One arm stretched above her head grasping the brass pole, Katelyn popped up on the balls of her feet and thrust her pelvis forward. Arching her back with her head looking behind her, she slid down the pole with ease—not bad for a married mother of two wearing her sweatpants rolled up above her knees.
Five years ago, this elementary school teacher never thought she’d be swinging herself around a pole like a stripper, but there she was, taking her third lesson in pole dancing.
“It’s really great,” she said, “it’s a new way to exercise and makes me feel sexier than I would normally feel.” Climbing onto a pole and dancing your way down has more benefits than your average woman might think.
Maybe you’ve seen it on Oprah. Maybe you’ve passed by Carmen Electra’s DVDs at the video store. Believe it or not, the latest fitness craze has finally made its way to Buffalo—pole dancing.
Located at 1444 Hertel Avenue, Pole Play is Buffalo’s first pole dancing fitness studio—the only place in Buffalo you can burn fat while learning all the sexy moves of a stripper without having to strip. From the outside, one could never imagine what goes on inside.
The studio is strewn with pink boas, mirrors, and five brass poles—pieces that were pulled together by the studio’s owner and head instructor, Chelsea Celotto. The décor creates a fun atmosphere for women to exercise while encouraging them to strut their stuff around the poles.
“When people hear ‘pole dancing’ they think ‘strippers,’” said Celotto, a former kindergarten and first grade teacher and Las Vegas showgirl, and that’s the exact stereotype she’s trying to break.
But how does an average woman suddenly get interested in pole dancing? In Celotto’s case, her liberal upbringing and her enthusiasm for fitness and gymnastics inspired her.
Throughout her childhood, her father wasn’t around much as he had left when she was only seven years old. Consequently, her mother worked extra hard to give her children all she could, Celotto said. Since she was five years old, her mother encouraged her to further her training in gymnastics while she did everything she could to pay for instruction. “She was awesome. She was an incredibly strong woman; very open, very liberal,” Celotto remarked. “Nothing was held back in our house.”
Celotto’s upbringing allowed her to do things that average people would never dream of. At 20, she moved to Hollywood with her friends but returned to her native Kenmore to further her education while still teaching competitive gymnastics for eight years.
At 27, she landed a teaching job in Las Vegas. The prospect seemed great, but when she got there she realized she couldn’t live on a teacher’s salary alone. Because of all her training, dancing was a great opportunity to support herself: “Mainly, I had nothing and I needed money. I just picked up a job dancing on the strip.” She never gathered the courage to dance on the poles, though, and she looks back on the experience as uneventful and short-lived, as she soon found herself back in Buffalo.
Nevertheless, her interest in pole dancing had been sparked; “If you watch a girl on a pole and she knows what she’s doing, it’s like watching ballet,” said Celotto. “I thought to myself, ‘I want to do that. I want to look like that.’”
Her interest, however, was put on the back burner until she saw Sheila Kelly on Oprah a few years ago. Seeing Kelly, a mother of two, flipping and sliding on the pole with grace and ease inspired her to get a pole installed in her Buffalo living room. After three days (much to her husband’s delight), she was working the pole like a pro.
“But,” she says, “It does take practice. After you do it, you’ll be stronger than before.”
In her case, the gymnastics training helped her greatly, but years of intense training had caused a lot of wear and tear on her body. Pole dancing allows her to experience the thrills of gymnastics by throwing herself upside down on the pole, yet it is less strenuous and gives her an intense workout at the same time.
Celotto offers novice, intermediate, and advanced pole dancing classes along with striptease workouts and lap dance workshops. For women in the exotic dancing business, she offers special industry classes. That way, the average woman won’t feel intimidated dancing next to a woman who’s been doing it for years.
Classes began last Monday and they are open to every kind of woman regardless of age, weight, or fitness level. Celotto assures her students that “everything can be modified to fit the student’s specific needs.” So far, she’s found great excitement in the community. All different kinds of women take these fitness classes: college girls, bartenders, businesswomen, wives, and mothers—even grandmothers.
The preliminary classes focus on strength training—specifically upper body, including arms, shoulders, and back—without developing bulky muscles. Flexibility, balance, and coordination all increase with each class and by the end of even the first class, every woman enrolled will become far more graceful. After all the tricks are learned, Celotto says, “That’s when the true cardio-vascular exercise comes in.”
Above all the physical benefits, the more satisfying profits from these classes are mental. “What I really want to accomplish is for women to feel empowered, sexy, and confident,” Celotto said. “I want to raise their self-esteem.”
In a world where women are taught not to dress, walk, and behave in certain ways, it’s hard for them to clearly understand what it means to be a woman, according to Celloto. With her classes, she wants women to see that “it’s okay to move your hips. You’ve got ‘em. You’re a woman! It’s really okay!”
Earlier this month, I took my first lesson in pole dancing. Out of the four women in the class, three had never even been close enough to a pole to touch it, myself included. Celotto’s classes are designed for these kinds of women.
Two of the main ingredients necessary for a successful pole dancing class are pump bottles of hand sanitizer and spray bottles filled with rubbing alcohol to control perspiration on the poles. The other ingredients include an open mind, comfortable clothing, and a willingness to learn something new and exciting—in more ways than one.
We began the workshop with some easy stretching, bending down with straight spines to touch the ground. Things started heating up as we actually touched the poles for the first time.
Beginning with a simple strut around the pole, we held onto the poles with hesitation. By the time we got to pirouettes and pole bends, with some encouragement from Celotto, every member in the class was at one with her pole, playfully swinging her hair and her body around it.
Celotto stresses that “you need to let your body fall into the trick.” If it feels natural, it won’t look awkward, and it “looks really sexy,” as one of the women observing pointed out.
With tricks like the Fireman and the Ballerina, the target area is the upper body, as you grasp the pole above your head, swing your legs around the pole, and slide down to the ground carrying your whole body weight on the way down. With the Fireman, the legs are crossed around the pole much like what you’d see in a firehouse, and with the Ballerina the legs are both bent around the pole in the same direction, as if the pole were a ballet partner.
We next learned how the dancers get up from the floor with grace and ease (once the muscles are trained enough).
“How do strippers do it in those shoes?!” one of the class members shouted from the ground with sensuality. Tricks like the Rising Goddess and the Mermaid both target the abs and help you to get back to a standing position next to the pole. This is the only workout where not only are you toning key muscle groups but you’re gaining valuable bedroom skills.
By the end of the class, all of the women were helping and encouraging each other with more excitement and laughter with each new trick learned. After dancing a routine to Tom Jones’ “You Can Leave Your Hat On,” one of my classmates cried out, “I give those strippers much more credit than I did before!”
The pink changing room had candles lit throughout giving the whole studio a sweet aroma one would never expect from a typical fitness center. As I was cooling down from the workout, I mentioned to Katelyn, “My arms are already killing me.”
“Just wait until tomorrow,” she said. “I never would have expected it to be as difficult as it is, but it’s something fun that makes me want to come back to learn more”—I guess that’s why she plans to continue taking lessons.
The pole dancing fitness sensation has finally hit the Queen City. Ladies, get excited—the opportunity to work out and rediscover your inner woman is here. And men, don’t worry; you’ve got reason to get excited too—if you’re lucky, your partner just might bring some new tricks to the bedroom.
Classes are held Monday through Thursday from 6 p.m. until 8:15 p.m., and there’s an open workout for members on Fridays from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
