By Margaret Shrum
The 90 minute S-Factor intro class, was incredibly empowering and about being in your sensual body focusing on fluid, feminine movement. After participating with 8 other women, I now understand the appeal of learning how-to pole dance. Although several friends have enrolled in the 8 week S-Factor course and then progressed to advanced levels, I had resistance trying it out myself. The concept of pole dancing always triggered me, it made me think of women having to strip for a living in front of men for financial reasons- which turned me off to it. S-Factor is the opposite of what I had feared. The instructor shared that she has been pole dancing at S-Factor for seven years and that she does it for herself, as her sacred practice. She shared that her husband bought her classes as a present, but that he has never seen her dance.
The first thing I noticed after walking into the dimly lit dance studio, was the fact that there were no mirrors. I’d assumed that we’d be watching reflections of ourselves, like in most dance classes. We each had a yoga mat to sit on and faced each other in a circle with the instructor at the front of the class. She began by having us each introduce ourselves and share why we came or if we had any previous s-factor experience. This made us all feel welcome and created a sense of community between us. I was impressed that she actually remembered all of our names throughout teaching the class. The first 30 minutes, we focused on warming up our bodies, using very feminine sensual stretches on the yoga mats. She also taught us a few fun sexy s-factor poses that we could use, if we desired. After stretching, she had us pick up the mats and we all learned how to S-walk, which is a slow, sultry walk using your hips and swishing your feet along the floor. Moving slowly like that, felt sexy and sensual!
Next we got to learn a trick called the “firefly” on the pole. It looked beautiful and I was surprised at how we were all able to do it after a couple of encouraging attempts. No wonder pole dancers have such gorgeous bodies, I could understand how this could tighten your core, upper and lower body. What fascinated me the most, was the sense of camaraderie that formed between all us as we cheered each other on. Finally we learned a sexy routine that involved the stretches and poses that she had taught us throughout the class. I have to admit, I am thinking about taking the 8 week course and I have been using my S-walk ever since!
To learn more about S-Factor and try an intro class out for yourself, http://www.sfactor.com/pole_dance_classes/classes_intro.asp
