Award-winning fitness business proud to host first showcase celebrating diversity and hard work

An award-winning fitness business was proud to host its first showcase, which celebrated the diversity and hard work of the attendees.

The Collective Aerial Arts & Fitness was named the ‘best health and fitness business in the East Midlands’ earlier in the year at the 2023 England Business Awards.

Located in a small garden gym in Broadmead Avenue, they offer aerial hoop sessions, pole fitness, personal training, and strength and conditioning classes.

Despite the ups and downs of setting up the business, founder Charlotte Clulow says receiving the award made her realise it was “the best thing she ever did”.

Charlotte started the venture after being made redundant from her job as a pole fitness instructor in December 2019 – and it was that job that made her realise how much she enjoyed aerial hoop and pole fitness.

That was also where she met instructor Laura Crouch, who she runs The Collective alongside.

Charlotte went on to retrain as an aerial arts teacher and personal trainer in college while pregnant with her daughter, before opening the business in September 2020.

Despite only opening for a month due to pandemic restrictions, Charlotte ran online classes until the gym was able to reopen in May 2021.

Since then, she has continued to build on the personalised classes with small numbers of attendees – to offer a safe space for those who may feel intimidated by larger groups. It is this factor that sets The Collective apart from other gyms offering similar classes across the town.

The Collective hosted their first ever showcase on Sunday (December 10), to celebrate the clients’ hard work over the past year.

There were 13 performances from people doing what they love, which Charlotte hoped would celebrate diversity and show anyone is capable of anything.

Charlotte was “excited but nervous” as the performers had “worked so hard” for the past four months ahead of the showcase.

“It’s such a diverse bunch,” said Charlotte. “Everyone’s such an individual with their own style. It’s nice for them to show their friends and family what they do. Until you see it, people don’t appreciate how hard it is and how hard they’ve worked.”

Not only does performing help to build self confidence, but also “pushes boundaries” with both physical and mental health.

The show was attended by around 70 people, who saw pole fitness and aerial hoop performances. Some were “theatrical” and others were “comedic”, but Charlotte says they were all “graceful and beautiful”.

“I’ve got such a lovely community,” said Charlotte. “I couldn’t have done it without them. They’ve all chipped in.”

Looking to 2024, Charlotte hopes to introduce new classes as she has spent time gaining an understanding of what it is that people want.

She also wants to continue growing The Collective’s community, which has proved difficult with the cost of living crisis and people being able to afford classes.

For more information on The Collective Aerial Arts & Fitness, visit their Facebook page here.