New Studio Brings Line Dancing, Shea Butter To Erector Square

by Mona Mahadevan The New Haven independent

Dormon and her mother have the same four birthmarks on their cheek. Since makeup can cover it up, Dormon has started re-adding the spots on top of her foundation.

The space, previously a ballet studio, still has the same floors and mirrors.

Dances like the Cha-Cha Slide, Macarena, and Cupid Shuffle have found their way to Erector Square, sharing space with shea butter-based body care and strength training classes. Those self-care services are now offered on the first floor of 315 Peck St., where Candice Dormon — a Bronx native, ConnCORP graduate, and Ekow Body founder — has opened a 1,000-square-foot wellness studio.

Dormon gathered with friends, family, and city officials Monday afternoon to celebrate the opening of the Ekow Body studio. The space, which served as a ballet studio for 15 years, now hosts line-dancing classes every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The rest of the week, groups can rent the studio for wellness events.

You might associate line dancing with country music and cowboy boots, but wedding dance favorites like the Cha-Cha Slide count, too: The line-dancing umbrella includes any dance where people arrange in rows and perform a sequence of steps in unison. Dormon specializes in “soul” line dancing, which is traditionally set to R&B, hip hop, Caribbean, or old-school music.

Line dancing, said Dorman, can turn “a room full of reservations into a room full of laughters.” Dormon discovered that herself just a year ago, when she learned how to line dance at the Q House in Dixwell. She brought her mom-friends to one of the events and quickly realized that dance classes could provide “good cardio,” “brain work,” and “community.”

While the wellness studio centers dance, Ekow Body began as a line of health and beauty products in February 2020. After returning from Accra, Ghana — the hometown of her husband’s family — with a “bowling ball of shea” butter, Dormon recounted experimenting in her kitchen to develop formulas for natural deodorants, body butter, and other self-care products.

At the time, she was also running an at-home daycare. When the pandemic hit, she shut it down, feeling too overwhelmed to even imagine reopening.

She instead invested fully in Ekow, centering the brand around a principle that she learned during the pandemic: that self care is a “necessity,” not a “luxury.”

“Body butter is a gateway into taking care of yourself,” she explained. “Taking a minute to shower and put on lotion can be the first step.”

Jahkeeva Morgan, director of ConnCORP’s Economic Impact Lab, worked with Dormon in 2022 and attended Monday’s ribbon cutting.

“You see her all over the place,” Morgan said, recalling how as a student, Dormon would “make it a priority” to attend any event that could grow Ekow’s visibility. On Monday, Morgan restocked her supply of Ekow body butter, describing it as “so smooth” and “very moisturizing” without being “way too thick.”

At the press conference, Mayor Justin Elicker reflected on how Ekow’s opening reflects a broader rise of Black women-owned businesses in New Haven and around the country. He highlighted the city’s support of minority business owners, like through programs at the Center for Inclusive Growth and the expansion of Black Wall Street.

Kulturally Lit founder IfeMichelle Gardin also described the broader implications of Ekow’s opening. “At the end of the day, city lines don’t make New Haven — the people do,” she said. Events like Monday’s ribbon-cutting show that “dreams and opportunity are alive and well in New Haven.”

Most of Ekow Body’s health and wellness products are stacked on shelves in the back.

The brand’s name, Ekow, is the name of her younger son. “Ekow” has Ghanaian origins and means “born on Thursday.”