When I told people I was off to take a pole dancing class, they expected me to leave the house in glass heels and return with a tub of toonies, not knowing that at the studio where I was headed, the women wear yoga clothes and the only refreshment is water.
Pole dancing classes, like strippercise, are normalizing what was once naughty. Oprah has plugged the exercise repeatedly and there are two companies in Edmonton — Aradia and PoleJunkies — dedicated to teaching pole dancing in our city. A third, British Columbia-based EmpowerNET, sells skin care products in conjunction with home pole parties in cities across North America, including Edmonton.
Since 2005, Aradia has taught pole dancing moves to an astonishing 10,000 women in this city, in one-hour introductory sessions, group parties and studio lessons. PoleJunkies — a four-year-old Calgary-based company that holds pole parties in Edmonton, offers oneon-one classes streamed to your home via live webcam and plans to open a studio here later this year. Since its inception, PoleJunkies has instructed more than 1,000 students, including a handful of men.
People from 18 to 80, of all body types and professions, have taken up pole dancing. “We have [taught everyone from] people who haven’t worked out in 10 years, to fitness instructors,” says Krystal Kolenich, owner of Aradia Fitness Canada and operator of its franchises in Edmonton and Calgary. For women, pole dancing has multiple attractions, says Kolenich. It builds confidence in the sexiness of their bodies, but also develops core strength and promotes true fitness. “Toning up is an understatement,” she says, adding that many of her students lose weight because with body confidence comes a desire to appreciate themselves, so they drastically change their diets and lifestyles. “We’re not trying to teach women how to be exotic dancers,” says the 33-year-old former X-ray technican who, before discovering pole dancing in Vancouver four years ago, used to work out at the gym, then eat fries on the way home. “It’s about empowerment.”
Aradia’s students were uncomfortable with a man observing them for research, so I attended a mock class in which Kolenich played instructor and two instructors, Aspen Gowers and Janine Kupsch, played students. They demonstrated Level 1 moves (there are nine skill levels, taught in six-week blocks that cost $150 each, plus other classes in strength and dancing).
We started with rudimentary warm-up exercises, like the cat spiral. It’s categorized as “sensual floor work,” aimed at working the triceps, abs and core muscles — all of which need to be ready for some serious effort once you get to the pole. Sensual floor work lessons end with a transition move, “the mud flap girl,” in which you start in the side-reclining pose depicted on many a truck’s mud flap and then silkily push yourself up to address the pole.
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