Inside The CGM Method: A Breakdown of Our Favorite Class

At Common Ground, we have a signature class we call the Common Ground Method (CGM). This adult dance class was born from a point of friction I’m convinced every dancer has experienced: having to piece together your training from a million different places.

One membership for strength training.
Another for dance classes.
Stretching…if you remember to do it long enough to actually make progress.
Mobility? Usually living on the back burner.

There was never one centralized place where all of those needs lived together. So we built one.

CGM exists to bridge that gap.

Because this is still a newer class, there can be some ambiguity around what it actually looks like from the outside. The structure stays consistent every week, so once you know what to expect, you can focus on showing up and growing.

Here’s how class flows.

Thoughtful Warm Up

I’ve taken plenty of dance classes where the warm-up immediately jumps into deep stretching, which is doing a disservice to the body.

Your body is just waking up—it needs movement before intensity.

Our warm-up is intentional and choreographic. Instead of static holds, we move through patterns that gradually wake up the entire body. We start small: shoulders, spine, lower body, feet, building awareness and readiness piece by piece.

The goal is simple: prepare the body instead of forcing it.

Mobility Drills

Mobility is one of the most overlooked parts of training, yet it’s what keeps us moving well, both inside and outside of dance.

It helps us age better.
It helps us recover better.
It makes high-impact moments like performances or competitions feel less like a shock to the system.

After a solid warm-up, we move into mobility work and break it down together. One of my biggest frustrations with classes in general is the lack of education: the copy-and-paste teaching style, where we do something without knowing why.

In CGM, we prioritize understanding.

We talk about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and how it should feel. This class is science-informed, not aesthetic-driven.

Muscle Memory

Muscle memory is something dancers rely on constantly, but we rarely train it intentionally.

Traditional classes naturally build it through repetition, which works to a point. But dance classes often come with an unspoken rule: copy the instructor exactly. Clarify angles. Match the shape.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to push it further.

In CGM, we dedicate a portion of class specifically to muscle memory. You’ll learn choreography at half-speed, then we speed it up. But we always keep the choreography relatively simple: no crazy tricks or complicated gestures because the complexity of the moves isn’t the focus. 

No counts. No musical cues. No clarifying notes.

Why?

Because it forces you to:

• Rely on yourself
• Activate your memory
• Observe intentionally
• Make decisions in real time
  
  

The focus shifts from external direction to internal decision-making. And that’s where artistry begins.

Deep Stretch

Stretching is often treated as an afterthought in the fitness world…yes, even in dance.

We get so focused on choreography and performance that recovery gets pushed aside.

In CGM, we end class with a deep, intentional stretch. It isn’t random; it connects directly to the work we did earlier. If we focused on hamstring mobility, for example, our stretching reflects that.

Recovery is not just for the body, it’s for the mind. Your nervous system is coming down from a sympathetic state, meaning you’re learning how to regulate back down to neutral. This is where the nervous system gets the message that it’s safe to release.

Why CGM Exists

CGM isn’t just another dance class.

It’s a one-stop space designed to support dancers as whole athletes—combining strength, mobility, muscle memory, and recovery into one consistent experience.

Instead of piecing together your training across multiple places, you get everything under one roof with intention behind every part of it. Now that you know what to expect, come try it out for yourself. We’d love to grow alongside you.