As the Donna Summer song goes, “She works hard for the money.” In this case, that “she” is Seandra “Sean” Wilson, owner of Jazzercise Riverton Fitness Center, and she just celebrated 30 years in business. 

Most of the money Wilson works hard for goes right back into the business. In addition to operating her Jazzercise studio, she also cleans houses. But it’s her passion for the fitness program and the people she’s met along the way that keep her working hard.

“I do it for the love of it. And no matter who you are or what phase of life you’re in, you have to exercise. For me, it’s almost healthcare at this point rather than self-care,” she said. 

Rewind to 1989. Wilson was a young mom living in West Valley. “I was seeking out exercise after my first baby. Almost the first minute of the first class, I just knew I wanted to be an instructor. I started saving something like $5 per paycheck for six years to come up with the $600 franchise fee. (Wilson explained you must purchase a franchise to use the Jazzercise name and choreography.) I was a customer first for six years,” she said. “Back in the day,” she remembers working out to the music of both Michael and Janet Jackson, Prince and others. (Now, it’s music by Pitbull, Usher and Taylor Swift.) 

In 1994, Wilson and her family moved to Riverton. “There was no Jazzercise, there weren’t even gyms,” she said. She missed the camaraderie and community she’d found working out in West Valley. 

Raised in Los Angeles as a child of character actors, Wilson became active with Riverton Community Theatre. Soon after arriving in Riverton, she had saved enough to establish a franchise and passed various certifications required of all Jazzercise instructors including CPR training, physiology, anatomy and choreography tests. She taught her first classes at Riverton Community Center. “I taught five to eight classes per week all by myself,” Wilson said. 

Wilson has been active in the Riverton community from the start. In addition to community theatre, she volunteered with the Miss Riverton Scholarship Competition for 25 years. “It’s an educational process I think all young women should go through, teaching them poise, diction and interview skills,” she said. Only in recent years did she step away from volunteering in that capacity. “We have a lot of grandkids and my priorities shifted,” she said.

Fast forward three decades since her move to Riverton and several locations later to accommodate a growing clientele, Wilson now manages a Jazzercise studio with 25 independent contractor instructors offering nearly 50 classes seven days per week. Her customers range in age from 18-84. Along the way, her daughter Alexis also became an instructor. 

Rebecca Parker of Herriman has been a customer for four years. Parker said she had foot surgery last year and gained weight as a result, but since returning to Jazzercise, she’s been able to lose the excess weight while adding muscle. “I feel strong and I think that’s key. This is different than going to a gym, there’s no judgment or competition. Sean and her team make the environment amazing. I feel loved and valued here,” Parker said. 

Riverton resident Jill Jacobson has been going to the studio for more than three years. “The instructors are upbeat and motivating and I feel better after class. I’m so glad my friend introduced me to Jazzercise,” Jacobson said. 

Jazzercise was founded 57 years ago by Judi Sheppard Missett. “She invented group fitness. She’s now 82 and still teaches one day a week,” Wilson said. The company is headquartered in Carlsbad, California and has grown to a woman-led global fitness community with 300 studios (like Wilson’s) and 1,200 locations in 16 countries. Missett’s daughter Shanna Nelson currently serves as CEO and Chief Choreographer and Nelson’s daughter Skyla is a third-generation instructor. The program is deeply rooted in dance and designed to support women’s physical and mental well-being with added strength training and jumping to increase bone density. “Jazzercise isn’t stuck in the past. For more than five decades, it is continually renewing itself with current music and exercise science to give strategies to women through life’s stages,” Nelson said in a recent television interview. 

Instructors are sent new routines from corporate every month to keep things fresh. Wilson said it can take 15 to 45 minutes just to get choreography down for one new routine. Every class features at least 15 routines designed to work different muscle groups. “When we learn choreography, we also learn the safety features of each movement to show and explain to our customers,” Wilson said. Instructors stand on a stage facing their class, allowing them to cue and demonstrate the moves, meaning they do every movement in a mirror-fashion. When the instructor says “go right” they’re actually going left. “That’s the hardest learning curve for new instructors,” Wilson said.

Wilson’s Jazzercise franchise survived the economic recession of 2008 and the upheaval of Covid, though the latter proved difficult to rebuild from. “Corporate allowed us to do videos from our homes during the pandemic, so I taught classes from my dining room and some instructors taught from their basements,” she said. As a small business owner, Wilson arranges for childcare at the studio, cleans the facility, pays the bills, does taxes and payroll, buys the supplies, schedules instructors for nearly 50 weekly classes, and texts the weekly schedule out to her customers. When necessary, she teaches two classes per day when an instructor calls out sick or has a conflict.

But Wilson’s love and appreciation for Jazzercise has only grown. “It’s not about legwarmers and leotards anymore…it was for a time because that was the trend, but trends change and so do we. Exercise science is so advanced these days. Instead of letting trends dictate how and what we do, it’s science-based. We have a physiologist on staff at corporate who reviews every movement for injury prevention and safety before it’s accepted into choreography,” Wilson said.  

Wilson’s customers come from Alpine, Saratoga Springs, Bluffdale, Sandy, Draper, West Jordan, South Jordan, Herriman and Riverton, as far west as Magna and as far east as Cottonwood Heights. “We have more than 100 customers with room for many more,” she said.

The studio is located at 1716 W. 12600 South. If interested in a free trial, call or text 801-828-8694.