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Where did you start and where are you now?
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ok, so I'll make a confession years ago someone very close to started dancing at a club…yes, the waitress first then the dancing I was mortified! Had no understanding of it and never connected it all to my own love of hitting the night clubs and dancing and grinding and whirling. I can't say I came to accept it at that time because it was many, many years ago when it was just not a thing you did. Now I feel bad for that.
Then a couple of years ago I stumbled across Venna's videos on Youtube looking for a way to try and find a way to build up my body because I am so small. I saw Veena and flipped… for weeks all I could do was watch one after another then I joined the Free Studio Veena online..starting reading the stories and then when I realized you could actually take classes at health clubs I was elated but I live in a very small town so the closest thing I could find was bellydancing. I signed up and they canceled the class because there wasn't enough participation. So when I realized you could actually buy your own pole I was like WHAT!!! a pole in your house. well I put a Venna membership on my hubby's credit card and my journey began. He thought I was completely insane …well until he saw my first dance. It wasn't great but it was unexpected. lol
After that I found I also loved "THOSE" shoes and had to have some…now I have a closet full. lol Ten I got a few little yoga/dance shorts/crop tops…followed by gloves and leg protectors..followed by some sexy little outfits but I realized I was addicted long before that.
So quickly approaching 57 years old and my pole stands in my living room and sometimes I hate to fight for time with it because my 6 year old autistic grandson who is with us a lot has taken to it as well and really it has almost been therapy for him. So I guess Veena and Youtube…then everyone here who have been amazing and last but not least tht instant feeling of impowerment, fun and pull to the pole that makes me know when I do have to give it up ine day I will never ever be sorry I tried it. And I have since told that person I loved so much that I have an understanding now of how she was able to be a dancer in a club. Because back then when she went to work she loved the pole and they didn't have poles in your house back then. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_heart1.gif and that is my story…along with the wish I was much healthier and younger so I could do it for many more years.
I just took a spin on it and I was hopelessly in love https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_heart1.gif
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Btw when you go to put it up…and try to get it straight use your eyes to line it up with something straight like the frame of a door, a big piece of furniture or if you have paned windows use that as a guide. Oh I meant to tell everyone…I spent hours the last two times still trying to get it straight then it hit me I have a CROOKED wall in my house so had I realized that sooner it would have been much easier. Damned crooked wall…https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_eek.gif also if you have problems there are so many people here to help you. Welcome to flying or that's what my lil Noah calls it. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_heart1.gif
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I started impulsively when a coworker mentioned it. I signed up without thinking twice. That was last year, Dec that I started. Of course, one spin and I was addicted. I followed along in class nicely for the first 8 week session, until I learned to invert.
I’ve always been into climbing trees, heights and being upside down. I think that learning to invert turned pole dancing lessions upside down. I started learning more advanced things on my own, going to open pole at our studio to progress faster and got my own pole.
Now, I feel like I can’t progress and learn new things fast enough. I’m always bookmarking YouTube videos and breaking them down to teach myself new things. I like saving pictures and figuring out how to get into moves. Because I don’t have an instructor most of the time, I set my camera up to record, then I compare to what I’m trying to learn. It’s lots of fun, but a huge drawback is that I find myself bored in class. It’s difficult when you already know how to do things that are being taught. I’ve tried to work on other more advanced things, but I’m told that that is not what we’re working on now. Oh well.
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wow this is the most interesting thread! it's so interesting to hear what prompted people to start, as we all know it's such a niche sport/hobby and we're all so different yet ended up here….!
For me, I was naturally slim and never did ANY exercise for years. Like, NOTHING. my maternal grandma has type 2 diabetes and heart problems, but generally my family is pretty healthy but i was never encouraged to exercise as a kid. Then two years ago my dad was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and found to have type 2 diabetes, and serious heart problems… and amidst all the chaos over the next few months whilst he basically lived in hospital all the doctors said to me, really forthrightly, that I had to get my act together and not just rely on "being skinny in your twenties" as that did NOT mean I was healthy and had a family disposition to all these horrible diseases…. I don't know how true that really is, but i also did a body fat percentage test and found out my body fat was verging on 35%… pretty high for a supposedly skinny chick!
So I went to zumba for a year, and loved it, but then got bored… i knew dance was the only sort of exercise i'd ever stick to so I had to find something as good… and a friend wanted to try pole! i went along with her and i was skeptical (how could this possibly be exercise?!) … i must admit, i was NOT hooked in the first class. I was "mmm, that was fun but whatever" but then i changed studios and was totally hooked!
So now I've been poling for a year, my body fat has dropped to a much nicer 25% (although my weight has stayed the same, lol) and i've never looked so toned and muscular! and i feel so much healthier. my friends even comment that i look nicer now i have shape and tone than when i was just a skinny twenty-something 🙂 i'm so glad i have found a FUN fitness which i love!!!
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I bought a stripper pole as a joke for my boyfriend for Christmas one year and I just loved the way I felt dancing around the pole, I felt sexy and in control. I really wanted to learn how to do stuff on it and randomly googled "how to go upside down on a stripper pole" and a couple of videos came up and the vertical dance website. I didn't realize pole dancing was a real thing that people did for fitness. When I did – I felt a lot better! I wasn't alone!
Flash forward 5 years (6 in Jan) and I've worked at 2 studios, competed 3 times, come in 2nd place twice, organized 5 showcases and 1 festival (working on fest 2 and an upcoming competition.)
I'm totally self taught – only in the last 2 years was I able to take lessons. I've been able to take with Amber Richard, Wendy Traskos, Karol Helms, Michelle Mynx, privates with Alethea Austin, David Owen & Natash Wang, spent 6 weeks training via skype with Leigh Ann Reilly and worked with Kelly Yvonne.
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I had been lifting weights since I was 22 but I never stretched. I was pretty strong because of it and eventually decided I could teach people about fitness and getting into shape. I got my BS. In Kinesiology in 2000. I had been a certified personal trainer for 3 years when I got my degree and hoped the higher education would help me advance my career. It didn't.
I started dancing over 11 years ago. When I first started I couldn't even touch my toes. I heard about “the pole Olympics they have in Vegas” and I thought to myself, “No way will I ever be able to do that stuff”. The first time I did a CAR I swore I’d never do it again. I had a customer “spotting” me and it hurt my legs so bad I’m still amazed I didn't fall on my head. It was 18 months after that I got it for the first time.
I never got the chance to practice much at work because by the time I was working I was too old and tired to be any more than an on again off again dancer. I tried to work four nights in a week once. Once. I was exhausted to the point where I didn't even care if I made any money. I stuck to three nights and then only two. I hated it and when I got engaged I quit. My engagement however, was not to last and I started again to get away from him. And that’s when my self-esteem began the climb. Leaving that disaster was the best thing that I ever did for myself. Six months later I met my current and very loving fiancé, we've been together for 8 years now. I was done with the business but still drawn to the fact that people were teaching pole as fitness.
I was meeting a friend for lunch one day and she was late as usual. It turned out the place we were meeting was a bar next to Xpose fitness. I walked in and told the front desk girl that I was a stripper with a degree in fitness and I wondered who would learn more from who, me or them. Turns out the answer was not so simple. Xpose was opening a location in my town so I got a job there. Because we were a new studio in the area there really wasn't anyone around who had more pole skills than I did at the time. (If I had worked at the established studio instead of a brand new one they woulda kicked my butt.) I was left to learn stuff from youtube but because I have a degree in the study of movement I never questioned my ability to teach myself from video nor my ability to teach others what I knew.
I researched stretching to learn as much as possible and hopefully make the quickest gains. My classes always began with a shoes-off long warm up and long cool down which consisted of stretching. Eventually my boss gave me a stretch class and then two to teach for my schedule. My flexibility greatly improved though I suffered a few injuries that set me back I also learned how to rehab them. All of the flexibility I have acquired has been in my 30’s and I would say about 60% has been in the last 4 years. I can learn from anyone but I have never had the opportunity to take a workshop or go to a convention. I am not teaching anymore because our studio location closed and I moved out of state but until I find another gig I am still trying to train 3 times a week and point my toes!
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I met that girl in my German class at University and saw in her agenda the word "POLE" with hearts and stars and smileys. I asked her if it really was pole dancing. She said yes. We talked about it for the rest of the semester, she sent me the link to sign in for classes. I was like, there is no way I can do this, I'm not strong or flexible at all. But I tried anyways cause I loooooooove dancing, I had do 10 years of informal dance lessons and had stopped for 5 years. I started taking classes in Ferbuary until May, then I got my pole and found Veena's website, that's when I really started to improve (wannabe upside down, plank, climb, CKR, almost gemini) and I self-taught for the Summer, I signed in yesterday for Level 4, which means I'll skip level 3 yay I'm so proud of myself I neeeeeeever thought I could do anything like this. In high school I was failing PhysEd classes. This is crazy, pole is the best thing that's happened to me this year. I broke up last week with my 2 years mexican boyfriend when he asked me to marry him in secret so he could become canadian and I realized he had totally been using me. Pole is helping me handle this, I get so happy and crazy when I pratice, I forget about this nightmare. I can't imagine myself not poling. And I have just spent a very long time reading all your comments and this is awesome 😀
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I started because I went to a strip club with an old boyfriend and saw a girl do an inversion. I thought it was awesome and went home and googled it, and came across a video of Veena. A few days later I went to Home Depot and bought a pipe for a homemade pole. I learned basic spins on that and then got an X-Pole about a year later, the same one I am using today.
I had taken up somewhat of an interest in fitness before pole so it wasn't hard to get started, but it is the only workout I have stuck with. I have been doing it on and off for about 4 years now. I have no dance experience besides 8 weeks of ballet/tap class when I was 8 and a few years on and off of taking and teaching belly dance when I was in high school/college.
Pole has changed my life and allowed me to travel to places I never would have visited otherwise. I have met the most fabulous people and pole has helped me find a part of my personality that never came out before I became a stage performer. In high school I was too fat to run the mile, now I am a 2 time pole fitness competitor and performer with a title and a trophy. My fiance and I are thinking of moving to Vegas so I can be a performer of some kind, pole has opened me up to discover other styles of dance like burlesque and re-visit belly dance. I got my stage name tattooed on myself so I can remember how much fun I had doing this https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif
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I didn't really intend to take lessons, I just wanted a "Bacheloresse" party for myself after my divorce. I couldn't talk my friends into it, so instead I decided that the lessons would be my 55th Bday gift to myself!
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