Just For Kix Finds Niche with Albertville's InFit

Working on a deadline, Albertville Just For Kix coordinator Andrea Doom had assigned herself a daunting task. Get seven young girls together, teacher them a new hip-hop routine, and put it out there for presentation at a performance in less than two weeks.

All part of a day's work. Well, two (practices), actually.

Just For Kix Dance Studio has been part of the St. Michael-Albertville Dance scene for a couple of years now, but the club feels now it's found it's rightful home, teaming with InFit and Ashley Darkenwald in an agreement reached this summer.

"It's been a great fit for us and for them," Darkenwald said. "And it's fun to see new faces."

The feeling's mutual, Doom said.

"Some of our girls who had been with us a while had never danced in front of a mirror before," she said. "They'd never had that luxury."

Just For Kix worked with the prior to its arrangement with InFit. Now, there's no rotating gyms or booking time with other groups. The result has been more participation for JFK–last year the group ended the year with 48 dances in a handful of classes. Now, Doom is offering new classes (like the hip-hop routine) and has more than 80 kids as registration begins to heat up.

"We can't express how much we love the facility here. The studios are perfect," Doom said. 

Just For Kix is based in Brainerd, and as become a Midwest phenomenon, bringing dance classes to (mostly) girls young and old in a format they stress is "both affordable and all-inclusive. Everyone gets to participate," Doom said.

As for Doom, she's a local resident who, actually, has been an InFit client for more than two years. She's a graduate of St. Cloud Tech and danced to a state title before graduation. She helped start a Just for Kix dance studio in Delano before siezing this opportunity.

"I think it's a great concept, and you can start at 3 years old and go all the way through seventh grade with us, so far," she said. "I hope, someday, that we can bring dance back to the middle school and high school and have competitive teams at that level. That's a goal we can work toward as we grow in the community."

Classes are about $30 per month (less for the preschoolers) and meet eight months out of the year. The dancers have a minimum of four performances, two of which are group competitions for older students.

"We performed at a dance invitational in Monticello with some of our grade school and middle school-aged kids, and it was so cool for them to see the high school teams perform. They got a kick out of that," Doom said.

This week, Just for Kix will host its Winter Dance Show at St. Michael-Albertville Middle School West (including that hip-hop routine, we hope). The show starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16.

Some of the older students will then take their competitive routine on the road, back to Doom's hometown of St. Cloud, in January.

"We really have an opportunity to grow," Doom said, saying that this is just the start. "Minnesota is one of the states known for its talent in dance, and it's a sport that really done well with kids. I know the University of Minnesota and some of our local high schools do very well at national competitions."

For more information, check out the organization's website. Or, email Doom to inqire about local classes, which are still accepting registrations.