Born on July 31, 1987, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Rick Coffey has spent his life learning how to connect with people through music, movement, performance, and storytelling. From the theater stages of Cincinnati and across the country to the dance floors of Arizona, his journey has taken many unexpected turns. But looking back, each chapter has led him toward the same purpose: helping people feel more confident, more connected, and more alive.

Today, Rick Coffey is a dance fitness instructor, performer, entrepreneur, and social media creator known as @bigkidrick. With more than 5 million followers across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, Rick has built a worldwide community around a simple but powerful idea: movement should be something you enjoy—not something you dread.

But Rick’s story began long before dance fitness.

Finding the Stage

Rick’s love of performance started at a young age. Growing up in Cincinnati, he discovered the magic of theater and quickly realized that performing allowed him to combine his love of music, storytelling, movement, and connection. While attending St. Xavier High School, Rick performed with Theatre Xavier, developing the skills and confidence that would eventually lead him toward a professional career in theater.

His passion continued at Kent State University, where Rick earned a BFA in Musical Theatre. His dedication was exceptional. He graduated Summa Cum Laude, finished at the top of his class with a 4.0 GPA, and earned the distinction of having the highest accumulated credit hours.

Rick wasn’t simply studying theater. He was preparing for the career he had dreamed about.

In his 20s, Rick moved to New York City to pursue theater professionally—and he succeeded.

His career included performances on national tours and with numerous regional theaters throughout the country, including The Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan; Theatre West Virginia; and Canterbury Summer Theatre in Michigan City, Indiana.

Rick was a successful working performer with a promising career ahead of him. He was living the dream he had worked so hard to achieve.

But eventually, he discovered that achieving a dream doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve found your purpose.

Despite his professional success, Rick felt unfulfilled. He still loved performing, but he began to realize that something was missing. He wanted a deeper connection with people. He wanted to create experiences that could have an impact beyond the stage.

That realization would eventually change the direction of his entire life.

Learning to Love the Body That Carries You

Rick’s journey also involved a deeply personal struggle with his own body.

For years, he struggled with his weight and body image. Like so many people, he often viewed his body through a critical lens—focusing on what needed to change rather than appreciating what his body was capable of doing.

Then he discovered dance fitness.

Dance began changing the way Rick thought about movement and, ultimately, the way he thought about himself. Instead of moving because he believed he needed to punish or fix his body, he began moving because it made him feel good.

He discovered the joy of dancing, sweating, laughing, and simply being present in his body.

Slowly, his perspective changed.

Rick learned that he didn’t have to wait until his body looked different to love it. He could appreciate his body for what it could do right now.

He learned that movement could be an expression of gratitude rather than punishment.

And that lesson would become the foundation of the message he now shares with millions of people.

From Performer to Dance Fitness Instructor

In 2016, Rick moved to Phoenix, Arizona, beginning a new chapter. Eventually, dance fitness became the place where all of the pieces of his life came together.

Dance fitness combined everything Rick had spent years developing: music, choreography, performance, entertainment, energy, humor, and connection.

But there was one crucial difference between theater and dance fitness.

In theater, the audience watches the performer. In dance fitness, everyone gets to be the performer.

Rick discovered that his greatest joy wasn’t necessarily being the person onstage. It was helping other people discover how good it felt to move.

His classes became about much more than choreography. They became about confidence, community, and self-acceptance.

Rick wanted people to understand that they didn’t have to be professional dancers, athletes, or fitness enthusiasts to dance. They didn’t need perfect coordination. They didn’t need to lose weight before they were allowed to have fun. They didn’t need to look a certain way.

They just needed to show up.

And move.

His own experience with body image gave him an especially personal understanding of what many of his students were experiencing. Rick wasn’t simply telling people to love their bodies because it sounded inspirational. He was teaching something he had learned himself.

He knew what it felt like to struggle with your reflection. He also knew the freedom that comes from realizing your body isn’t something you need to apologize for.

It is something you get to live in, move in, celebrate, and love.

Becoming @bigkidrick

That philosophy eventually became central to Rick’s identity as @bigkidrick.

Through social media, Rick began sharing dance, humor, encouragement, body positivity, and his message about movement with an audience far beyond his classes. Today, more than 5 million people follow Rick’s work across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

But the numbers aren’t what matter most to him.

Rick is most proud of the people who tell him they finally found a form of movement they enjoy. The people who walk into a class feeling uncomfortable in their bodies and leave feeling confident. The people who discover that fitness doesn’t have to mean forcing themselves through something they hate.

Rick also offers free online dance fitness workouts through YouTube, allowing people who can’t attend his classes in person to experience his approach from wherever they are. His online presence has effectively turned his dance floor into a worldwide community.

The name @bigkidrick reflects the philosophy behind it all: adults deserve to play. They deserve to be silly, let loose, laugh, dance badly, dance well, and experience the simple joy of moving without worrying about whether they look perfect.

His message is simple:

Find what moves you.

For Rick, that happens to be dance. But he believes everyone deserves to find something that makes them feel alive.

Finding Love—and Building Something Together

While dance was transforming Rick’s professional life, it was also about to transform his personal life.

In 2021, Rick met AK Coffey while volunteering at a dance studio in Old Town Scottsdale. Rick was teaching classes, helping manage the studio, creating videos, and working with social media. AK was attending a class Rick was involved with, and their connection gradually grew from a shared love of dance into something much deeper.

They fell in love.

Eventually, their relationship would become a partnership in every sense of the word.

The idea of opening their own studio came from AK. Together, they began searching for a space where they could bring their vision to life. Finding the right location wasn’t easy. They considered everything from the size and shape of the space to its location, neighboring businesses, air-conditioning, and overall atmosphere.

But they kept moving forward.

Together, Rick and AK opened Dance Fitness Tempe.

The studio became more than a business. It became a physical expression of the philosophy Rick had developed throughout his own journey: that movement can help people feel better about themselves.

Rick brought his years of professional performance experience, choreography, teaching, entertainment, and social media expertise. AK brought her experience in business consulting and her background as an attorney, contributing valuable business and legal knowledge.

Together, they created something neither could have built alone.

Today, Dance Fitness Tempe is a place where people can dance, sweat, laugh, connect, and feel welcome. The studio is designed to accommodate a community of dancers and instructors, reflecting Rick and AK’s commitment to creating a space built by dancers, for dancers.

Creating a Room Full of Stars

At the heart of Dance Fitness Tempe is the same realization that transformed Rick’s own life:

Movement can change the way you feel about yourself.

Rick doesn’t want people to walk into his classes believing they need to fix themselves. He wants them to walk in knowing they already belong.

He wants someone who has always hated exercise to discover that they love dancing.

He wants someone who has never considered themselves coordinated to surprise themselves.

He wants someone who has spent years criticizing their body to experience what it feels like to appreciate it.

And he wants people to discover that they don’t have to earn the right to love themselves.

That’s the heart of Rick Coffey’s journey.

Theater taught him how to perform.

New York taught him how to pursue a dream—and what it feels like to achieve that dream and still realize you want something more.

His struggle with body image taught him compassion for people who don’t always feel comfortable in their own skin.

Dance fitness taught him how to turn all of those experiences into something that could help others.

And @bigkidrick gave him a platform to share that message with millions of people around the world.

Rick’s greatest accomplishment may not be his theater credits, national tours, academic achievements, millions of followers, or even building Dance Fitness Tempe with his wife.

It may be the people who walk into his classes believing they aren’t dancers and walk out feeling like stars.

Because somewhere along the way, Rick Coffey discovered that he didn’t need to be the person everyone was watching.

He could be the person who helped everyone else shine.

Today, whether he’s teaching at Dance Fitness Tempe, creating a video as @bigkidrick, leading an online workout, traveling to teach, or simply encouraging someone to move, Rick Coffey continues to do what he has always done.

He tells stories.

Only now, instead of telling the story himself, he helps everyone in the room become part of it.

His journey has taken him from Cincinnati to Kent State, from professional theater to New York, from New York to Phoenix, and from the stage to the dance floor.

But perhaps the greatest transformation wasn’t finding a new career.

It was learning to love the person in the mirror—and then dedicating his life to helping other people do the same.

Rick Coffey spent years learning how to perform for an audience. Today, he teaches people how to become the star of their own lives.

And it all starts with one simple invitation:

Find What Moves You.

www.bigkidrick.com
www.dancefitnesstempe.org