Proprietress Note: Your Journey, Our Mission- A Reflection

I love pole-dancing! I mean, duh! I’ve been studying it for over 12 years, got certified (through X-pert) to teach it in 2012, and opened a pole dance studio in 2014.

I DREAM in pole dance. Not yoga, dance, or hammock; POLE.

I hate cardio, but I will run to the pole studio if my car breaks down and I have to get to class. I can tell you about every model of home or studio pole, their finishes, and the difference between diameters. Do you wonder if pole dance styles differ depending on your region? They do. And I will talk your ear off about strengthening your end ROM in your shoulders!

And I enjoy cross-training from time to time; I’ve taught aerial hoop and silks and I love me some hammock, but I would never put hammocks in our studio or open a separate circus space, because I’m married to my pole. The only things I love more are my husband and cat (still debatable though).

But pole hasn’t always been easy for me. When I started in 2007, there weren’t a lot of resources. I wasn’t a yogi, gymnast, or ballet dancer, so inverting myself didn’t exactly feel innate (it actually took me 6 months). I had to learn, via YouTube videos in a tiny college bedroom or onstage half-naked at my local gogo bar, how to check my ego and defeat gravity. Saying my baby poler years were a lot of trial and error is an immense UNDERSTATEMENT! I took lots of breaks: months, even years before accepting pole dance as something I wanted to devote my time and energy to.

Once I did, I trained more often, performed when asked to, and eventually got my teaching certification at Body & Pole. The friendships I formed teaching pole at Sacred Brooklyn, amongst my mentors, peers, and students, cannot be overstated! The last class I taught there was SO HARD. I still get misty-eyed thinking about it!

When I moved to the Hudson Valley, I yearned for community comradeships like those I had in Brooklyn. I applied to teach at the only local pole studio, but there was an overt emphasis on sterilizing pole into something SOLELY fitness-based. This wasn’t a gospel I could practice nor preach. And while that wasn’t the only reason I opened my own space, it was a huge part of it, because I believe from the bottom of my bruised and callused heart, that pole is whatever its participants want it to be.

That’s how it started, and that’s been my mission ever since.

I’m not looking to have multiple studios or capitalize off unenlightened spectators who simply want a sweet photo for the gram.

I will not indulge drunk bachelorette parties.

I don’t teach spin pole to beginners.

I’m not some “divine” creator of niché pole-based fitness/yoga/aerial. No one is. Except for maybe Jenyne Butterfly.

What I am is an AFAA/ACE-certified, devoted pole teacher and aerial enthusiast with one studio, one obsession, and one goal: to equip students with the BEST foundation for whichever pole path they choose, regardless of movement background, age, and lifestyle.

And so far, I think we’re killing it. I’m immensely proud of the community we’ve cultivated these last 5 years. We’ve built a tribe of beastly pole ARTISTS, who appreciate all forms of pole. This thing that is stigmatized and overlooked in so many ways, has become a secret strength that slowly melts into our everyday life. It’s busting your jackets at the shoulders. It’s one trip from the car with your groceries. It’s catching your calluses in your hair. But mostly, it’s the voice in your head that reminds you, you CAN do anything you set your mind to.

To our beautiful tribe: we are grateful for your continued support and your TRUST in us, your movement leaders and local misfits.

For those of you considering visiting Hudson Valley’s most comprehensive and weirdest pole studio, I have just a few words: we got you.

Come once a week. Just 75 minutes every 7 days.

You will get a strong understanding of the basic physics and foundational movements of pole dancing. You will get physically stronger. From there, YOU can choose your path. Sexy, restorative, sporty, or maybe all of that at once- it might depend on the day.

Your journey won’t be linear. It will be hard and then it will be easy, and then it’ll be hard again. You’ll plateau occasionally. You might quit for awhile. You’ll want to flow at the base some days. Sometimes you’ll want to tumble all the way from the top. Once in a while a yogi will come in and nail a move immediately, and you might hate her for a few minutes. Some days it’ll take a degree of self-love that will almost break you.

But it won’t.

Because you’re already a bad bitch, and pole will make you stronger even still.

Come with me… Let’s eat some spinach.

 

<3,

Nicole

 

 

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