From dance and group fitness to On Beat, her studio in Miami’s Little Havana, a movement coach is building space for community and a more independent future for instructors.
Betsy Dopico does not like to put limits on movement. She grew up in Cuba, where physical activity was part of daily life, but her first language was also artistic: she studied piano, dance and acting. After moving to Mexico at 20, an unexpected invitation to train as a group fitness instructor gave those worlds a new place to meet. “Movement is medicine”, she says, a belief that has followed her from her first class to the work she is building today.
Teaching came naturally to someone used to connecting with an audience. What surprised her was the energy coming back from the room. She saw people leave class sweaty, happy and relieved of some of the stress they had brought in. Soon, she was also teaching Cuban dance rhythms to a small group of women. When she later began offering Zumba classes, her first regular group met in the parking area of her home. One early participant invited her friends, and the circle grew from there.
That beginning still informs her advice to other coaches: start with what you have, where you are, but take the responsibility seriously. Betsy went on to study group fitness, anatomy, breathing and teaching methods. “When you stand in front of people, you have a commitment and a responsibility”, she explains. For her, an engaging class was never enough on its own; an instructor also had to understand how to help people move safely.
When a business depends on one person
Betsy began by running her own classes, but soon learned that owning a business could mean doing everything herself: teaching, preparing music, maintaining the space, finding clients and handling customer service. “Being a business owner doesn’t immediately make you an entrepreneur”, she reflects. With no formal business education, she learned the financial side through experience while trying not to become captive to the work she loved. After the pandemic interrupted her travel and certification work, Betsy lost a studio. Around the same time, her mother became ill and Betsy helped care for her. The loss of stability made her question a professional identity tied to a fitness program she had taught for years.
“For the first time in my life, I didn’t know where to go”, she recalls. She explored other movement practices, including Pilates and somatic movement, while trying to understand what she wanted to do next.
It took her two years to find her way forward, a process that eventually led to On Beat, her studio in Little Havana. Betsy wants it to become a place where neighbours can use movement to make space for themselves, release stress and feel supported. She speaks with particular concern for people whose working lives leave little time to focus on their own wellbeing. Her ambition for the studio is local and personal: to create a welcoming space that serves the community around it.
She is also developing Muévete lo Fitness with colleagues Yashmani and Janet Briseño, bringing together fitness, dance and greater awareness of movement and breathing. Alongside the classes, they envision business education that could help instructors build more financial stability without depending entirely on the places where they teach.
For Betsy, both projects lead back to the same conviction. Coaches deserve to be valued for more than the hour they spend at the front of a room, and they have more to gain from working together than guarding their own territory. “Educate yourself and trust yourself”, she advises fellow instructors. Then she adds the principle she considers essential: “Don’t forget ethics”. Skill, responsibility and connection, in her view, are what turn a class into work that matters.
Find your rhythm: @betsydecuba
