Rhythm & Release was never designed to operate like a conventional gym. Inside the studio, cycling, strength and stretch are choreographed around rhythm, music and a sensory atmosphere built for switching off. The lights are low, the sound is loud, and the experience is deliberately screen-free, leaving performance metrics and comparison at the door.

Behind the studio is owner and coach Kaylei Ibarra Blackmoon, a self-described “figure it out” entrepreneur whose hands-on approach has shaped every layer of the brand. As Rhythm & Release prepares to move into a larger home this fall, its next chapter will introduce dedicated rooms for cycling and strength, while preserving the familiar, community-first energy that made members stay long after class ends.

FITNEUR sat down with Kaylei Ibarra Blackmoon to talk about building an independent studio, protecting the community feeling and the next chapter of Rhythm & Release.

— What do you want people to feel when they walk into your space?

— I want it to feel like you’ve stepped out of Miami for a second. It’s dark, the music is loud, the lighting is intentional, and everything is designed to make you forget about whatever is happening outside those doors. But it’s also warm. People know your name and there’s this energy that feels more like walking into a place you belong than walking into a gym.

The goal has always been for it to feel like more than just a workout. You move, sweat, release whatever you walked in carrying, and hopefully leave feeling better than when you came in.

— You describe Rhythm & Release as an anti-chain studio. What makes the approach different?

— I never wanted R&R to feel manufactured. We’re not trying to duplicate a formula that works in 50 other cities. Our coaches have personalities, our members have personalities, and our classes evolve. We’re small-business-forward, and because we were built independently, we have the freedom to make decisions based on our actual community instead of a corporate formula.

We listen to our members, change things, try things, and create experiences specifically for the people who walk through our doors. There is a level of connection that’s hard to manufacture. We care about the details, the energy in the room, and creating something that feels like ours.

— Who is Kaylei, beyond the role of owner, and how did the studio take shape?

— I’m a mom of one, a coach, a business owner, and probably the definition of a jack of all trades. I grew up as a military kid, so change and adapting have always been normal for me, and that has carried over into entrepreneurship more than I realized. I’m also very much a “figure it out” person. If I don’t know how to do something, I’ll learn.

Owning R&R has meant being the instructor, marketer, designer, salesperson, problem solver and sometimes the maintenance person, all in the same day. I started teaching cycling years ago and fell in love with what could happen in a room when you combined movement, music and the right people. I wanted to create something more personal and less formulaic, less about what fitness was supposed to look like and more about how it could make people feel.

— What has building an independent studio in Miami taught you?

— You have to be willing to figure things out as you go. There is no handbook for this. Miami is an amazing fitness market, but it’s incredibly competitive. There will always be someone with a bigger space, budget or name. Trying to compete with that is a losing game. The thing I can do better than anyone else is build our studio.

— What does the upcoming move represent for Rhythm & Release?

— We’re moving this fall into a new space in Miami’s Upper East area, and it is probably the biggest chapter for R&R yet. We’ll have a dedicated cycling room and a separate strength and movement space, which gives us much more freedom with programming. We are also expanding the wellness platform, which has always been an important part of what Rhythm & Release is about.

But I don’t want bigger to mean losing what made people fall in love with us in the first place. My biggest priority is keeping that intimate, community-driven feeling while giving R&R room to grow. It feels like we’re building the physical home for the brand we’ve been building all these years.

Find your rhythm: rhythmandrelease.com