Kathy Lucas, the founder and coach of Kathy Lucas Movement, has over 30 yrs experience as a dancer, Pilates instructor and unconventional fitness coach and graduated with a theatre and dance focus from SUNY Brockport. The approach to her work has been informed by her time and travels to NY, West Africa and Japan. With a passion for cultural connections through traditions, healing and movement, Kathy has spent over a decade pioneering and developing a series of programs that fuse various styles of dance to strength training. She is an Onnit Academy Foundations trainer, Durability Coach and Steel Club Specialist. The Ithaca Times awarded her “Best Personal Trainer” in its last two votes (2015 and 2019). She was a movement facilitator for the Cornell Leadership weekend retreats in 2017 and 2018 as well as a workshop leader for Alfred University’s “Take the Leading Role” Performing Arts & Leadership Conference. She has been invited to present her Steel Club Tango and dance-inspired flow programs at Total Movement Studios, Seoul, Korea, PRIME studio, Monterey Bay and Wolf Fitness Systems, Salinas California.

Locally, Kathy has produced choreographed and performed in several music and dance variety shows at the Community School of Music and Arts, one of which was a fundraising effort for Planned Parenthood. From 2015 she founded “Moxie Kumba”, a dance and drumming group that performed collections of work based in African rhythms, dances and songs. She has taught Dundun, dance, Steel Club Tango and Cabaret workshops in Ithaca and the surrounding areas. In 2021 she was awarded a GAP grant through the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County as a co-collaborator with local dancer, Megan Omohundro on a virtual and live dance series that featured 4 local movement and dancers of color who presented solo and group work that reflected their interpretation of racial trauma of past iconic leaders of color and how that trauma has been passed down to present day. Whether it be individual sessions, group classes, or intensives, she guides students to express strength, beauty, grace and grit. Her teaching is centered in compassion for each unique journey. She has a deep understanding of wellness and illness, and persistence and restorative healing. Kathy is committed to building a community focused on the wellbeing and brilliance of every member.