The evening of my first pole class was not planned: good fortune had struck, and my evening academic class was canceled. Before I could second guess myself (for like the 100th time), I opened a webpage and booked a spot in a Pole Foundations class. The hours between the end of work and the beginning of class flew by. Before I left home, I asked my boyfriend, “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?” He laughed, told me to go and have fun. I told him, “We’ll see.”

I remember the drive being woefully short… my nerves were in high gear, and as a result, I had left home a bit too early. I parked, and sat in my car, giving myself the usual pep talk. The minutes slid by and soon I was keying in the door code, almost exactly fifteen minutes early. I was greeted warmly by a woman who would soon become a friend, and after a quick tour of the studio, sat in the cute and comfortable lounge of Oakland Pole and Dance. The hues of pink and white were perfectly accented by the bright neon lights that lined the mirrors of the pole space. The place looked official: the poles (and shoes!) seemed dangerously high.

I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of people gathering to take classes in the studio: having been so used to being the only woman of color in various exercise spaces, I expected that I would be here as well. There were men and women of all shapes and sizes and colors filling the space. Some were clearly more comfortable than others, gathering in groups to laugh and talk about their classes — while others, like me, found a quiet spot to watch the action.

Soon enough, it was time for class: the instructor, Angel, invited us to the pole space in a voice that was loud and energetic. I held my breath and chose a pole: one furthest away from the door and in the front row so I could see. During an ice breaker activity where we shared our name and pronouns, Angel asked who was new to the class. When I tentatively raised my hand, she congratulated me on choosing a pole in front. I blushed (as much as I could, anyway) and that was the moment that my love of pole began.

In my first pole foundations class, we covered the basics: beginning to climb, lifting our feet off the floor for inversions, and some simple spins. Even though we were all strangers to each other we shared laughter over our mistakes and falls, cheered each other’s accomplishments, and pushed each other to keep trying. We wiggled to sexy music (thankfully without the sky-high heels) and daydreamed about the day we would be able to move like professionals. At the beginning of class, I had doubted my ability and my capacity to become a bombshell who pole dances without abandon. A quick hour and fifteen minutes later, and I felt like I had found a new home.

Before my first class at Oakland Pole and Dance, I had not exercised regularly for more than five years. Focusing on work and completing my master’s program had taken precedence over basically every other area of my life and though I didn’t regret those choices I knew it was time for a change.

Though far from overweight I was dissatisfied with my body shape; more importantly, I missed the sensation of strength in my body. My first pole class was mean to be an exercise in trying new things and stepping out of my comfort zone. To my great surprise, it was so much more than that: it was an epiphany. The body I had been viewing as soft and weak was tired but felt strong for the first time in ages. The non-sexy girl next door had blossomed into a confident, proud woman, even if for just a moment. And, better even than feeling strong and sexy, I found a new community with members who are friendly, fun and accepting of me.

It has now been eighty- five days since my first class, and I am proud to say that I have made more progress than I thought possible. I made the decision to pay for an unlimited membership at the studio (to force my lazy habits away) and attend classes several times a week. My arms are stronger, my balance has improved, and my back is straighter from the confidence that exercise and getting in touch with myself and my body has given me. Am I different from when I started? Absolutely. I am now a pole dancer, and slowly, but surely, that joy and confidence in myself is seeping into other areas of my life. All because of the good fortune of a canceled class.

By Rosalind Hurst

Taking the Plunge: My First Pole Class was originally published in Pole & Dance on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Pole camps are the perfect combination of vacation, meeting your pole idols and, making international pole friends. As the popularity of pole camps increases, new pole dance train-cations have been popping up left and right. While I’ve attended two retreats, I wish I could go to all of them.

There are several things to consider when deciding which camp is right for you. For me, the top factors are location and pole stars. Pole camps are a fan girl’s dream come true! I chose to experience Indi Pole Retreat in May 2018 in Bali and Croatia Pole Camp in Sept 2019 in Croatia. Here’s what I’ve learned from my experience at these camps and hopefully provide some guidance so that you can choose the pole camp that is right for you!

Indi Pole Retreat is the top end of pole-cations. It focuses on providing attendees with a dream pole vacation experience in Bali, Indonesia. During this trip, we stayed in this beautiful villa in Seminyak, Bali. Breakfast and lunch were included along with 12 hours of workshops with 2 pole stars during those 7 days. Indi limits their camps to 17 dancers per retreat split into 2 groups based on pole level. Included in the price is a massage for a full luxury experience. And, it comes with a luxury price tag; AUD$3200 (US$2575) for the 2020 retreat (single room).

On the other hand, Croatia Pole Camp is the perfect camp for a budget pole traveller. It is a 4-day camp located in Pula, Croatia. Attendees stay at the Hotel Brioni Pula, a sandless beachfront hotel on the Adriatic Sea. The amenities are basic but each room has a balcony with a sea view. Breakfast, dinner, a pole star Meet & Greet, and a freestyle competition are all included in the price. Interestingly, Croatia Pole Camp does more of a mix and match model, featuring 4 pole stars with 28 workshops to choose from. The camp hosts about 120 dancers across the camp and some guests even bring their non-pole dancing partners. The cost is EUR436 (US$482) (2019 prices) for a single room and 3 workshops. The single room was only 12 EUR extra for a night stay!

Indi Pole Camp:

Location: Our villa is tucked away in a quiet area but still walkable to the main part of town for local restaurants, shops, markets, and clubs. On our day off, we went to Finn’s Beach Club. Everyone stayed longer after the camp to visit Ubud or other beautiful parts of Bali.

Pole Stars: For my Indi experience, the stars were Daria Che (oooh_daria) and Fontaine (theredcrownedcrow). I got 6 hours of workshop with each teacher. Indi has a welcome and farewell dinner where I got to bond with the stars and get to know them on a personal level. Daria joined us for a meal almost every day of the retreat, which was a nice bonus.

Croatia Pole Camp:

Location: The camp is located in a resort part of Pula. A short bus ride takes you to the main part of town. Pula is right across the Adriatic Sea from Venice and easily accessible to visit other parts of Croatia and Eastern Europe.

Pole Stars:

Croatia Pole Camp 2019 had Yvonne Smink (@yvonnesmink), Sarah Scott (@sarahscott), Jazzy K (@jazzykpole), and Alyona Amber (@alyonaamber). The package includes 3 workshops (1hr 15min each) and you can add extra workshops for a cost of 50EUR. I took 7 workshops. The camp has a Meet & Greet event where you can ask the stars questions and get to know them better. There isn’t a set structure for bonding with them on a personal level but all of the stars are very approachable. I even got to hang out with Alyona at the bar and spent time chatting with Yvonne on the flight to Zagreb.

My favorite part of Indi Pole Retreat was how well they took care of us outside of pole — accommodation, food, and transportation.

The Island Houses were the dream vacation place to stay. For the 2018 retreat, we took over 3 houses at this villa (Garden, White, Round). Each house has a private pool and the main bungalow with 1–2 small side bungalows for private rooms. There are no more than 4 dancers in each house and it is beautiful beyond words.

In terms of food, breakfast was at the Garden House where they hired a local to make some yummy, healthy home-cooked meals. Lunch cuisine included Indonesian meals and Western food at a nearby restaurant called the Straw Hut. Dinner was only included on the first & last nights of the retreat. Farewell dinner was at La Laguna Cafe, which is one of the most gorgeous cafes I have ever been to!

Indi also offered a photoshoot package option for us to reminisce on this memorable experience. 30 min shoots with 5 edits came out to AUD$199. They let attendees choose between the Tropical Pole (set location) or Wanderlust Wandering (anywhere in the villas). I chose Wanderlust because the villa is so gorgeous, I wanted to pose everywhere.

Indi Pole Camp also caps their limit at 17 dancers, split into 2 groups by level. With such a small camp, you get to bond with dancers naturally over classes, mealtime, and going out to town during the break. I went to Bali alone and left befriending every one of the dancers in the camp.

The only part I didn’t like about the camp was the set workshop structure. Indi had set 3-hour blocks for workshops each day. Alternating mornings/afternoons and alternating teachers. At the time, I did not train 3 hours daily at this difficulty level, so I would’ve preferred a more flexible structure that worked in line with my normal training schedule.

My favorite aspect of Croatia Pole Camp is the flexible schedule. They had 9–12 workshops running each day in 2 rooms. You set your schedule. You choose which workshops you want to take. You can take as many as you like (extra workshops are 50EUR each) and each workshop is 1 hour 15 min long. They also have daily free meditation and stretching workshops on the paved beach.

My least favorite part of Croatia Pole Camp was the buffet-style food at the hotel restaurant. It ended up being the same every day. If you attend this camp, I suggest eating at a restaurant in the same resort area or trying an authentic Croatian meal in the city.

This camp also doesn’t offer any professional photoshoot opportunities. It would’ve been nice to get some pole shots by the Adriatic Sea.

Because of the large number of attendees at the camp, while I met more people, there wasn’t a natural fostering of bonding with other dancers compared to the experience at Indi.

There are many other camps to choose from and my experiences are just a small sliver of all that is out there. Here is my spreadsheet for some other camps I recommend looking into. Overall, pole camps are the best because you get to meet new people around the world that share your love for pole. I am already thinking about which camp to try next year!

By: Irene Li

@reineintheair

Pole camps are the perfect combination of vacation, meeting your pole idols and, making… was originally published in Pole & Dance on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When I began Literary Speaking: The Writer’s Guide to Publishing Podcast I wanted to create something no one else was doing — sharing the behind the scenes information on the creative writing and publishing process. No one spoke about what they got paid, or how important pre-orders were, that book sales could vastly affect the chance at a second or third book deal. There didn’t seem to be any classes on what to expect when you’re expecting a book. So I created one by launching my show on the Vividlife Network with Shayne Traviss in 2015.

It was a weekly process of live interviews and surprised authors who finally got to speak about the unknowns — about the part we all want to share with fellow writers. Those times when we’re gathered around big plates of cheese and diving head first into our second bag of chips while we commiserate on the creative process — the good, the bad, and the downright evil.

Sure you can listen to a bevy of best selling well-established authors, but what about the rest of us? The ones who were knee deep in the pre-book launch phase, the ones in the post-book-blues phase, the ones who felt shunned by their publisher when the in house publicist was directed to focus on a bigger more profitable project? The ones who *gasp* didn’t have a built in platform.

I hear stories of agents who abused their power, editors that dropped a book after multiple edits, rogue writers who went with the smaller press and it went very well for, and the ones who didn’t. No matter what any of these writers have experienced they’ve all been willing to share what many do not. The reality of the royalty cheque (yes, you will get some that 35 cents), the exhausting book tours whether publishing house funded or solo tours funded on meager book advances, the book signing you thought was a disaster but had one very influential guest sitting in the sea of empty seats. The publicist who did a wonderful job and helped create a buzz about your work.

These are the stories I want to know about. I want to hear about the realities of your publishing experience, how you found your agent, what you did when your agent and you parted ways and how that led to where you are now. I want to know about the great PR experiences and the ones that faltered. I want to hear about the editor that transformed your writing with their killer suggestions. The workshop that took your creative process to the next level. A conference where you met the worlds most supportive writing friends.

I want to know how you write when you have a day job and a side gig. I want to know how the press prints the books and designs the covers. How an outside publicist works to get you the best coverage and connections to further your book sales. I want to know your book sales — and how they compare to what you expected. I want to know how you dealt with structure issues and taped pages all over the walls of your office. What did it feel like to see your book for the first time in person? Or when you signed your first copy to an eager reader?

I want to hear from editors on what they are dying to read and what they look for in pitches. I want to hear from publishing houses on what sets them apart and makes them better. I want to talk to small presses and their clients to make sure they are legitimate and can be recommended. I want to talk to professors and poets, people who write that publish and, promote and place art out into the world that grabs my attention and changes my perspectives. I want to hear from book reviewers and book buyers, book shop owners and librarians.

I will talk about your book, I will read it and review it honestly. But I will want to know the nitty gritty details of how this book came into being. I want to talk about the things no other interviewer asks you. I won’t ask you anything you want to avoid discussing (which is the first thing I ask before we record). I do want to make sure that you’re willing to pay it forward to future creators by sharing all of the process, good and bad. Like crafting a suit of armour for them to charge into battle with. So there are no surprises or financial downfalls that could cost them more than just money.

I want to give the aspiring writers out there a chance to find out everything I didn’t before getting scammed.

I want to equip writers with the power of knowledge and persistence. That there will be difficult days, months, that sometimes writers block happens and it can be overcome. That a book deal that fell through isn’t always a bad thing, it’s just finding the right place and the right team to coach you through the birth of your book.

Mostly importantly I want to share your work with the world. It’s why I reach out for an interview, it’s why I pester your publicist for a date to record. (It’s all done via phone or laptop and a pair of earbuds)

If you’re up to sharing and genuinely feel passionate about every aspect of the creative process — or you feel you have something to offer your fellow writers. Be willing to send me a copy of your work to read. Electronic PDF will do in a pinch but I really prefer to read from a book so I’m not nailed to my desk.

You can contact me through my website and email me your short bio, a high quality image of your book cover and yourself. I’ll give you my mailing address in response to your email. If I read and decide we’re a fit, I’ll contact you.

I don’t mind if you follow up with me 4 to 6 weeks later — this girl has a lot of books to read. Recordings are typically done between 10am-2pm EST but we can adjust this if your schedule does not allow for it.