5K for
Total Fitness

Danita Moses

Line dancing

Danita is a seasoned line dance instructor and showcase choreographer whose experience spans many years, with several of her choreographed routines viewable on YouTube. In 2016 she founded Seniors On Step (S.O.S.), a high energy performance group of dancers ages 55 and up, dedicated to promoting health and wellness, movement, fellowship, and fun among active seniors and the broader community.

Line dancing can be enjoyed partner-free. Danita teaches five classes a week. She also serves as the event director for the Northern Virginia Senior Olympics Line Dancing and owns her own travel agency.

Edye Lewis

Functional strength training

Edye has been in the fitness industry since 2011, when she owned her business Mind Over Body Fitness. Her mother was her first boot camp instructor and fitness has been a major part of her life ever since she was young.

Edye teaches functional strength training, which helps with day to day activities like washing, climbing stairs, carrying groceries, and getting out of chairs. Her workout routine includes weight lifting, free weights and body weights. She enjoys walking and has run several half marathons.

“Fitness for me is a non-negotiable. Just like you need food and sleep, you need to move your body if you want to continue to move your body as you age.”

Robbin Epps

Double dutch

The DC Retro Jumpers double dutch group has been sharing double dutch with the community for more than 15 years in the DMV. Sharing the nostalgia of jumping double dutch resonates with many, and DC Retro Jumpers continues to impact lives with this fun activity.

No experience is necessary and it is great for all ages, genders and abilities.

Gerald Lendow

Tai chi

Mr. Lendow has taught tai chi classes at Fort Douglas, Bald Eagle Recreation Center and Fort Stanton, and has been a volunteer for the DC Recreation Department for the past 15 years. He joined the Wushu Neija Mind Boxing Club in 1976 under the late sifu Freddie McShan.

He first learned Yunan Boxing and practiced the extended Hsing-i discipline of Santi sitting. He later learned tai chi, Hsing-i and Bagua — linear as well as circular Bagua sets, Hsing-i animal sets, and Yang style tai chi as taught by Cheng Man-Ching.

Charles Owens

Tai chi

With a background in Taekwondo as well as other styles of martial arts, Charles Owens joined the Metropolitan Wushu Neijia Mind Boxing Club in 1975 under the late sifu Freddie McShan. He first learned Yunan Boxing and practiced the extended Hsing-i discipline of Santi sitting, later adding tai chi, Hsing-i, Buga, and linear as well as circular Bagua sets.

For the past 15 years Mr. Owens has shared his skills at the DC Recreation Department and has taught tai chi classes at Fort Douglas, Fort Stanton and Bald Eagle Recreation Center.

Sekou Mama Ayo

Breathwork and meditation

Ayo serves as the “Breath Sekou,” a master teacher who has studied the breath, wholistic health, and personal and mental health development and counseling since 1971. In 2004 she created a system called Optimum Life Breathology (OLB) and has now certified over 350 breathologists and practitioners. OLB specializes in breathwork for daily solutions and transformation, offering oxygen-based practices that impact trauma, stress, wellness, mental health, relationships and self-love, focusing on People of Color and Baby Boomers.

She has breathed with millions on radio, television, in print, over the internet, in private practice and on stage, and is the author of Applied Breathology and five other titles. She is also the founder of Black Love Day, February 13th, and states that Black Love is Self Care.

“When you breathe better, you live better, you age better.”

She has demonstrated breathology at the Fun Run for WPFW for five years.

Valerie A. Brooks

Line dancing

“I am a 3rd generation Washingtonian and retiree. My community service began when I was about 10 years old. During the last 60 years, I have raised funds for many organizations such as the HSC Pediatric Center and The Jump Rope for Heart Association.

Loving to dance, I was invited to teach a line dance session at WPFW’s Annual 5K Run/Walk For Total Fitness Event in September 2022. I look forward to leading a line dance session for my 5th consecutive year and it is my pleasure to be a part of the planning committee for this event, this year, September 2026. I embrace ‘Each one, Teach one’ and ‘Each one, Reach one.’”

natalégé

Warm-up

Born in Trinidad, West Indies, natalégé oure came to the US at the age of 3. Growing up in Washington, DC, she graduated from the University of the District of Columbia with a BA in Spanish language, and was certified as a fitness trainer by the International Sports Sciences Association.

She has used her desire to help folks get fit and healthy for three years as the warm-up leader for the WPFW 5K Run/Walk For Total Fitness.

Jakuta

Yoga

Jakuta earned her first yoga certification in the early 2000s, studying yoga in India for three months at the Shiva Astrum. Her teaching style is influenced by the Kundalini, Hatha, Vinyasa and Gentle Yoga traditions, and she has learned and taught gentle yoga, seniors flow, laughing yoga, yoga nidra, and chair and couples yoga.

Jakuta majored in dance at the University of the District of Columbia and Howard University, amassing over 50 years of dedicated and compassionate experience in the dance, fitness and wellness industry. She has watched her students experience changes, physically and spiritually, as a result of their practice, leading them to internal peace and a better sense of self. In addition to yoga instruction, Jakuta is a sound healer, Reiki master and Thai yoga massage practitioner.