10. It’s great cross-training for other sports/dance.
While most sports focus on lower body strength, Pole Dancing focuses a significant amount on upper body strength. While this doesn’t come naturally to most women, we use conditioning and exercise to increase your strength each week. Combining strength and cardio, pole is a great alternative exercise format! For our dancers, pole gives you the opportunity to try your favorite dance style (hip hop, ballet, Latin), using the pole as a prop! Or you can learn new styles of dance in our classes like Poleography, Chair Dance, and Low Flow.
Dance has been scientifically proven to improve cognitive function, and even assist in preventing Alzheimer’s Disease. This article from Psychology Today discusses how not only the physical act of dance improves your brain, but even visualizing your dance steps as a practice method can improve your muscle memory. Dance helps with gross and fine motor skills, decision making, creativity, balance, and mood. (Source. Image from Pinterest)
Pole Dance appeals to a wide variety of people! Among our students, we have doctors (of both the PhD and MD persuasion), entrepreneurs, exotic dancers, students, engineers, ministers, and more. Studio Phoenix’s current students range from ages 18 to their upper 60’s, but there are even pole dancers in their 90’s throughout the world. You don’t have to be young, be a dancer, or be athletic to start… most of us come in with no athletic ability. Our studio environment is warm and friendly (no mean girl behavior here!), and all women are welcome.
With busy work and/or family schedules, we often get stuck in a rut. We drive the same route to work, stop at the same restaurants for take-out, and watch the same TV shows to unwind. How often do you try something new? Not only does a new activity get us outside our comfort zones, but it helps our brains create new neural pathways for learning. Each week you’ll learn new moves that challenge you, and help you grow stronger.
Dance has the dual benefit of improving strength and grace. Know that most of us come in the door with neither! Take it from someone who often bumps into walls, or smacks limbs on things… you don’t have to be graceful on the ground to be graceful in the air! Most of us don’t come from dance backgrounds, and we don’t expect you to come in the door looking like a pro. But each week as you practice, you’ll find yourself growing stronger, and moving more gracefully. With the expertise of your instructors, and the encouragement of your classmates, you'll find yourself improving each week!
As mentioned above, dance helps with brain function and balance, but it also helps improve your general physical health. As you dance, your heart rate increases, bringing more oxygen to your tissues. As you do conditioning moves, your muscles get stronger. We’ve seen many of our students reach healthier weights (which is slimmer for some, and larger for others), due to increasing muscle mass in their bodies. For some of our students, dance helps improve depression and anxiety. For those with muscle/joint/pain conditions (myself included… I have Fibromyalgia), moving helps keep our bodies from “freezing up” and being in pain. When I first started Pole Dance, I was in the process of applying for disability, because I couldn’t walk most days. I was determined to not spend the rest of my life in bed, wracked with pain, so I gave the class a try as a last-ditch effort to save my health. Pole Dance has improved my quality of life to the point that I can teach several classes and parties a week, as well as coaching cheerleading.
Work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, repeat. Being an adult is not always fun. When’s the last time you did something new that allowed you to play? From spins to hair whips, to sexy shoes and great music, pole dancing is just plain FUN! You’ll feel like a kid at the park again, flying through the air with a smile on your face! As you make friends with your classmates, you'll find yourself laughing with them, and cheering them on each class. From Theme Weeks ("on Wednesdays, we wear PINK"), to hanging out after class, you'll build relationships with your Pole Sisters.
“me-time.”
For many of us, we carry the weight of work, relationships, exercise, diet, kids, hobbies… and don’t take the time to do something for ourselves. Pole Dance class is 60 minutes where you’re no one’s wife, mom, employee, daughter… you’re just a woman. You can focus 100% on your dancing, without the distractions of life. And our studio is a safe place to have fun and be sexy without judgment.
When’s the last time you did a hairwhip? Maybe never? How about shimmying your hips to a song that moved you? Wearing an outfit or heels that made you feel beautiful? There’s something to be said for tapping into our feminine sides as women. There’s often a stigma surrounding sexuality… especially as women. Your skirt should be shorter than this, but not TOO short. Look pretty, but not that pretty. Fit this exact mold for body type. You won’t find any of these restrictions in Pole Dance class. We have all different body types and ages in our classes, and all different abilities. We teach you how to move your body, and embrace the differences that make your movement unique. And most importantly, you can do it without judgment. The relaxed and encouraging atmosphere of a Pole Dance class allows you to explore sides of yourself you may not have before. You’ll leave class with a smile on your lips, and a shimmy in your hips.
There’s something about Pole Dance that inspires self-confidence in all of us. Each class you’ll be conquering new moves, learning to appreciate how strong your body is (no matter what it looks like), and hearing what a strong, beautiful woman you are from your instructor and classmates. As an instructor, I love watching some of our new baby polers walk in shy and unsure, and then watching them leave their first session with a sassy sway in their walk and heads held high. Pole Dance is empowering!
What reason spoke most strongly to you? If you’re already a pole dancer, what reasons made you decide to join, and what has kept you dancing?
We’d love to hear from you!
Ready to try Pole Dance class for yourself? See our schedule and register for a Pole Fundamentals class here.
See you in class!