Where else to start but at the very beginning?
Perhaps the best explanation of how I got into Pole fitness is to start at the very beginning. It was a chilly day on 22 July 1986 when... Just kidding. Not that far back.
I was very active and sporty while in high school, and of course had the perfect body to go with that. And then, right after the end of the hockey season in my matric year, I tore my ligaments in my ankle right off (I had to go to my matric dance in a moon-boot dammit!). Naturally, this resulted in some weight gain, although I wasn't too worried about it - I'd always been under weight, so maybe some gain was good? At least I had proper boobs now! Then followed varsity - I started studying engineering, and hated every moment. Which meant that first-year syndrome hit doubly hard - not only was there ALWAYS food available, but I have always been an emotional eater. But that was still ok - I could still live with that. Finally, after two years of utter torture, I switched to Consumer Sciences. Finally I loved what I was studying, but it meant lots of delicious food around me all the time... I was still very active (still playing sport all the while) and was doing promotional work, so I still felt good. It was in that year that I witnessed the phenomenon that is pole dancing for the first time - a bunch of friends and I went to the first ever Sexpo in South Africa in Johannesburg, and decided to attend a pole workshop for shits and giggles. Afterwards, they wanted volunteers to try some of the moves, and I thought 'well, why not?'. My first pole move EVER was a plain and simple invert - a fact that I'm still very proud of, considering I was wearing jeans at the time.
The bug didn't hit yet. The next year, I had the opportunity to work at Sexpo selling lingerie and sexy outfits. This turned out to be one of the most fun jobs ever, and I ended up going round the country with the lingerie company to the different sexpo's (both Cape Town and Durban). Besides meeting tons of amazing people (you really do meet the nicest people at Sexpo, especially amongst the full time staff and exhibitors), I had the opportunity to watch Tracey Simmonds perform. Repeatedly. And every single time, I was absolutely amazed by the strength and elegance that she exuded on stage. I mean, wasn't pole dancing supposed to be for strippers????? Even though I had some rudimentary knowledge of Pole dance as a sport, I had never imagined that THAT was possible. And so I vowed that one day, I would start doing pole dancing.
And then my fourth year hit. It was terrible. I had to take anti-depressants to cope with the workload and the absolute lack of anything resembling sleep. Not only that, but part of our course was events management, and of course we had to cater said events. Add to that our weekly culinary art practicals combined with recipe development (which entailed constant tasting and evaluating of some of the most DIVINE foods), and it was a recipe for disaster figure-wise. The head of our department once warned us about the phenomenon in our department known as fourth-year syndrome - she wasn't wrong. I picked up in the region of 15kg's in that year alone. It was terrible not being able to fit into any of my clothes that once looked so amazing on me! I realised that I did not have the time or capacity (mental or otherwise) to do anything about that in my final year, but vowed to do something about it as soon as I was finished with my degree.
In this year, I was incredibly fortunate to serve on a committee for a student organisation. It was a completely impulsive decision to even apply - one of my friends had been the previous years' chairperson, and invited me to come by. He conducted the interview, along with a girl who looked slightly sullen - I was convinced she hated my guts - she was to be the next chairperson. Little did I know just how awesome this girl actually was - a week later she phoned me and asked me to come see her on campus. I did so (and was met with her budgie... lol), and she asked me to be her VP. We worked together incredibly well, but were both so busy that we hardly got to know each other on a personal basis. At some point I mentioned to her that I did promo work at Sexpo, and she asked if I could put in a word and get her a job doing the same. I was surprised, but thought 'cool!'. While we worked together, I noticed these INSANE bruises on her thighs. It was then that she first revealed that she did pole dancing... This whole year I had worked with her, and not once had she said anything... I told her of how I had been wanting to do pole for YEARS, and she invited me to a trial class at the studio where she had recently started as instructor. As you might have guessed, this awesomely cool lady is, of course, the one and only India.
And so on January 31st, 2011, I went for my first trial class. And I haven't looked back since! I progressed to our studio's advanced classes within 4 months, and my love for pole has just grown. I lost 13kg's within the first year of doing pole, and (almost more importantly) about15cm's around my waist. Everything is trimmer and all of a sudden my body has a figure other than round again! I still have a way to go, but am confident that I have finally found a form of exercise that truly embodies everything I could ever want. It is elegant, challenging, and fun. The girls I dance with are fantastic, and the instructors are always positive and encouraging. I doubt that I'll ever find a better 'non-judging' zone to work out in. And that makes me Happy. :D
