"But What If You Eat?"

Alec Cohen Is Giving Everybody the Dopamine Rush of Feeling Like a Popstar

It started, as many great things do, friends in a basement studio and a name he made up on the spot. Alec Cohen had left the Broadway world behind, made a whole new circle of friends who had nothing to do with theater, and kept hearing the same thing from all of them: 'teach me a dance class!'

One day, he called their bluff. Sixteen people showed up to a basement studio in New York. And something clicked that he hadn't even been looking for.

That class is now Intro to Popstar Dance: a sold-out (and waitlisted), multi-city experience built on the belief that the confidence, joy, and liberation that comes from dancing like a pop star on a stage shouldn't be reserved for people with years of training. It should be available to literally anyone who wants it. And Alec has made it his mission to get it to them.

From Broadway to the Basement: The Journey That Built the Philosophy

Alec came to dance the way so many gay boys do: through musical theater.

Growing up in New York, theater was the world, but he didn't formally start taking dance classes until he was 17. He joined the Broadway Dance Center teen program, threw himself into ballet, and eventually studied musical theater at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

"I took dance so seriously. I wanted to leave and be a really fierce dancer."

And that he did. National Broadway tour of Hello Dolly. Regional productions. TV work. Years of performing and touring alongside pop artists as a choreographer, which turned out to be the unexpected education that shaped everything that came after.

"Working with pop stars really helped crystallize something for me. Learning how to break down all of the things that make us fearful of movement. How to make it more approachable. How to help someone be less scared."

‍The lessons that dancers use to conquer stage fright, he realized, are the same lessons anyone can use to walk into a meeting, a date, a room full of strangers – and own it.

When Covid hit and the theater world paused, Alec made a shift. And somewhere between leaving that world behind and building a new circle of non-theater friends, Intro to Popstar Dance was born.

The Philosophy: What If You Eat?

Every Intro to Pop Star Dance class opens the same way. Before anyone learns a single eight-count, Alec addresses the room with a meme that has become his manifesto.

It sounds simple. But for a room full of people who have spent their whole lives telling themselves they can't dance, it lands differently.

"When you're learning choreography, it's so easy to get in your head. Oh my god, this is going too fast, I look like an idiot. But if you tune out all of that and just focus on the potential outcome – that you might be successful, look really hot, have a fun time – that makes the whole experience so much easier and more enjoyable."

The second thing he makes the class do is repeat after him:

"I agree to not be ashamed of my flagrant display of corniness."

It gets laughs every time. But it also does something real – it gives people permission to fully commit before they've learned a single step.

"If you're operating from a place of being concerned about cringe, you're not going to give a captivating performance. And the best pop stars? They walk out on stage knowing the audience is lucky to be seeing them. That's fun to try on, even for a recreational dancer.

And acting like a fool is what gets me hotties anyway. I don't want anything to do with the person standing outside the dance circle laughing. That's so unsexy to me."

The result is a rambunctious, loud celebration of individuality that feels nothing like a standard dance class – and everything like exactly what people needed.

Running It On Werk: From Venmo Chaos to Sold-Out Classes

"I was really considering hiring an assistant. And then Werk came, and I didn't have to."

In the early days of Intro to Popstar Dance, the business ran on Venmo and the Notes app.

Classes were smaller – 30 people – and Alec would physically walk around with a piece of paper, checking off names, chasing payments, and manually managing a waitlist by DMing people one by one when a spot opened up.

The last thing you want to be doing on the day of a dance class — when you've got nerves and preparation things — is handling administrative tasks and Venmo-ing people back... It's also just such a bummer.

When Werk came along, everything changed. The link goes on his Instagram Stories. Students sign up. The check-in is on his phone. The waitlist manages itself. Tax season means pulling clean numbers, not sifting through hundreds of Venmo transactions.

"It's made me seem like a more fancy dance teacher. When I get there, everything is right there on my phone. I can check people in and be all swaggy about it."

Now he teaches across New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, Chicago – and Werk travels with him.

Every city, every class, every new student feeds into the same email list.

"I can send out a blast that says I'm teaching in whatever city — and the people who've taken my class before, wherever they are, get that email. That has brought in so many sign-ups. I'd been thinking about building a mailing list for a really long time, but it felt expensive and over my head. Werk made it just – there.

Running It On Werk: Removing The Awkwardness From Scheduling Private Lessons

Private sessions – one-on-ones, group bookings for birthdays and corporate events – used to require an awkward verbal conversation about rates. Now it's all listed cleanly on his Werk profile.

"People would come up after class and ask if I teach privates, and I'd have to say: yes, message me on Instagram, and then verbally tell them my rate. It was this whole unnecessary conversation."

With Werk, the rates are right there. No awkwardness. No friction. Just bookings.

And then there's the notification. Every time someone signs up for a class, Alec gets a small email with a star.

"I get the same notification every single time someone signs up for class, and the happiness I get when someone signs up – it's a little dopamine rush. Just like taking a dance class."

A Note to Dance Teachers: You Deserve More of Your Own Money

Alec Cohen has something to say to every dance teacher who's been splitting their class revenue with a studio: 

"I have so many friends who teach at major dance studios. And people forget: they're not paying to take a class at a fancy studio. They're paying to take a class taught by this specific person. And a lot of times, these studios are taking 66% of every dollar paid by each dancer. I want to encourage these teachers to make more money dancing. Teach your classes with Werk. You get all of the money from the people signing up. It's just the intelligent thing to do."

For a community of artists who've historically been underpaid and undervalued by the structures around them, it's a simple but radical reframe:

Your audience is yours. Your business is yours. Werk allows you to build it accordingly.

The Werkspace: "Come Meet Me at My Studio"

As a Werk Pro member, Alec has access to the Werkspace for choreography work. He's used it for every music video pre-production, skeleton crew rehearsals, new client meetings, creative sessions.

`"When I have a new choreography client, I can say: come meet me at my studio. And when they walk in, they're always like – 'oh my gosh, it's really nice in here.' It's so fancy. It's definitely legitimized me."

For a choreographer building a client roster, that first impression matters more than it might seem.

Beyond the aesthetics – and it is beautiful – there's something else the space offers that few others can: privacy.

"If you have a high-end client who doesn't want to be recognized at other studios, you don't have to worry about that. This is your space and your space only."

Eating, Full Time

Alec never planned for Intro to Popstar Dance to become his full-time job.

"That was a dream I didn't even know I had – and it came true."

So now he's found a new one: a proper tour, city to city, country to country, the same way the pop girls do it.

"It can be really emotional to embrace these really vibrant, loud parts of your queerness or femininity. And it's fun for that to be celebrated."

The dopamine rush of a dance class shouldn't require years of training to access. It should just require showing up, and asking yourself... but what if you eat?

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Alec is one of thousands of dancers and creators building their businesses as Werk Members.

If you're ready to do the same, join Werk today!