Spinning Right Back To Myself

Kylie might have been spinning around long before I found pole (ok, not that long before) but the icon was onto something.

Hot-pants, dancing, and spinning. Sounds awfully familiar to this pole dancer.

I never did tell you all about the first pole lesson I tried. You’re probably picturing a love at first sight moment to rival any helpless Disney princess lost in a wood or trapped in a tower. I’m afraid I must disappoint you there.

I loathed pole dance after my first lesson.

Yep.

Pure, unadulterated hatred.

6 months later, I was hooked.

So how did we bridge that gap? It’s a long story but when I was ready for it, pole was there for me in a way I never dreamed.

When I thought I was seeking fun, I found grit and motivation. When I reached for strength, I found flow and sensuality. It was something magical.

The bruising, calloused hands and burning skin to one side, something magical happens when you lose yourself in a spin, a flow, an intricate combination of moves and tricks.

It’s a heady combination of self confidence, community and discovery of exactly what your body and mind are capable of when you step out of your own way.

In a society so hell bent on telling us exactly what we should be in order to be “good”, pole struts in in those 8 inch heels and says “we'll be whatever we damn well please and you’ll cheer or you’ll leave”.

We learn to value our bodies for their abilities rather than looks. Their grit over their similarity to societal norms. And we have a damn good time doing it.

Through pole we meet new edges, new depths of our self that perhaps we have known once but lost, or that we may never have touched before now. And all amongst the most incredible community that feels like family even when many of us have never met in person.

A trip to the studio can so often become a moment of therapy we may not have known we needed.

A fellow nervous student trying to figure out which is left and right can soon become family with whom you share your world.

Seriously, move over Disney, we know where the real magic’s at.