The Immortal Life of Pole Fitness Culture

In my world of sports there is no such thing as offense or defense and there is no play by play book. My world of sports is provocative, sporty, artistic and what I like to call “deliciously unorthodox”. It’s an unconventional way of getting a workout. It’s a full contact sport that will inevitably make your body bruise and make your body ache in places that you didn’t even know existed. My world of sports is pole fitness, better known as pole dancing to the rest of the world. For any of the women out there who think this is stripping or any men out there who think this is emasculating I ask you to find a studio and take a class before you pass judgment.

The pole fitness student is a special person. In order to embrace pole fitness you have to be open to the unknown and the inevitable conclusion of change and transformation. You have to be able to acknowledge the fact that you will transform as a person and an athlete and therefore view yourself differently as you continue to train in pole fitness. You don’t know how your style will develop and you don’t know where your training will lead you. If you have a dancing background before embracing pole fitness it is more likely that your style will be influenced by your dancing background. The beauty of pole fitness is that it is an art. You are not limited to one style. I tend to lean more towards an athletic performance that involves power moves.

I live in Denver, CO and have travelled the world as far as Sydney, Australia and everywhere in between looking for the best instructors and the best training methods. I am a travelling pole student. During my travels I have found two major types of instructors in the pole fitness world:

1. The instructor who instructs by analysis. This instructor is usually very left brained and logical. S/he knows how to break down moves into a process, find the weaknesses of a student and teach the proper movement to prevent injury;

2. The instructor who models by example. This instructor is usually someone who is very right brained and has a creative spark and can usually watch and mimmick pole moves. This instructor emphasizes safety but demonstrates a move as opposed to breaking it down into a process.

Very rarely do you find two instructors combined into one body but I have found one such instructor, Caterina Gennaro, owner of Poleates Studio in Westlake Village, CA approximately 40 miles north of Los Angeles. In the world of pole fitness she is one of the best performers in the world, and in my opinion one of the best instructors in the world. She is so good, she is known by one name, “Cat”. All you have to say is “Cat” and everyone knows who she is.

Cat is a certified instructor in Pilates and Yoga. Her background in Pilates and Yoga allows for her students to progress at their own pace without feeling insecure about their progression. It provides an additional element of training, which can also be used in pole performances as they progress as students and performers. Pilates and Yoga are both very artistic forms of exercise that allow her students more knowledge and creativity in their choreography.

Choreography is the supreme separation between conventional forms of exercise and the art of dance. Choreography not only allows for an exhibition of strength and flexibility but enables a dancer to tell a story. Cat trains her students in a way that she can emphasize grace and elegance while teaching her students to grow as athletes. She allows her students to develop their own style. She has developed an instructor training program that allows her instructors to learn 500 pole moves and 200 pole transitions. If you choose to take instructor training you have the option of being certified as a pilates instructor in addition to receiving pole dance instructor training. She requires her instructors at Poleates Studio to maintain a CPR training certification.

Pole Fitness is an evolutionary sport in its infancy. The only place for pole fitness to go is up. The pole fitness performances remain alive in the memories of the people who advocate the sport because each performance is a unique demonstration of talent, style, grace, elegance, art, sport and personality. That’s what makes pole fitness an immortal art. The people that are going to move this art forward are people like Cat who have the foresight and capabilities to evolve with the times. The days of conventional sports are over. It’s time to make room for the unconventional sports, like pole fitness, that remain on the periphery and expand our horizons.