Jazzercise is a dance fitness franchise company founded by Judi Sheppard Missett in 1969 and headquartered in Carlsbad, California. Sheppard Missett was teaching at a dance studio and noticed her classes had high dropout rates. Realizing students were attending for physical fitness and not to become highly technically proficient in dance, Sheppard Missett began to hold "just for fun" classes that began with a jazz warmup. These classes were eventually renamed "Jazzercise."
