Where to take life

The pandemic led me to the pole.

Let me explain.

Prior to 2021, I had never been strong in my life. In fact, I was pretty damn weak. It was so bad that from the moment I booked a flight, I would start actively worrying about having to lift my carry-on into the overhead compartment by myself. As someone who is self-reliant in most other aspects of my life, that sense of physical helplessness felt embarrassing.

Like many people, the pandemic's shelter-in-place mandate made me start to go stir crazy. That's how I found myself considering doing something I had never given much thought to before: dedicating time, energy and money to fitness.

I started out by getting a basic gym membership with a friend. As long as I had an accountability partner to work out with, I was consistent. But once our schedules no longer aligned, I found myself returning to a sedentary lifestyle. Now that I knew how it felt to be strong, it didn't feel as good to go back to having noodle arms. I tried to figure out a fun way to sneak in the workouts and decided to try a pole dance class on a whim.

I took my first class in July 2021 with Celina Huang at BeSpun. With all the grace of a newborn antelope, I stumbled around the pole, trying to hit the foreign-feeling moves on time and feeling betrayed by my lack of mind-body connection. I can only imagine how terrible I looked, because I was too embarrassed to record myself. But the challenge felt exciting rather than discouraging, so I booked another class and tried again.

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I went from having absolutely no upper-body strength to toned biceps, shoulders and abs. I became more flexible, my posture improved and I developed a musicality to my movement that I could only dream of having before. Learning such a challenging skill also unlocked a confidence in myself and my body not tied to aesthetics or external perception. Besides the muscle fatigue and occasional "pole kiss" (a.k.a. bruises left behind after practice), it's been all upside.

Nearly two years later, I’m obsessed with the art of pole dance and have met a ton of interesting people along the way. Most of the women I take classes with are young professionals, ranging in age from their 20s to their 50s and beyond. Pole dancers develop confidence, strength, sensuality and bravery through dedication to this practice (just check out my progress on my dedicated pole Instagram, @spinaiya).

"Curiosity brought me in, confidence and community kept me," explained an instructor at the Secret who uses the stage name Kam Poles.

When most people think of pole dance, their first thought would be the strip club. And while some studios and classes absolutely emphasize unlocking one's inner sexiness and sensuality, many classes more closely resemble a gymnastics or fitness class. The beauty of pole is it can be a tool to grow in different directions, and the practice caters to people of all tastes.

The three main branches of pole are pole sport, pole art and exotic pole. The first emphasizes tricks and technique with minimal choreography. Pole art is about creativity and storytelling with more emphasis on emotional resonance than a display of strength. And exotic pole most resembles what you’d see in a strip club: performers in 6- to 8-inch platform heels dancing sexily.

Pole dance is the ultimate strength builder and stress reliever, and it all happens through dance, one of the most cathartic and beneficial ways to improve brain health. (Studies have shown that dance helps reduce stress, increase serotonin levels and develop new neural connections.) I would advise anyone who is even mildly interested to try a class. There's no barrier to entry because strength and flexibility can and will be developed along the way.

Lifestyle

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At this point, I’ve taken classes at all of the major L.A. studios and have held regular memberships at three. Each studio has a different vibe, clientele and way of doing things. I can honestly say that they’re all worth checking out at least once.