What other workout involves 5-inch heels?
Thursday, October 04, 2007
By Melissa L. Jones
Special to The Oregonian
Bruises rarely make lists of top 10 turn-ons.
Yet they're in abundance on the women dancing at Diva Den Studio in Southeast. Learning to pole dance, it turns out, involves some pain.
Pole dancing? Since Oprah featured it during a "Releasing Your Inner Sexpot" show in 2003, women looking for a new workout have slipped out of sweat pants -- and into heels -- to give it a try.
The Portland area now has classes with names such as "The Exotic You" and "Pole-lates." Some cater to the bachelorette-party crowd, while others promise to build self-esteem along with muscles.
At Diva Den, which opened over the summer in a basement space on 82nd near Division, four women take off loose jackets and slip into short shorts for a Sunday night class.
Overhead lights have been dimmed, a black light has been switched on, and candles have been lighted to make the erotic nature seem less awkward for the women dancing in front of mirrors.
Before each class, owner Summer Morris installs portable poles around the studio and wipes them down with rubbing alcohol.
Two of the four students are married with kids. One doesn't want her last name printed -- none of her friends knows she comes to the class. Megan Gonzalez, 18, an engaged auto mechanic who's signed up for the Marines, brings a chin-up bar to practice the arm hang.
Morris says many students are nervous at first, and some drop out at the last minute.
She taught herself to pole dance two years ago and dances like a pro. As with her students, she says it was difficult at first. "I bruise so easily, it would take me a week at least before I could try to do it again."
She started teaching professionally last fall. In addition to running Diva Den, she teaches at Studio Blue in the Pearl.
Class begins with stretches, then suggestive dancing. Students start practicing on the pole without shoes, and by week three or four, dance in 5-inch heels with ribbons wrapped around their ankles.
The "spin" can be painful, Morris tells the class, as she demonstrates the move, jumping up on the pole and twirling.
"I don't particularly like that one because it bangs on my ribs, especially if you have underwire," says Morris. Some wear thick thigh-high socks to prevent bruising.
Morris says the class can awaken a provocative goddess for women who don't often get funky, and can enliven women who feel the passing of their sexual prime.
Even so, the class always seems to come back to pain, especially when the students struggle to climb the pole and practice the "sit," in which they're suspended halfway up, holding themselves with their thighs.
"Pole burn," says one student after rubbing her skin raw. "Grit your teeth and scream or whatever," Morris suggests. "Make sure it's all skin on the pole."
"Oh, my goodness," says Christine Wilson, 29. At the end of class, Wilson shows Morris a blister on her hand.
So why not run or play soccer to stay in shape?
"I did a marathon last year," says Wilson, a married mother of two who also has a pole at home. She's danced for her husband once but says eroticism isn't what brings her to class.
"I got bored with workouts. I thought it'd be fun to do," she says. "For me, it's like a power thing. It's exciting and it's good company."
But, she adds: "It took me five weeks to get over being dizzy."
Portland News: 503-221-8199; portland@news.oregonian.com
Edited to add by Summer.... The girls in this article were from my Pole Divas Level 2 class. I would like to thank them for allowing the writer and photographer into the studio during out class!
I would also like to add, the pole burn is getting getting better for all of them! And they LOVE it!
