Yoga Comes Home to Nokesville: PWDA Partners with Alternative Energy Hatha Yoga
For 25 seasons, families have walked through the doors of Prince William Dance Academy in Nokesville to dance, make friends, grow up and find a place to belong.
This season, there is a little more movement happening inside the studio.
Prince William Dance Academy is partnering with Alternative Energy Hatha Yoga to bring yoga classes for adults, children and families to Nokesville, Virginia.
And this partnership could not feel more at home.
Alternative Energy Hatha Yoga was founded by Ms. Gwen Fletcher, a Nokesville native who grew up dancing at PWDA, graduated from the studio in 2009 and eventually found her way right back to the community that helped raise her.
Today, Ms. Gwen serves as PWDA’s Director of Studio Operations and Enrollment, owns and teaches through Alternative Energy Hatha Yoga, and serves on the board of the Nokesville Business Association.
For PWDA founder Ms. Kim Teachout Thomas, watching a former dancer come home and create something of her own within the studio makes this new chapter especially meaningful.
From PWDA Dancer to Nokesville Yoga Instructor
Long before she was leading yoga classes at Prince William Dance Academy, Ms. Gwen was one of the dancers growing up inside it.
After graduating from PWDA, she continued her dance education in Boston and Washington, D.C., before completing her yoga teacher training at Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville.
Eventually, Nokesville called her home.
She returned not only as part of the PWDA team, but with a practice of her own to share through Alternative Energy Hatha Yoga.
It is the kind of full-circle story that feels especially fitting during PWDA’s 25th season.
Ms. Kim founded Prince William Dance Academy in 2002 with the belief that a local studio could be more than a place to learn steps. It could be a place where teachers know your name, friendships grow over years, families become part of the studio family and kids have somewhere they genuinely belong.
More than two decades later, one of those dancers is helping expand that vision.
“One of the greatest parts of being here this long is watching our dancers grow up and seeing who they become,” says Ms. Kim. “Gwen grew up at PWDA and in this community. Having her come back and now bring something of her own to Nokesville is incredibly special.”
A New Way to Move, Breathe & Belong at PWDA
You do not have to be a dancer to walk through the doors at PWDA.
And you do not have to already “know yoga,” either.
That is an important part of what Ms. Gwen wants Alternative Energy Hatha Yoga to feel like.
Classes are designed to meet people where they are, with guided movement, breathing and options that allow students to develop a practice at their own level.
For someone who has always wanted to try yoga but felt unsure where to start, that matters.
For the parent who spends the week driving everyone else where they need to go, an hour to move and breathe matters too.
And for children learning how to slow down, listen to their bodies and experience movement in a different way, yoga can offer something entirely their own.
This is yoga with the same sense of belonging PWDA families already know, now open to even more of the Nokesville community.
Explore Yoga Classes at PWDA →
Yoga for Adults in Nokesville
Friday evenings at PWDA now look a little different.
Hatha Yoga for Adults is an eight-week Friday evening series led by Ms. Gwen and designed for all experience levels.
The class combines movement, stretching, strengthening and breathing, with options for each pose so students can practice in a way that works for their own bodies.
Research reviewed by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health suggests yoga may support general wellness, including stress management, mental and emotional well-being, sleep and balance.
But sometimes the benefit is simpler.
It is an hour that belongs to you.
Whether you have practiced yoga for years, have not been on a mat in a long time or have never tried yoga before, you are welcome to start exactly where you are.
Hatha Yoga for Adults
Fridays at 6:00 PM
8-week session
All experience levels welcome
Baby & Me Yoga: Movement for You, Connection With Them
PWDA is also bringing yoga to some of the smallest members of our community.
Baby & Me Yoga is an eight-session series for parents and caregivers with babies ages 6–12 months.
The class creates space to stretch, move, breathe, play and spend intentional time together.
There is no expectation of a perfectly quiet baby or a perfectly timed nap.
Wiggles happen. Snuggles happen. Pauses happen.
They are all welcome here.
Baby & Me Yoga
Begins October 14 at 10:15 AM
8-session series
For adults and babies ages 6–12 months
Yoga for Kids in Nokesville
Movement has always been at the heart of PWDA, but movement does not always have to come with choreography.
Through experiences like Zen Zone: Yoga for Kids, children have an opportunity to explore age-appropriate yoga, breathing, mindfulness, creativity and connection in a fun environment created just for them.
Early research into yoga for children is still developing, but studies reviewed by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health have shown promising results around mental well-being and self-regulation.
At PWDA, the goal is not to ask kids to be perfectly still.
It is to give them another way to understand movement, notice how they feel and spend time connecting with other kids.
Zen Zone: Yoga for Kids
November 3 • 9:30 AM–12:00 PM
A school-day-off experience with yoga, mindful activities, creativity and connection
Rooted in Nokesville
This partnership is bigger than adding another class to a schedule.
Both PWDA and Alternative Energy Hatha Yoga are deeply connected to the place they serve.
Ms. Gwen grew up in Nokesville, trained at PWDA and now serves both the studio and the wider community, including through her role on the Nokesville Business Association board.
Ms. Kim has spent 25 seasons building PWDA here.
PWDA dancers have grown up participating in local traditions, performing around the community and walking the Nokesville Day Parade route with their studio friends.
And families from Nokesville, Bristow, Gainesville, Haymarket, Manassas and throughout Prince William County have made the trip to Fitzwater Drive week after week and year after year.
Those relationships are why celebrating 25 seasons means so much more to PWDA than simply marking an anniversary.
It means looking around at the community that helped build this place and asking:
What can we create for them next?
This time, part of the answer is yoga.
“PWDA has always been about more than dance,” says Ms. Kim. “It is about creating a place where people feel known, supported and part of something. As we celebrate 25 seasons in Nokesville, continuing to grow alongside this community feels like exactly what we should be doing.”
Looking for Yoga Classes Near Nokesville, Bristow or Gainesville?
You do not need to already be part of the PWDA family to join us.
Alternative Energy Hatha Yoga classes and experiences are hosted at Prince William Dance Academy, 12926 Fitzwater Drive in Nokesville, Virginia, just a short drive for families and adults coming from Bristow, Gainesville, Haymarket, Manassas and surrounding Prince William County communities.
Whether you are looking for an adult yoga class, something meaningful to do with your baby, or a new movement experience for your child, there is a place for you here.
Come move with us.
Come breathe with us.
And come be part of what is growing right here in Nokesville.
