Soulful Sunday: Remembering Kari Anderson

Kari Anderson stands smiling with quiet confidence, a pioneer in fitness education and movement.

This week, the fitness world lost another legend. Kari Anderson has passed away, and for many of us who grew up teaching, learning, or presenting through the FitPro conventions, this one feels personal.

Kari wasn’t loud. She didn’t need to be. When she walked into a session, the room changed. You could feel her control, her precision, her respect for the craft. She taught with clarity, rhythm, and that rare calm that made you trust her instantly. Every cue mattered, every beat was earned.

Those who attended FitPro conventions in the nineties and early 2000s will remember the lines outside her sessions, the laughter once they began, and the silence when she moved , , that collective pause from professionals who suddenly realised they were watching mastery in motion.

Kari came from that generation of teachers who built the industry before social media and “brands.” She didn’t chase attention; she taught because she believed in movement and how it changed people. She bridged the worlds of dance and fitness with grace and intelligence, showing that form and heart could exist together.

For many presenters still working today, Kari was the quiet example of what good teaching looks like: disciplined, kind, and endlessly curious. She left behind a legacy of movement that shaped how we all teach, cue, and connect.

We lose too many like her, but what she taught remains in every class inspired by those early days. Her work still echoes in studios around the world, in the instructors who learned from her, and in the rhythm of movement she made look effortless.

Gone too soon, but never forgotten.