Freddie Baggs sharing the love for her pole dancing instructor Ally Franklin.

At the Pole Dance Community we often run articles on our instructors but this article is slightly different. We were contacted by a student from PDC approved pole dance school Polelatis in Bridport, Dorset, UK. Freddie Baggs just wanted to tell us how amazing her instructor, Ally Franklin, is so here is Freddie's story.

My name is Freddie Baggs I’m 22 and a postgraduate history student at Plymouth University. I go to pole lessons at the Polelatis studio in Bridport Dorset and Ally Franklin is my amazing instructor.

I have been pole dancing since January this year. Pole dancing is something that I have always wanted to try but I never really pursued it as I thought it was something that I wouldn’t be able to do as I’m not a sporty person. I was never good at gymnastics at school and I’ve never been able to lift my own body weight. It was my friend Libby that asked if I would go to pole classes with her as part of us trying to get fit that actually got me to go.

"Ally has also enabled me to do things on pole which I never thought I’d be able to do which makes her even more special in my eyes."

I decided to try lessons at Polelatis because Libby already knew Ally and that Ally did pole sessions either as a big group at our local leisure centre or she could teach just Libby and me at her studio. We both liked the idea of having a class with only us in it.

My instructor Ally has been amazing inspiration for me, she makes pole look so easy and graceful which makes me want to be able to do the moves. Ally has also enabled me to do things on pole which I never thought I’d be able to do which makes her even more special in my eyes. Ally’s approach to teaching pole where she plays to your strengths but she also gets you to work on your weakness I have found really good.

I have always been strong at doing moves which involve my legs so any thigh holds I found OK but anything involved using my upper body strength like climbing I found very difficult. Ally would make sure in my classes that I worked on my climbing and built up my upper body strength with resistance band training but she would always include doing thighs holds or things I am better at doing so I leave the class feeling like I have achieved something and not just failed miserably at something I couldn’t do. This has helped me build up my confidence in being able to do pole and to also have the determination to master the things I find difficult.

Ally also makes sure that the sessions are fun and that each session is different this has all led to me being absolutely hooked on pole.

I’ve just started inverting so at the moment my favourite move is a butterfly leading into a shoulder roll dismount. I’m still not nowhere near perfect at the combination but I really enjoy it all the same. For the life of me I cannot master the dead bug but I am determined to crack it!

I don’t plan on entering any competitions for the foreseeable future as my focus for doing pole is for fitness. But in time when I get better and if I have the time I may consider entering a competition.
I like to pole bare foot and prefer static pole.

I’m finding pole slightly harder in the warm weather due to the heat making me more tired and that my hands can be a bit more moist than usual but it hasn’t stopped me from poling. I sometimes use chalk on my hands to help me grip when I do any climbing or inverting.

My plan for the future is to keep up with poling and to do my best fitting it in around working and going back to uni.  I don’t plan to enter competitions but I have really caught the pole bug and I want to continue poling and to become the best I can be at it.

Pole dancing is something that I would recommend anybody to try and if you want to give it a go but don’t have the confidence to go to a class, take the plunge and go to a class. I lacked the confidence as I thought I’d be useless with my lack of upper body strength but it turned out that I had strengths in other parts of pole that I didn’t think I would have. And with the help of Ally I have built up my upper body strength, I can happily climb up the pole now and she has helped build my confidence too.