Manchester based STEP teacher, Julius Burphy, who’s accumulated over 1 million TikTok followers is holding a charity STEPPER-TON this Thursday for Breast Cancer awareness.
The STEPPER-TON will take place at JD Gyms Manchester on Whitworth street, at 6:45pm on Thursday the 19th of September.
While completing his final year at university Julius created his own style of Hip Hop STEP aerobics class, starting at Pure Gym two years ago, with only 2 to 3 attendees per class, before moving to JD gyms, which is where he started to blow up on social media.
After catching him at the end of class Julius said: “The thing is with me, I really love it and the energy I put into it every time I come in and if you see it on camera people seem to enjoy it too…. I think it became really popular because people love the energy that the classes radiate.”
As well as becoming a popular teacher, Julius has built an online and in person community, which doesn’t just stop beyond the studio walls. He said, “I think I’ve connected a lot more with my members…it’s not about having a franchise it’s about continuing to build this community”, with steppers meeting up outside of class for meals out, roller skating and karaoke.
After experiencing such success, Julius wanted to give back and as the class is predominantly female, he felt Breast Cancer Awareness would be a good place to start. He also said, “The main thing that pushed me… is I did have a girl come in… she basically told me that this was her first class outside of chemotherapy and to me that’s a really heart-warming feeling.”
Prevent Breast Cancer is the only UK charity which is exclusively geared towards the prevention of breast cancer, which is the most common cancer in the UK affecting around 55,900 woman every year.
Julius has set up a “Just Giving” page with a current budget of £250, which he has raised after quickly reaching the original target https://www.justgiving.com/page/stepperton and he hopes to continue to do more events like this to continue to give back in the future.