My name is Amy (She/Her) and I started pole dancing in 2012 after discovering my university had a Pole Society. Prior to that I had done pretty much no exercise for years (other than struggling through my school PE classes). Pole dancing changed my whole view on exercise.

Growing up I had thought exercise was just something painful everyone forces themselves through, which I have later realised was probably due to my undiagnosed hypermobility making lots of the most popular sports unappealing for various reasons. Pole dancing was a form of exercise where I was actually rewarded with new cool tricks for training more, and also one where I had a good level of control over the forces being applied to my joints.

Through doing pole, I learned more about my body which led to me realising I had the hypermobility. I fully believe that pole has helped safeguard my future health, by giving me both the awareness of this fact earlier in life and the motivation to train to support my joints. Although admittedly this has also meant that my pole journey has been very patchy at times (hello fatigue and subluxations), I hope that having had this experience will make me a better instructor more able to cater to those in a similar position.

3 years later, I got my first set of heels and fell in love all over again. I'd been inspired to try dancing in heels after watching amazing stripper style dancers (such as Felicity Logan, Felix Cane, Jamie Taylor, Annie Norris) and by the more sensual style competitions that were becoming more popular (Dance Filthy and The Authentics). While I was absolutely not a natural with learning tricks on the pole, dancing came a lot more easily to me. I loved the expressiveness, celebration of sexuality and the sheer joy that sexy style dancing offered.

I also started to compete within the UK, particularly in the competitions that had first inspired me. Most recently winning the amateur category in Dance Filthy UK 2022. This is something that had been a huge goal of mine for a number of years, as it was one of the main competitions that I kept track of avidly as a newer pole dancer. The feeling of performing for an audience is one of my favourite things ever.

Now I am starting my journey into instructing, having recently passed my Xpert 3+4 course. I have also completed the Xpert 1+2 course and the Spin City Flexibility and A&P courses. I hope to bring the same joy and self discovery to my students that pole has given to me.

Photographer Credits:
Smoke Image: @Kephoto
B&W Projection Image: @mrmdotk
Stage Image: @fotocad "