Featured new PDC approved Pole Dancing Instructor Sophie Logan from the University of Wessex.
Sophie Logan has just joined the Pole Dance Community as an approved pole dancing instructor, we spoke to her to find out more about her and her passion for pole dancing:
"I have been polling since I was 16, but when I moved to Colchester to study management and marketing at the University of Essex in 2010, I began to take it a lot more seriously. I found ‘Little Sapphires pole players’ at my local venue and attended weekly sessions taught by PDC approved instructor Catherine Dachtler. I was very disappointed when I came to University to find that there wasn’t already a pole dancing club, so I decided to set one up!
Catherine has been a great friend and support since I have moved to Colchester. Just this week she came to the club and taught a routine to the students, and we have also been lucky enough to have her work our butts off during one of her awesome fitness drills. The members love having her visit, and I think it is really important to learn from different instructors as her knowledge and experience is invaluable. She convinced me to compete in my first competition, and I hope I did her and Little Sapphires proud when I reached the final! I cant wait to continue working with her in the future, and would like to thank her for everything she has done for me!
To actually become a club at the University was relatively easy, as the sports federation really supported the idea and gave me great advice. However, balancing both University work and setting up a new club was hard, as we had to start completely from scratch. The first month was hard to get everything organized and we were very overwhelmed with the amount of interest we recieved, but now, at the end of term, everything is alot more settled and have everything covered!
The club currently has 80 offical members, however classes as typically around 15 members, and consists of regulars and occassional attendee's. We have 2 sessions a week, and each has different members attending. We had a huge sign up rate during freshers fair and it is not uncommon for people to sign up and not attend sessions at University. We are hoping that people who havent attending this term, will come and train with us in the New Year.
We have had a lot of prejudice surrounding the club, but we had already prepared for such opinions and have worked really hard to prove them wrong. In the beginning many of the other clubs laughed at the idea of a pole dancing club, but our success, our member satisfaction and how far we have come in just 3 months has changed peoples perception. We still get a huge amount of interest from non members, and we are even setting up a beginners session next term to satisfy the demand!
My family and friends have always been very supportive. They find it very interesting, they even come to my competitions and I've never had any problems with them about it, although they problem think I talk about it too much. My boyfriend also support me with the other sides of pole dancing, such as helping me carry the poles around, letting me use his office to put my pole up in and taking me to the gym to help me work on my strength!
We are now one of the most successful clubs at the University; despite being in our first year! I am so proud of how well the members are progressing, and their determination to learn inspires me to work harder myself."I took my level 1 pole fitness instructor qualification in November 2011 and I am ecstatic at becoming a PDC approved level 1 instructor! Next year I am competing in the Pole Factor and the Inter-Uni pole competition, and I hope to compete in a few more when they are confirmed! "
PDC Questions:
We asked Sophie a few basic questions about her current pole dancing repertoire and her plans for the future.
-My favourite pole dance move at the moment is twisted grip handspring
-My nemesis move is the Shoulder Mount. My back is just too tense and stiff!
-My favourite pole would be 45mm T-gold
-My favourite music to pole dance to is anything that I feel I can flow to and will be able to listen to again and again without it driving me insane!
-What I am working on is to be able to do the splits and generally become more flexible, so I will be able to do of the moves which require flexibility such as Jade and Allegra
-I'm inspired by Sally Ann Giles, her strength and confidence is amazing! I also love Oona Kivela, as her grace and fluidity is just breath taking
-Aside from pole dancing the main thing I do is work my socks off at University and spend time with family and friends
-My pole dream is to place first at one of my upcoming competitions, I hope to achieve this at the Inter-Uni pole competition in March 2012! I also want to keep developing through the PDC and who knows one day I may become Level 3
The Pole Dance Community would like to wish Sophie Logan and the University of Essex all the best for the future and would like to thank the, for being great role models for the fitness pole dancing industry.