{"id":9313,"date":"2026-06-08T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/?p=9313"},"modified":"2026-06-08T02:25:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T02:25:39","slug":"dance-with-sarah-powell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/dance-with-sarah-powell","title":{"rendered":"Dance With Sarah Powell: How a lifelong passion became an African dance startup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For months, the same conversation kept resurfacing between Sarah and her husband, Josiah Powell.<\/p><p>After more than a decade as a professional African street dancer, Sarah kept running into the same gap. People could always find a class to take, but not a place to genuinely learn and grow in African dance, somewhere that felt like a community instead of a one-off lesson.<\/p><p>The more they talked, the clearer the opportunity became. That conversation became <a href=\"https:\/\/dancewithsarahpowell.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dance With Sarah Powell<\/a>, an Afro dance business in Baltimore, Maryland, built to be the space Sarah had been looking for.<\/p><p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_75 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/dance-with-sarah-powell\/#Building_the_kind_of_space_Sarah_wished_existed\">Building the kind of space Sarah wished existed<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/dance-with-sarah-powell\/#Turning_the_vision_into_something_real\">Turning the vision into something real<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/dance-with-sarah-powell\/#Building_quickly_without_losing_the_vision\">Building quickly without losing the vision<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/dance-with-sarah-powell\/#Extending_the_experience_beyond_the_dance_studio\">Extending the experience beyond the dance studio<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/dance-with-sarah-powell\/#Expanding_access_through_digital_learning\">Expanding access through digital learning<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-building-the-kind-of-space-sarah-wished-existed\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Building_the_kind_of_space_Sarah_wished_existed\"><\/span><strong>Building the kind of space Sarah wished existed<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><p>As a professional Afro dancer, Sarah had spent more than a decade teaching, performing, and watching how people experienced dance spaces &ndash; especially beginners entering them for the first time.<\/p><p>At the same time, years of teaching high school students shaped how she approached learning. Before launching the business, she also worked at a nonprofit dedicated to expanding educational opportunities for underserved students across the United States.<\/p><p>For Sarah, dance was never just about choreography. The experience around it mattered just as much.<\/p><p>Josiah came from a different creative world altogether, a self-described visualist drawn to visual storytelling, aesthetics, and creative expression. But his background runs technical too, with a day job in cybersecurity and several years freelancing as a web developer, the technical grounding to match his creative instinct.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context='{\"imageId\":\"6a29432189a25\"}' data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6a29432189a25\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1066\" height=\"1600\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/Josiah-Sarah-Powell-2.jpeg\/public\" alt=\"Josiah and Sarah Powell\" class=\"wp-image-9315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/Josiah-Sarah-Powell-2.jpeg\/w=1066,fit=scale-down 1066w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/Josiah-Sarah-Powell-2.jpeg\/w=200,fit=scale-down 200w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/Josiah-Sarah-Powell-2.jpeg\/w=682,fit=scale-down 682w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/Josiah-Sarah-Powell-2.jpeg\/w=768,fit=scale-down 768w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/Josiah-Sarah-Powell-2.jpeg\/w=1023,fit=scale-down 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1066px) 100vw, 1066px\" \/><button class=\"lightbox-trigger\" type=\"button\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-label=\"Enlarge\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\" data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\">\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewbox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\"><\/path>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div><p>Together, they realized they were both noticing the same gap.<\/p><p>Sarah understood what was missing inside the dance experience. Josiah had a better understanding of what it would take to make African dance education a viable business, as well as an established third space for wellness and community &ndash; something people could feel drawn to before they ever walked into the studio.<\/p><p>&ldquo;We discovered an opportunity to create an environment and ecosystem where people could learn and grow in African street and social dance styles in a way they hadn&rsquo;t experienced before,&rdquo; Josiah said.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-turning-the-vision-into-something-real\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Turning_the_vision_into_something_real\"><\/span><strong>Turning the vision into something real<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><p>Once the idea stopped feeling hypothetical, Sarah and Josiah had to figure out what the business would actually look and feel like.<\/p><p>&ldquo;Our first step was buying the domain name for the business,&rdquo; Josiah recalled.<\/p><p>The name &ldquo;Dance With Sarah Powell&rdquo; came naturally. It was one of the first ideas they landed on, and it happened to be available. More importantly, it framed dance through Sarah&rsquo;s lens: Afrocentric, technically sound, culturally respectful, and full of joy.<\/p><p>The visual identity took longer to settle into. Josiah originally imagined the business in red. Sarah pushed for purple and pink instead, a direction he described as royal.<\/p><p>&ldquo;I give credit to my wife because she was the one who wanted to go in that purple direction,&rdquo; he said.<\/p><p>That back-and-forth became part of the creative process itself. Sarah brought the artistic vision and a deep understanding of the dance community.<\/p><p>Josiah focused on establishing that vision as a global movement, one that could transcend Sarah herself, and on translating it visually through an effortlessly informative, engaging, and user-friendly website, built for people experiencing this kind of service for the first time.<\/p><p>Over time, the colors, visuals, and branding became part of the atmosphere people now associate with Dance With Sarah Powell.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-building-quickly-without-losing-the-vision\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Building_quickly_without_losing_the_vision\"><\/span><strong>Building quickly without losing the vision<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><p>Josiah first came to Hostinger through a two-year web hosting deal. The price drew him in. The experience with the platform kept him there.<\/p><p>&ldquo;I needed something that was going to be intuitive, easy to understand, and quick for me to learn and put into application as fast as possible,&rdquo; he explained.<\/p><p>At the time, Josiah was firmly in the WordPress world. During his years freelancing as a developer, building a client website typically took about 10 days from start to finish.<\/p><p>Efficiency mattered to him deeply. So when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/horizons\">Hostinger Horizons<\/a> launched, he paid attention.<\/p><p>He watched it develop through its updates, and when it came time to build the Dance With Sarah Powell site, he went straight to Horizons. The site was built entirely from scratch on the platform.<\/p><p>Recently, he built what he describes as an exact replica of the kind of website he would have created in WordPress. The difference was speed.<\/p><p>What used to take about 10 days now took roughly 2.5 hours instead. And the speed wasn&rsquo;t the only difference. Josiah found that Hostinger Horizons was producing &ldquo;honestly a better result&rdquo; than what he would have built himself.<\/p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s come a long way from its initial stages,&rdquo; Josiah said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really taken leaps and bounds in helping business owners bring their ideas and visions to life.&rdquo;<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-extending-the-experience-beyond-the-dance-studio\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Extending_the_experience_beyond_the_dance_studio\"><\/span><strong>Extending the experience beyond the dance studio<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><p>People discover Dance With Sarah Powell in different ways.<\/p><p>Some hear about the class from a friend. Others come across a video on Instagram or TikTok. Eventbrite also plays an important role, functioning not just as a ticketing platform but as a discovery channel where people can follow the business and find upcoming events.<\/p><p>Together, those channels have helped the business build momentum.<\/p><p>Since February 2026, Dance With Sarah Powell&rsquo;s Instagram following has grown by approximately 410.5%. Profile visits have increased by roughly 200.6%, while external link taps are up about 77.8% since November 2025.<\/p><p>But social media only goes so far. Eventually, people want to know who&rsquo;s behind the classes, what to expect when they arrive, and whether this is a community they can see themselves in.<\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context='{\"imageId\":\"6a2943218aab7\"}' data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6a2943218aab7\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1110\" height=\"1665\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00007-scaled.jpeg\/public\" alt=\"Dance With Sarah Powell's dance classes\" class=\"wp-image-9316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00007-scaled.jpeg\/w=1110,fit=scale-down 1110w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00007-scaled.jpeg\/w=200,fit=scale-down 200w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00007-scaled.jpeg\/w=683,fit=scale-down 683w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00007-scaled.jpeg\/w=768,fit=scale-down 768w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00007-scaled.jpeg\/w=1024,fit=scale-down 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" \/><button class=\"lightbox-trigger\" type=\"button\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-label=\"Enlarge\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\" data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\">\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewbox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\"><\/path>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div><p>For someone discovering African dance styles for the first time, the website acts as a deeper introduction to the experience. It&rsquo;s a place to learn about the business, explore upcoming classes, and get a sense of the community Sarah and Josiah are building.<\/p><p>As Josiah puts it, the goal is to give visitors &ldquo;a really nice first impression of who we are as a company, giving them demonstrations of that right away, and ultimately a welcoming experience into Afro dance.&rdquo;<\/p><p>The site is updated regularly as new classes are added, with Eventbrite ticketing integrated directly into the experience. It&rsquo;s also become a space for experimentation as Josiah continues to explore new ways to use Hostinger Horizons.<\/p><p>&ldquo;I kind of push Horizons to places where I think it can go,&rdquo; he said.<\/p><p>The couple also uses Hostinger&rsquo;s email marketing tool <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/email-marketing\">Reach<\/a>, with 24 campaigns sent so far. All of them go to existing customers who purchased tickets through Eventbrite. Nobody gets a cold email.<\/p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re kind of wary about the way we operate in the email space, especially because of how people can be averse and a little bit put off at times to soliciting,&rdquo; Josiah said. &ldquo;So, we&rsquo;re careful with that.&rdquo;<\/p><p>The most useful part of Hostinger Reach for their day-to-day has been the mass email functionality &ndash; being able to quickly communicate with their customer base using email templates that align with the brand. He plans to stick with it.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-expanding-access-through-digital-learning\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Expanding_access_through_digital_learning\"><\/span><strong>Expanding access through digital learning<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1480\" height=\"1110\" src=\"https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00003-scaled.jpeg\/public\" alt=\"Dance With Sarah Powell's dance class students\" class=\"wp-image-9317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00003-scaled.jpeg\/w=1480,fit=scale-down 1480w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00003-scaled.jpeg\/w=300,fit=scale-down 300w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00003-scaled.jpeg\/w=1024,fit=scale-down 1024w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00003-scaled.jpeg\/w=768,fit=scale-down 768w, https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/LqiWLm-3MGbYHtFuUbcBtA\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/image00003-scaled.jpeg\/w=1536,fit=scale-down 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1480px) 100vw, 1480px\" \/><\/figure><p>Over a recent seven-month stretch, Dance With Sarah Powell&rsquo;s email list grew by approximately 263%.<\/p><p>Year-over-year, class attendance is up roughly 48.5%, bookings are up approximately 367% compared to 2025, and average revenue per class has increased by about 149%. Total revenue from late 2025 into 2026 has risen significantly.<\/p><p>People aren&rsquo;t just showing up. They&rsquo;re coming back. Now the business is growing in multiple directions at once.<\/p><p>Alongside in-person classes, they&rsquo;ve begun building digital learning experiences. Their <a href=\"https:\/\/course.dancewithsarahpowell.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first online course<\/a> was recently launched, with 10 customers having already signed up.<\/p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been able to expand by creating a stable resource for customers who want to learn at their own pace, in their own time, if they&rsquo;re not able to make it to one of our in-person classes,&rdquo; Josiah said.<\/p><p>For the couple, digital learning isn&rsquo;t replacing the in-person experience. Instead, it creates more ways for people to stay connected to it.<\/p><p>As the business grows, they&rsquo;re continuing to refine both sides at the same time &ndash; expanding their classes while building online experiences that can evolve alongside the community forming around them.<\/p><p>Once Sarah and Josiah figured out what was missing, they built the brand and the website themselves to fill it. When you know what your business needs, you can build a site that keeps pace with it, too.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/horizons\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/04\/horizons-cta.avif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8948\"><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For months, the same conversation kept resurfacing between Sarah and her husband, Josiah Powell.<\/p>\n<p>After more than a decade as a professional African street dancer, Sarah kept ru\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":411,"featured_media":9314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2385,2336],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-9313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-client-stories","category-customer-spotlight"],"hreflangs":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/411"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9319,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9313\/revisions\/9319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9313"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=9313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}