day, it will become a reality.
We were invited to collaborate and to be part of some productions, put together by other dance companies and non-profit organizations, such as: Worldly Treasures at Murray Nelson Cultural Center in Key Largo, Arts Launch at the Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Arsht Center, Miami, Great Miami Festivals and Events’ fair at Expo Fair in Miami, among others. We hope to continue collaborating with these and other organizations to bring the best of entertainment to different audiences around the world.
We are also constantly invited to teach and perform in many dance festivals, so our online audience will have the opportunity to take onsite classes with us!