Bailey and Lenzy Zettler spent their middle school years choreographing dances together in their backyard. But years later, the seniors have turned their passion into a successful business — all while studying dance at Texas A&M. 

The twins’ mother put the sisters in clogging — a type of dance that uses footwear percussively — when they were three years old. After moving studios at age five, they began working with other styles, such as jazz and ballet, before diving into competitive dancing around five years later. For Bailey, middle school was when she truly fell in love with dance. 

“We had a great environment on our team,” Bailey said. “We were growing a little bit older, so we had more creative liberties.” 

The duo competed all throughout high school and joined the school’s dance team when their family moved to Texas from Utah their junior year. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they didn’t have the opportunity to dance as often as normal, and it was only after the lockdown was lifted that the twins began to reembrace the sport.  

“Once we finally got back into it, I realized how much I loved it and I missed it,” Lenzy said.

Junior year was also a big year for the twins because it was when they first began to choreograph pieces for themselves to compete. 

“When we first set choreography on somebody else was that summer after junior year,” Bailey said. “It was just like four dances, an officer and three solos all from the same school.”

The twins taught local dancers and teams they were familiar with during high school, but it wasn’t until the summer after their senior year that they began branding their business: ZTwins Choreo. The twins choreograph and clean routines for dance teams, including officer lines, solos, duets and trios.

“It’s an idea that my dad came up with,” Bailey said. “He came up with the name, the logo and the QR codes.”

In the 2023-2024 dance season, 16 routines choreographed by the twins placed in overall categories and won awards at various competitions. The twins have choreographed just over 50 routines for the current season. 

“At first, we were just doing it because we loved it with no intention of it really going anywhere, just to help people out and to choreograph our own stuff,” Lenzy said. “With [the Zettlers’ dad] help and networking and knowing people, it just kind of grew up a little bit more and more each year, and I don’t even know how we got here.”

The twins didn’t think about waiting for a college degree to begin chasing their career goals. The opportunity just unfolded itself, Bailey said. And when the time came to attend Texas A&M, they felt that the business was manageable alongside their studies.  

“We’re learning how to network, the importance of knowing people, how to produce, how to contact people and how to market yourself,” Lenzy said. “All of those things have really helped build it as we’re going through the years of school.” 

The Zettlers have several goals for ZTwins Choreo after they graduate, including teaching and choreographing for dancers around the world as well as growing in versatility. 

“Since we’ve started, we’ve grown throughout different areas of Texas, but I think it could be cool to reach outside state borders,” Bailey said. “We do mostly contemporary, jazz and hip hop, but I think getting opportunities to do more than just that would be something we could grow into.”

Once a client uses a choreographer for one year, it’s normal for them to be hired back for the years following, Lenzy said. 

“Even with wanting to grow, travel and expand, we also want to keep our roots with the people we started with,” Lenzy said. 

To start a business while in college, it is important to trust oneself and stay responsible, Lenzy said. Sometimes this entails working on the business when other activities seem more desirable, like hanging out with friends. 

“Cheer yourself on, and you have to love it in order for it to succeed,” Lenzy said. 

Using available resources, networking, having good intentions and being passionate about what one wants to do is crucial to running a successful business, Bailey said. But importantly, when it gets difficult, she said, not giving up is vital. 

“We started with four dances, and now that we’re seniors in college, since the summer, we’ve done almost 60,” Bailey said. “It’s crazy — backyard combos to now.”