Meet Cherise Bryant Fitness | Pilates, Dance and Stretch

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cherise Bryant Fitness and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cherise, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
My passion for dance began when I was a very young girl. My chosen interest were Ballet, Jazz and Modern dance. When I saw my first dance company as a teenager, I was captured by how beautifully they executed their movements. The company was Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and I was filled with emotion. In that moment I knew that I wanted to study dance, work hard, and entertain an audience similar to the artist I saw in the company. As an adult I was able to spend a summer training with Alvin Ailey summer symposium and I also studied dance with Donald McKalye and joined his company at the University of California, Irvine for 4 years. I graduated with a BFA is dance. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel worldwide on cruise ships, perform in regional theaters across the US, and perform in Las Vegas productions show headlining major artist including Meat Loaf. After becoming a mother and seeing my body change immensely I decided to get certified in Barre and Lagree to shed weight and gain my confidence back. Already having a foundation of Pilates from college and a dance background was extremely helpful and made my transition into teaching smooth. I immediately fell in love with my clients and connected with them and helped them achieve their goals. During the pandemic when the studios closed I began teaching online and created a strong presence with my Barre and Pilates based fitness classes. I also created outdoor events and shaped my classes to relax and rejuvenate by adding more stretching to increase flexibility and create strong and healthy bodies These events took place at the San Diego Marriott rooftop and some of Temecula’s finest wineries. It is my ultimate goal to create a safe place to join a fun, like minded community of men and women who are healing and achieving their fitness goals.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Going down the performing artist path included a lot of rejection, Auditioning day after day and week after week and hearing consistent no thank you’s was very painful. But with all the rejection I became stronger and the no thank you’s pushed me to keep going until I would hear a yes.. Starting a business in fitness is similar. I deal with rejection and no thank you’’s because sometimes its just not the right fit, But similarly to performing I am passionate about what I am doing and it only inspires me to keep going and going to make a positive impact in my community.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d pick my friend up from the airport and go directly to sunset cliffs. I’d take them to a another beautiful scenic venue and have dinner and drinks at the rooftop of Marriott in Gaslamp Quarter with one of best views of the Coronado bridge. I’d take them to Rock Church. I love Point Loma and would take them to explore the different restaurants. Balboa Park is also one of San Diego’s treasures. From the museums, San Diego zoo and Japanese Botanical garden. There is so much to do and see.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d loved to shout out my 3 beautiful children for motivating me to become the best version of me.

Website: Cherisebryantfitness.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/love_fitnesswellness/

Youtube: Cherise Fitness and Wellness

Image Credits
Lenon Ortiz Lexi Johnson Kelsey Orcutt Xi Zheng Fernando Ortiz