Coach Dezmarie
DezMarie Thomas
CEO & Artistic Director
DezMarie’s career started at a young age when she started dancing for David Sanders’ Dance Dynamics in Long Island, NY, where she was born and raised. She studied ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical and acrobatics. Simultaneously she sang in a family based gospel group where she performed all over the state and beyond. She always found music as her therapy as she healed from her childhood traumas. In college she started teaching her peers and then at a local studio, where she started her love for education in the arts.
Along with many certifications, she received a Bachelor’s degree from University of Delaware where she was a Nutrition major with a Biology and Dance Minor. She performed with the UD dance minor’s first cohort and another campus dance company each year, where she grew a love for modern dance.
Soon after, she started working at various dance studios and expanded knowledge into the gymnastics world. As a ballet coach for First State Gymnastics in Newark, DE, where she trained some of the world’s top elite gymnasts. She instilled in her gymnasts the importance of learning and opening your mind to new things in order to grow. In exchange for their hard work during class, she allowed them to teach her a skill from their sport. This was an open gateway into a whole new world for her.
DezMarie has surely mastered the skill of building confidence and producing quality gymnasts. She has taken her skill of having a dance background and applied it to her gymnastic knowledge to have the gymnasts at the peak of their performance capabilities. She used mindful techniques with all of her gymnasts to help them with the mental blocks they cross for a holistic approach to coaching. She has now had the privilege of having a direct impact on gymnasts who have won at the state, regional, national and international levels in both the USAG and USAIGC meets.
Today she is now fully committed to improving her clients’ well being through diet and fitness. She has a keen interest in tackling childhood obesity and community advocacy. After teaching for a decade and studying the obesity epidemic in America through various professions, she decided to start Mindful Arts Dance Academy. She has geared her focus and purpose of her studio to educate her clients in the proper care for their vessels, not only to their physical health, but their mental health as well. Her curriculum includes stretching and conditioning, articulation of dance terms and technique, mindfulness and meditation practices, nutritional health, and practical life lessons.
The focus of breathing and being in the moment is used to guide her students through their instruction. Breathing allows for more thoughts to enter your mind and for you to appreciate the moment and find your inner strength and abilities. Participants will certainly exhibit confidence, self esteem, and empowerment with understanding that sky is NOT the limit!
After realizing that parents were lacking in confidence to financially support their youth in competitive programming, DezMarie started Real Life with Fresh Heir Co. where she assists parents in building legacy and confidence through diet and fitness by creating work life balance.
You can listen to her podcast that focuses on resiliency and many other life lessons to educate parents and others in the community.
Check out her YouTube channel where she does various tutorials, unboxing and other self development tips.
Aside from her dedication to growing her activity center with the youth, she gives back and practices community advocacy through events that raise awareness in historically underrepresented communities.
