News

Screw Workout Monotony and Take a Class at This New Method-Less Studio Instead

Together in Old City allows instructors-in-residence to teach what they want, shaking up your typical workout routine.


Together in Old City currently offers yoga, mat Pilates, barre and dance fitness from local instructors-in-training. / Photograph by Delaney Newhart.

Kate DeGennaro has been part of the Philly fitness industry for the past eight years, serving as a yoga teacher and former instructor at both FlyWheel and SLT. She was even named Instructor of the Year — alongside Leroy Mapp — by ClassPass in 2018.

But when the pandemic hit and studios everywhere closed (FlyWheel and SLT’s Philly location for good), DeGennaro moved to the digital space and started teaching her own yoga/Pilates hybrid program, bandtogether. It was the first time she got to teach what she wanted, how she wanted — without having to adhere to a brand’s specific method and policies.

This, she says, was freeing, and what led her (with her husband, James Connelly) to create a brick-and-mortar space where other local instructors who have branched out on their own could teach their own modality without feeling tethered to rules or regulations. Enter Together, Old City’s newest boutique fitness studio.

Opened December 27th, Together currently has three instructors-in-residence (kind of like DJs in Vegas!) who teach their own preferred movement or class style. DeGennaro runs three kinds of sculpt classes (a mix of yoga and Pilates with weights), Matthew Shaw offers two Vinyasa-based yoga practices, and Julia Giordano hosts both hip-hop fitness and mat-based barre. All classes are either 45 or 55 minutes, capped at 10 participants, and take place in Together’s super-sleek and minimalist 650-square-foot space.

Together co-founders Kate DeGennaro and James Connelly. / Photograph by Delaney Newhart.

DeGennaro calls Together a studio with a blank canvas. “I say we’re method-less because we’re method-full, as in, there’s no one signature modality,” she says. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past eight years, it’s that the fitness industry can often be competitive and restrictive (in terms of what you can and cannot teach). Instead, Together stands behind and gives a platform to instructors and their motives, modalities and practices.” Basically, Together says screw monotony and brings together a range of instructors so that clients have a variety of opportunities to pursue movement.

All classes at Together have a drop-in rate of $30, but five-, 10-, and 20-class packs are also available. You can peep the schedule and sign-up here. The studio also has an open-door policy for instructors who are still looking for a teaching space, so email DeGennaro if that’s you.

Together is located at 138 North 3rd Street in Old City.