Revved up for pole positions
AMY THOMAS, wearing a bright yellow midriff-baring shirt and frilly, gray booty shorts, pulls herself up the shiny pole, climbing almost to the ceiling.
Arms trembling from the strain, Thomas manages to maintain her grip, intently focusing on the middle of the dimly lit exercise studio filed with poles and women. A victorious grin spreads across her face as she relaxes and slides back down.
“Again! Caress, rub, flick it and spin it! That’s it, ladies! Keep it sexy!” shouts the Le Femme Suite instructor, clad in pink-leopard print shorts and a black tank top.
Le Femme Suite is a pole-dancing studio on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. in West Harlem. It attracts a growing number of enthusiasts of a popular new dance form that has spurred a movement to gain approval as an Olympic sport.
“Initially, there is a misconception to it I think,” said Thomas, 29, who was at the studio taking her eighth class. “It’s a really hard workout, but it’s fun when you are doing it and all of us girls here have a really good time.”
For the women who come to Le Femme Suite, much of the appeal of pole dancing rests in girl power. It’s about camaraderie and getting fit — “pole fit,” as they say. Chatter about body insecurities, messy relationships and heartaches fill the small basement studio as the women sip on a postworkout glass of wine, served after every class.
The space has become not just about the dance, but a safe place to bond. This women’s club feel is what owner Carmen Victorino envisioned when she opened Le Femme two years ago.
“For us, it’s not about size and can you do a trick,” said Victorino, 33. “We want you to be able to find a form of fitness and, most importantly, to elevate your self-confidence as a woman and take the sexuality out of yourself.”
Victorino started the business after she was laid off from a nonprofit. She began to feel like so many of the single, young mothers she had helped as a social worker. Victorino tried a pole-dancing class with her sister and some friends. The experience sparked her desire to bring the exotic dance to her neighborhood. “I just took a chance and I did it,” said Victorino, who used her savings to open the studio.
As she built the business, she continued to take pole-dancing classes on the side at a midtown studio, in a bid to regain the “oomph” she had once lost.
“It’s a feeling from here that I felt,” said Victorino, pointing to the center of her chest. “I knew I was a sexy woman, but it was just hidden somewhere, and pole dancing brought it out.”
Thomas was apprehensive when she first joined the class. “You are showing a lot of your body for the first time,” she said, “and when the instructor climbs up the pole and says, ‘ Follow me,’ you’re like, ‘How am I supposed to do that?’ ”
A slew of encouraging tales from clients inspires Victorino. Take, for example, the pair of now-best friends who had worked on the same floor of their company for years. They never crossed paths until they happened to join the same introductory class.
Then there’s the woman who had been looking to rekindle her marriage. The stiletto workout classes helped her find that spark missing in her fizzling relationship.
“They leave here feeling like a diva, they get a little bit of swagger and start talking to me a little differently,” Victorino said.
“Just the response from them fulfills me and gives me a sense of achievement, because it’s like I brought something to women that is not the typical skinny chick on a pole.”