Whenever I tell people I am a pole dance instructor I always get curious looks. I can tell there are things people want to ask but can’t quite figure out how to say it without offending me. It takes a lot to offend me so most of the time I wish people would just ask! While pole dance is finally starting to become more mainstream, it is still a relatively new concept to the general public and people always have questions! I actually love when people ask questions because I want everyone to be informed about pole dance and what it is or isn’t. I usually get the “Are you a stripper?” question out of the way before people even ask because they always want to ask but seem shy to do so. I have not ever been a professional dancer in a strip club nor do I aspire to be a dancer in the club. That is not my thing! The goal of Work It Girl Fitness is to help women feel sexy and confident and pole dance is how that is accomplished. So let’s talk about the other questions I get as a pole dance instructor.
Do I need to have upper body strength to start? Nope. No. Nope. And no again you do not need upper body strength to start. There are a few girls who naturally have upper body strength (they always get a side eye from me) and they don’t struggle with learning new tricks at all. But for the rest of us, we have to work at it! No one starts automatically knowing how to climb the pole or go upside down. No one! You don’t need core strength or leg strength or any kind of Wonder Woman strength to start pole dancing. All you need your body to start. That’s it. I promise!
Do I need to be skinny to start? Noap. No. Nope. There is a wonderful community on IG and Facebook called Curvy Girls Pole dedicated to pole dancers who are considered curvy by society's standards. Most of them will never be super small due to body shape, genetics, etc so you absolutely do not need to be skinny to start. The same as upper body strength, all you need is your body and the willingness to try. I know as women we are constantly bombarded with images of perfectly skinny women working out. I see these same images and roll my eyes. Just recently have fitness companies, magazines, etc. started to pick up on the fact there’s hundreds of thousands of women who do various fitness activities who aren’t skinny. If you don’t believe, please look up my dear pole sister Roz the Diva who specializes in training plus size athletes :)
How did you get started pole dancing? I saved my favorite question to answer for last! Sometimes this question is accompanied with judgy looks as people clutch their imaginary pearls. I don’t really care about their looks and judgement anymore thank goodness! I started pole dancing back in 2010 because I was looking for a new way to exercise to relieve the stress from grad school and a recent breakup. I’ve always been a dancer and was teaching Zumba classes at the time and thought it would be fun to learn how to dance like a stripper. Seriously. I took one class, got hooked, and haven’t looked back except for the occasional Zumba class with my mother.
I am glad when people ask me about pole dancing because I would rather clear up misconceptions than have people not be informed about the exercise. I am always willing to talk about the different genres of pole dancing, our annual conventions, and our competitions as most people don’t even know it all exists! I know you are probably surprised at the top questions I get but I am very lucky that the questions don’t get too crazy! The questions I get from guys about pole dancing deserve a whole different blog post because their minds go a completely different place when I mention pole dancing however the questions I get from women tend be just because they are genuinely interested and are considering trying a class. The next time you meet a pole dance instructor, please ask questions! None of your questions will surprise us and we promise we don’t bite :)