How Apolla Performance Helps Dancers Do What They Love For Longer
A Conversation With Co-Founder & CEO Bri Zborowski
By Madison Huizinga, DWC Blog Editor
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For many dancers, facing moderate to severe injuries has been an unfortunate part of their dance journeys. Having to sit out of classes, performances, and competitions, for weeks and months at a time is never what dancers are hoping to get out of their dance experiences. Fortunately, Brianne Zborowski and Kaycee Jones have created Apolla Performance, a company that creates revolutionary compression socks that can help dancers and other movers do what they love for longer. Read on to learn more about Co-Founder and CEO Bri Zborowski’s background and mission and tune in to Shark Tank on ABC on April 1, 2022, at 8/7 EST (or check local listings for times) to witness her and Kaycee pitch their business!
Bri began dancing around age five at a local studio in her hometown in Michigan. After some time, Bri fell in love with dance, declaring as early as age seven that she would one day own her own studio and dance for the rest of her life. “That’s all I wanted to do!” Bri laughs. Throughout high school, dance was Bri’s main focus, as she got more involved as a teaching assistant and attended conventions to further her education and development as a dancer.
In addition to the performance side of her life, Bri was also heavily involved with her family’s business, a first-generation produce company in Detroit, Michigan. Growing up, she became quickly exposed to the inner workings of a business and the sacrifices and skills required to run a company. On the weekends, Bri could be found hauling pallets and boxes and selling fruits and vegetables in the open market, eventually moving into the administrative side of things.
Bri attended college and earned her degree in business while teaching, choreographing, and assisting at her childhood studio. At the time, Bri had also built out a competition program in Michigan with her and her partner at the time. On one occasion, following a teacher’s class Bri took at a convention, the instructor came up to her and raved about how talented she was. He said that she should consider dancing professionally. At the time, Bri was working in corporate real estate, teaching dance, and working at her family business. She had imagined her teaching and directing at the studio she was at for the rest of her life, but meeting this instructor changed her direction.
Bri quit her corporate job and headed to Los Angeles, where she took dance classes, auditioned, taught, and booked small gigs here and there. She met back up with the instructor that inspired her to move there. The two ended up getting married about six years later. “It just changed my whole life,” Bri says of the move. “My whole world opened up.” After Bri and her husband got married, they relocated to Texas, where they helped run a big system of studios and a competition program called Movz.
Apolla Performance Co-Founder & COO Kaycee Jones and Bri had met in LA and instantly clicked. While they both moved to different regions of the U.S., Kaycee decided to pitch Bri the idea of Apolla, a line of dance socks that could drastically improve the dance industry.
Kaycee is a life-long dancer as well and has her M.S. in Kinesiology and experience as a certified strength and conditioning coach. Her mom was also a dance studio owner for 41 years and Bri has her degree in business and an extensive background working at her family’s company. It was clear the two would be ideal business partners for the endeavor with their combined, complementary experiences. While working in studio spaces, Bri witnessed many students suffer severe injuries at ages as young as 11, explaining there were times when some dancers had to sit out for an entire season. She could see the real need for this idea Kaycee was presenting. At a time when the two had stable incomes and were just starting their families, starting this enterprise was a risk. But they chose to take the jump and Apolla Performance was born.
“We set out to create really high-quality products that change people’s lives,” Bri says of Apolla Performance’s mission. The company was founded by dancers with the intention of helping dancers and other movers alike do what they love for longer. Apolla offers compression socks in six different styles that are “ultra-cozy and crazy effective at reducing pain and fatigue.” Offered in a range of colors, the socks provide patented 20-30mmHg targeted compression that supports joints and reduces swelling, as well as added padding in the heel and ball of the foot that’s been shown to reduce force. Significantly, each style of sock offered by Apolla Performance is certified by the American Podiatric Medical Association to promote good foot health and independent studies have shown that Apolla’s socks reduce ground force impact on the body. “We’ve invested in the scientific research and we still have more coming,” Bri says. “We’ve put the time, energy, and resources into making a product that will change your life.”
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In addition, all of the socks are anti-microbial and are made from moisture-wicking and sustainably certified fabric in the U.S., making them an eco-friendly option for consumers. Apolla is also proud to share that in 2021 it switched its packaging over to a more sustainable option and the socks can be recycled at your local Goodwill
Another unique aspect of Apolla’s compression socks is the fact that they come with a patented refreshable grip along the bottom. “There’s really nothing like it,” Bri points out. Determining the perfect level of traction was a challenging aspect of Apolla’s design process, but the seamless, refreshable grip and traction or non-traction options allow for dancers to choose the level of traction that works best for them.
“We also want to provide equally excellent customer service,” Bri says, sharing that customers are welcome to call, text, email, direct message on social media, and live chat the staff on Apolla's website. In addition to providing high-quality products and attentive customer service, Apolla strives to create a community of holistic health and wellness. On social media, Apolla shares free live content on topics pertaining to dance, yoga, and holistic wellness. On Fridays, at 11 AM PST, Apolla holds a livestream on Facebook & Instagram, in which experts discuss topics like racism in the dance industry, sex abuse & prevention, psychology, nutrition, dance medicine, and more. The company also has a blog called The Muse, where its team of writers covers topics relating to fostering a healthy body, mind, and soul.
Ultimately, Bri hopes to see more people in the dance industry question traditional myths that can harm dancers. For example, why must dancers wear a certain kind of footwear for a genre of dance if there are more supportive options out there? Starting to question the traditional ways dance is taught and practiced can be a helpful first step towards dismantling harmful habits.
Be sure to tune in to Shark Tank on ABC on April 1, 2022, at 8/7 CT to see Apolla Performance pitch its business!
