For my roommate’s birthday, she desperately wanted to go pole dancing. And (not gonna lie) I was dying to go, too. A small group of our friends went to Pole Haus in Philly for a Bronze Party, which was an hour of learning a routine to a really sexy song.
Walking into the room, I was a little intimidated. There were ten tall poles, a large mirror that stretched across the length of the room, and a wooden floor. Currently taking the floor was a class of about eight women and a man–all in six inch heels climbing and swirling up and down the poles with incredible grace, seduction, and ease. I stood there with my mouth agape thinking, how the hell am I going to look anything like that by the end of this hour long class?
When their class was over, they left the floor and we took over. Our instructor immediately jumped in with a sexy warm up, which involved more body rolling and crawling on the floor than most warm ups usually do, and some stretches. During the warm up, I kept looking over at my roommates to see if they were also as awkward and uncomfortable as I was. But nope. They were actually so into it that they looked professional. I decided it was time to stop feeling so awkward and to start embracing the sexy. And once I did, damn I was having the time of my life.
To feel that sexy and happy with my body, while getting an extreme workout (and hella bruises, which they call “pole kisses”), was empowering. I didn’t know that I had the ability to feel THIS body confident, and honestly even a week later I still feel so excited and happy with myself. It was freeing. Pole dancing opened a door for me to be accepting of my body and confident with myself, and I’m seriously thinking about picking it up as a hobby and taking their summer classes. It was a 10/10 experience, leaving me with so much more than a workout and a routine. It left me with a better view on myself, and that is the best, most rewarding feeling of all.