Outdoor Voices (OV), a brand that has taken a new approach to fitness in selling “technical apparel for recreation,” hosted a dance party at the Wilburn Street Studio Nov. 12th. This wasn’t just any dance party, though– it was a part of the Exercise Dress Tour, a traveling dance event in honor of OV’s best-selling exercise dress. The tour kicked off on Sept. 21 in Washington D.C. and will end on Dec. 5 in Miami. Only hitting eight cities in total, Nashville was one of the lucky few that earned a visit from dance instructor Joeli Villa and the traveling OV team.
Originally scheduled to be held in Bicentennial Park, those who RSVP’d to the party were contacted hours before kickoff regarding an indoor location change when the weather dipped below 20 degrees. Attendees willing to wait outside the Wilburn Studio before the event received a free workout dress before stock ran out.
Upon entering the dimly lit studio with exposed brick, the words of local studio marketing manager Theresa Vongkhamchanh cut through the general chatter. “We truly believe you can do everything in a dress,” she said.
Those words materialized minutes later when Joeli Villa, the face of the national tour, appeared on stage in the latest OV leopard print dress which launched Nov. 7. Villa taught the crowd a couple of seemingly basic dance moves to follow for each song and turned them into a fun routine. He then held a freestyle section for the last 20 minutes of the party, where Villa’s eccentric personality really shined.
Those loyal to the brand have traveled from city to city, following the dance tour and Villa’s contagious energy. For him, the party hosted in Minneapolis highlighted the true meaning of the event and demonstrated the dancers’ loyalty to him and the brand.
“Minneapolis was the most memorable event for me. It was raining hardcore, it was only 20 degrees and people still showed up to have a good time,” Villa said.
Villa tried made his moves easy to follow and despite the crowd’s best efforts, no one could mimic his natural rhythmic disposition. However, the tour was not meant to be taken too seriously. It gave individuals an opportunity to move and have fun without the pressure of performance– an ideology that is very in tune with the brand’s overall message and goals.
“Hosting events like the Exercise Dress Tour and our other weekly community events are a great way for us to set the stage for the community to gather and do things together,” Vongkhamchanh said. “I loved seeing so many regular attendees of our events and new faces join together in a big dance party where everyone just let loose. Authenticity is highly celebrated at Outdoor Voices and to see it live in action at such a large scale was so special.”
The dance party ended in a giant dance circle where people broke out in their best moves for everyone to see. Although people came with their own groups, by the end of the night, it was clear that everyone was in it together.
