Meet Meghan Greenwood | Dance Choreographer, Fitness Instructor, and Co-Owner of BaM Choreography LLC

We had the good fortune of connecting with Meghan Greenwood and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Meghan, how does your business help the community?
BaM Choreography strives to provide a release from stress and boost in confidence through movement solutions.

We work with adults and children in our community. As adults, we often forget the power of moving our body and how that can really improve our mental state. Our services include a wide range of methods to help adults feel re-energized, motivated, and healthier, all while technically working out. Our choreographic style aims to facilitate the connection between the brain and body, as dance is one of the best ways to prevent neurological disease. We also focus a lot of our events on women’s empowerment, building their self-esteem through sassy dance routines, fitness accountability, goal-setting workshops, and sharing circles to combat isolationism & find community. Additionally, we work with senior citizens and mature adults, creating a range of programs for all bodies.

For children, we develop coordination, spatial awareness, and muscle memory in light, fun-filled dance classes, all centered around the benefits of moving their body and historical context surrounding specific dance genres. We also focus on establishing friendships and showing respect to one another on and off the dance floor.

Overall, our philosophy is that everyone can move their body, and with BaM, you will be able to do so in a no-pressure, no-judgement way. We aim to make our community healthier with each step!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
BaM Choreography was founded under the principle of providing affordable, no judgement/no pressure dance and fitness classes to adults and children. We took our love of dance and the community it created for us and wanted to share it with Pittsburgh.

We provide movement solutions for health & happiness. We are not a typical dance studio or gym. Most of our classes are donation-based, and all of our classes are inclusive to all ages, levels, and abilities. We are especially proud of giving back, providing a sense of belonging, and alleviating stress & re-energizing the body & mind. In our nearly 12 years of business, no one has ever left a class feeling defeated.

We are most excited about facilitating more women’s wellness events, including workshops with goal-setting, vision-boarding, AND of course, movement. Our women’s classes especially focus on stress-relief and body positivity, with sassy and sexy heels and chair dance. We want to establish a tight knit group of like-minded ladies who champion each other and are there when you need a shoulder.

The two founders of BaM, sisters Brianna Pato & Meghan Greenwood, chased big dreams at the start of the business. We worked with a ton of dance studios, mostly choreographing for kids. It wasn’t easy to travel and solicit invitations into well-established studios. At the time, the idea of contracted choreographers was just catching on. Thus, we soon realized that our true calling was not only traditional children’s dance, but working with adults, especially those who hadn’t danced in a long time or ever before. We wanted them to feel accepted and confident in their ability to move, no matter if they picked up the steps or not.

We are always re-inventing ourselves, which has helped us navigate the challenges of slow seasons, personal lifestyle changes, and of course, COVID. We aren’t afraid to try something new if the original idea doesn’t work, and our ability to network and maintain positive relationships within the community has really helped us solidify a presence. We are not afraid to boost others and have directly done so through performance artist showcases and charity events. We are also not opposed to taking needed breaks and leaving the doors wide open for our students to do the same.

Finally, we want the world to know that as we age, we do not have to settle or give up what we love. If there is a will, there is a way – and BaM Choreography can help you along that path.

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?
First, I would show them the river trail on the Allegheny in Pittsburgh. Beautiful views of the city of bridges. Next, I would take them to a show at the Benedum Center, our foremost theater – I’m a huge fan of musicals. Then, we would likely go to the Lawrenceville neighborhood and eat at the Round Corner Cantina, a spectacularly adorned Mexican restaurant. Lastly, we would try our hand at a yoga or aerial silks class – both prominent movement disciplines in the Pittsburgh area and some of my favorite (outside of dance, of course!).

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The sense of community at BaM Choreography was inspired by our late dance teacher and mentor, Ms. Joyce Ellis. She taught us how to dance for the love of movement and treat everyone with utmost respect. She was a prominent philanthropist of Washington, Pennsylvania and bridged a gap between movement & giving back.

We also couldn’t have succeeded without the constant support of our students, our children, and our BaMFaM, a group of dedicated, adult dancers who never hesitate to help us live our vision.

Website: https://www.bamchoreography.com/

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

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-greenwood-phd-a0899134/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BamChoreography

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2Nw1SMnfel1ZPPrEz7HgAA

Image Credits
Phusion Photography for the main profile picture of 2 owners of BaM