Studio brings a new spin to fitness
Pole dancing is back in New Westminster.
No, Muggs & Juggs hasn't reopened. And these dancers aren't spinning themselves around a brass pole en route to removing their sequined underthings.
They're working out.
After two years of nomadic wandering, planting her poles at fitness centers in Burnaby and Port Moody, Jessica Lyn has finally bolted them into her own studio, Polenastics, on 6th Street.
Ironically, she's only a block away from the former strip club that once enlivened the old College Place Hotel.
And while pole dancing for fitness may share the same heritage as twisting for titillation and tips, they're now worlds apart, says Lyn.
"It's evolved a lot from where it was," says Lyn, who discovered pole dancing when she was living in England. "It's more than dancing around a pole. It's very much based in gymnastics."
In fact there are more than 1500 recognized maneuvers from simple spins to inverted scissor kicks to the "flag" in which the dancer locks their arms and suspends straight out horizontally from the pole.
It's all about building core and upper body strength says Lyn. "Being on the pole is hard."
Her studio offers a range of classes and workshops for beginners to "ultimate pole," during which dancers work through their entire routine without touching the ground. She also offers classes in flexibility and conditioning, as well as a program that's more performance-based. And yes, she does give private lessons to exotic dancers.
But you don't have to be a hardbody exhibitionist to take on the pole, says Lyn. Her clients range in age from 18 to one woman who's over 70.
"We have everyone from nurses to teachers to librarians to students," says Lyn. There's even a few men.
"It's not about being sexy," says Lyn. "It's about breaking through barriers and doing something you never thought possible."
Polenastics is located at 42 6th St. It's celebrating its grand opening on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. For more information, including a schedule of classes, go to www.polenastics.ca.
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